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Date: 5/2/2023
HARDWICK — At 600 Turkey St. in Gilbertville there is a restored 1800’s carriage house turned studio and retail space, with a story behind the business.
The She Shack, the product of Kathleen O’Shea and Jean Lubelczyk, a pair of unlikely best friends and now business partners, is housed in the carriage house. O’Shea and Lubelczyk create hand-painted signs and have seen business boom since they officially started in September of 2022.
The business was born because of a dream Lubelczyk has had for years — to honor her daughter, Pamela Jean Brown, who died eight years ago. Brown had always wanted to have a “little shop, where she could sell paintings and crafts,” Lubelczyk said.
Lubelczyk said she had the idea one day last year to carry on her daughter’s wish. She approached O’Shea about becoming a business partner and the idea took off into a reality. Looking closely at the sign on the front of the carriage house that advertises the business, underneath the business name is written, “In loving memory of Pamela.”
O’Shea said the painted sign business has “blown up from a hobby since we started in September — when we officially started a Facebook page and started painting custom signs, all by hand.” The entrepreneurs say the special thing about their signs is that they are always done be hand, they are detail oriented, and they never use a computer or system that does the art and writing for them. The duo say people love their signs, and attribute it to their handmade touch.
Word of mouth and social media have been the best ways of generating sales, O’Shea said. “We can’t believe that in such a short amount of time we have seen such success. This launched further than we thought we would, so if you asked me where I wanted to see the business in five years back in September, well, we’re at that point now.”
Future plans to open up the retail space to other vendors of handmade arts, crafts and goods are in the works. “We want it to be a little shop where you can come in and find a little bit of something for everybody,” O’Shea said.
While the retail space does not have set hours yet, O’Shea said they will be putting a large chalkboard outside of the space with hours posted weekly.
For more information, to inquire about selling merchandise at the business, or to order a custom sign, O’Shea can be reached at 413-284-7713 and via their Facebook page, The She Shack.