emann@pvdemocrat.com — Finding a successful business niche in any community often has a lot to do with keeping customers in demand of one’s services or products, but it doesn’t hurt if you can also have the ideal place to offer said wares.
For “Stitch This & More” owner Brenda Jones, that spot happens to be in downtown Pauls Valley and after several years of bringing screen printed t-shirts and embroidery to faithful followers, that wish became a reality back in August. Though Maysville holds a special place in her heart from still living there to the few years operating a shop and sending her kids to school there, it is her current spot where she feels she has the perfect combination of visibility and foot traffic.
“This is a lot bigger place than I was at so we can offer more variety,” said Jones, who is originally from Wynnewood and graduated from high school there in 1986. “We had a lot of people from this area that went over to Maysville so it will be easier for them.”
In some ways it is also a homecoming for Jones since she actually started the early version of her business about a decade ago here before the Maysville version. She got the idea to go with her own place since she always seemed to be involved at some level with her own kids in their sporting activities with this year first not being the case since her son graduated the previous.
Most of the skills, like embroidery, she used to get going were picked up back then from a friend of hers who operated out of her home in Lexington and now allows her to offer people something to wear that is truly custom made.
It makes a huge difference for the regional school sports fans, who make up a majority of Jones’ clientele, since many of them don’t want to wear the same memorabilia in the stands or bleachers. She tries to be as fair as possible with price, which means it doesn’t matter if people just want something for themselves or even putting together actual team uniforms.
“When you go to a ball game you don’t want to see someone with the same shirt that you have,” said Jones, whose work even includes clients outside the county like in Davis due to extra options like bling. “It stays busy pretty much all year around, but we love our sports seasons.”
What Jones enjoys the most about operating the business and keeps her coming back every day is seeing the results of her work out in public. She is proud of the detail people can see in the designs and just about anything that can be worn can display that creativity for any occasion.
Joining Jones at the shop most days is Jeanna Davis, her main helper, with additional help from people like her sister Charlotte Wood and her mother. The store is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. and is closed Saturdays and Sundays and is located at 115 W. Paul Avenue.
“I always thought it was neat to come up with an idea and see it on a shirt… You see people wearing it and say ‘Hey I did that shirt’.”
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