A few notes

This is a photo of DragonBen's garden at Grandma & DeeDa's house... As you can see, it is greening up nicely. The daffodils are the miniature ones that bloom later than the standard ones do.
First of all, the weather was so nasty on Saturday that we will be extending the hours of the Make & Take on Tuesday into the early evening for those of you who did not want to venture out.
The Make & Take is greeting cards and benefits the Pendleton/Clemson Relay For Life.
Secondly, we have a new array of wind chimes just in, as well as adorable rain gauges (and we've been having measureable rain too!!!). New Melissa & Doug toys along with new Folkmanis puppets. Our array of First Communion & Confirmation gifts is growing.
Next weekend (April 4 & 5) is Historic Pendleton's Spring Jubilee out on the green. The Pendleton District Commission (Jo McConnell in particular) has gone the extra mile again to bring in a wonderful array of artisans and crafts people to the green for this show that has had regional and national recognition. The show is rain or shine. Hope to see you then... we will be open both Saturday & Sunday of Jubilee. Come visit our beautiful historic town and find out what we have to offer.
And last, but by no means least, we will be having a Bead Trunk Show beginning the week after Spring Jubilee. I hand-picked so many beautiful beads... hope to see you then. Dates will be posted as soon as we finalize them...

Has it really been 20 years?

This is a copy of the press release we just sent out. And the photos are of the store before Connie & Bill did all their work to get it in shape.

The Mercantile will celebrate its 20th anniversary on Saturday, August 23rd, beginning at 10AM with a ribbon cutting by Pendleton Mayor Carol Burdette. The celebration will continue throughout the day at the store, located at 149 East Queen Street in Pendleton, with light refreshments. What began as a small gift shop, started by Bill & Connie Earl on August 23, 1988 has grown to include two of their daughters (Terri Earl Brooks and Cindy Earl Higgins). The selection of gifts, old-fashioned candy, and gourmet coffee beans has been joined by Melissa & Doug toys, Folkmanis Puppets and Soy Bean Oil candles from Pawley’s Island. Beyond that, there is also a large selection of rubber stamps, papers and beads along with the tools and supplies needed to create with them. Terri and Cindy have brought with them their creative talents and offer a full calendar of over 200 creative classes in rubber-stamping, beading and paper crafts.

We hope you can join us on the 23rd for our celebration.

We're Back

We enjoyed our week off, although we did come in and have a work day to re-set some of the stock. If you cannot find where those flower stamps went... we'll have to help you look, we have moved every single rubber stamp in the store (still in the stamp area, but in different positions...).

We also re-arranged the candle area a little bit.

But most of all, we feel refreshed and ready to enjoy the rest of the summer with all of our friends and customers.

Pictured to the left is the game of Farkel. This is the original pocket version that can go along with you on your vacation trips (however long or short they may be). It comes in a film cannister sized container. The game is good for ages 5 and up. We have this and some travel toys/games from Melissa and Doug to help those travel times go faster. Just promise you won't play if you are taking your turn at driving.

Come enjoy a day in Pendleton. And for those of you who like to come visit and have lunch at The Pendleton Cafe and Coffees, they are now open on Saturdays in the summer. We also have the new restaurant 1826 on the Green in Farmer's Hall.

Toys!

In our toy area, we have a wonderful selection of toys without batteries. The photo shows a small portion of our Melissa and Doug collection.

Melissa and Doug have the most wonderful, fun, colorful (and educational) toys. They are very well made and go through rigorous testing before being shipped to stores.

We believe that a child's imagination is an important part of growing up.

In addition to the Melissa and Doug toys, we have an ever-changing herd of Folkmanis puppets, some art supplies and other toys mixed in.