Article from The Naperville SUN in July 2006
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Out To Lunch With
The Editor ~ Summer 2005
Joanne Weaver,
Editor of 2005 Maplebrook South Homeowners
Association
"Not long after deciding to spot light local
businesses, I spent the afternoon at one of my
favorite places and thought I'd share my visit to
Emerson Creek Pottery with you. Located in
Oswego, down a gravel country road, Emerson Creek
is nestled in a peaceful farm setting that backs
up to 50 acres of prairie grasses and wildflowers.
Here, in a renovated 100 year old farmhouse, you
can shop for beautiful hand-painted pottery,
hand-made candles, flowerpots, and delightfully
unique home decor - all at extremely reasonable
prices. After making your purchases (which
often takes awhile because there are so many
lovely and unusual items to see), you can have
lunch in the quaint and charming Tea Room,
featuring delicious salads, soups, sandwiches,
fresh breads, and fabulous desserts."
"On the day I went,
I was joined by some of my most precious friends,
ladies from my Thursday morning women's group at
church. After shopping for end-of-year
teacher gifts, housewarming presents, and
decorations for our own homes, we could barely
drag ourselves away from the store at noon to
wander over to the Tea Room for our 11:00 a.m.
reservation! Away from our daily duties, we
found ourselves completely swept up in the
relaxed, friendly atmosphere.
A perfect
compliment to the good company and deep, intimate
conversation we share, the food was truly a treat.
The next time my mom or a special friend comes
into town, I'm heading back for the homemade cream
of chicken and rice soup and the mixed green salad
with candied walnuts and a salad dressing that
simply explodes with flavor. Now, let's talk
about the dessert. Warm peach, and
blackberry cobbler a la mode. As wordy as I
am, I'd rather have you taste it for yourself than
try to offer a less-than-adequate description.
All I'll say is "YUM!"
When planning an
outing with your own group of special friends or
out-of-town guests, you may consider spending an
afternoon at Emerson Creek Pottery. It's
also a great place to do some holiday shopping,
host a baby shower, or even take a decorative
painting class where you'll learn how to bring new
life to your favorite old furniture pieces and
house wares." |
Out-of-Way Pottery
Shop Finds a Following
By Lynn Van Matre, Tribune Staff Reporter
Walk-in business plays no part in the marketing plan at Emerson Creek Pottery, a dinnerware and decorative-item gift shop in rural Oswego.
Launched last year in a century-old farmhouse, the store is set far back from the road on 7 acres and is reached by a winding gravel path that can become impassable in snow.
“You definitely have to look for us,” said Emerson Creek owner Chris Barickman, who relies largely on word-of- mouth to promote the shop. “But once people come here, they usually come back and bring a friend.”
In recent months, the store has drawn browsers and buyers from Dupage, Kane, Kendall and Will Counties, Barickman said. Most have made the trip in search of handpainted, glazed stoneware from the Blue Ridge Mountains that Barickman stocks in abundance.
Produced by Emerson Creek Pottery in Bedford, Va., some of the pieces are sold at other Chicago-area stores, but Barickman’s is the only shop outside Virginia to stock the entire line.
“I bought a set of pine-cone pattern dishes from Emerson Creek while visiting relatives in Bedford and fell in love with the product,” said Barickman, who has 14 years of experience in retail sales.” I had been wanting to open some kind of store, so I asked the owners if they would be interested in having an Emerson Creek shop in Illinois, and they said yes.”
 Virginia’s Emerson Creek Pottery co-owner Priscilla Palmer, who co-founded the company in 1977, said Barickman was far from the first entrepreneur to suggest opening a sister store.
“We have been approached many times over the years by people who wanted to open an Emerson Creek Pottery shop,” said Palmer. Her company’s annual wholesale and retail sales are in the six figure range, she said. “We’re one of the few manufactures left in the U.S. that turns out handpainted pottery by trained artists. Most of the handpainted pottery sold in this country is done in Third World countries where labor is cheap.
“The timing was wrong for the previous deals, though, or they just didn’t fly for one reason or another,” Palmer said. “With Chris, things just clicked.”
Palmer said she was worried that Barickman planned to open the shop in a remote location that some might see as a marketing challenge.
“We’re located down a dirt road, too, and we have become a destination,” she said. Back in Oswego, Barickman and partner Ron Wehrli, a Naperville builder, renovated a ramshackle farmhouse in property they own on Grove Road, and Barickman filled six rooms with displays of microwave-safe tableware and cookware, flower pots and other pieces in 19 floral and folk-art patterns.
The shop also carries Christmas, Halloween and other seasonal lines from the Virginia pottery factory and handcrafted soaps and candles. Pottery prices range from $5.95 for a soap dish to $15.95 for a pie plate and $43.95 for a lamp. Because she buys in large quantities, she receives a deep discount that allows her to sell Emerson Creek stoneware at lower prices than the pieces would cost in most gift shops, Barickman said.
“I called Virginia to order more items almost every week during our first season,” said Barickman, who opened the shop in June 2001 and shut down for the winter on Dec. 31. Over the seven months, the shop did about $125,000 in business and signed up more than 1,200 customers for its mailing list, Barickman said.
To help spread the word, she has invited area garden clubs to make an afternoon of their visit to the shop by bringing lunches and picnicking on the porch or lawn. She also refers customers to Floribunda Gardens, an Oswego garden center, in exchange for the nursery displaying Emerson Creek brochures.
“We also put an old-fashioned farmer’s wagon, painted hunter green, on Road by the path that leads to the shop,”Barickman said. “If people are trying to find us, it’s something for them to look for.”
Photo By Rachel Baruch Yackley
Daily Herald
Correspondent
Daily Herald: "Fox Valley-Up
Close & Professional" Section, Page 4
DAILY HERALD
SECTION B
MONDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2002
The Best Pottery Shop Around!
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