Meet Your Merchant: Home Treasures thriving in new location

With more than twice the floor space and a new, higher-profile location on Carson Street, the Home Treasures gift shop already is seeing a tremendous increase in business, according to its owners.

"We are so excited," said partner Susie Messina. "Ever since we moved to the inside of the mall, we've talked about what it would be like to have the outside exposure. We've been blaming the economy, and it is partly that, but now that people can see us from the outside as well as inside, it's been just huge."

Home Treasures was among a handful of businesses that moved from the Topsy Lane shopping center in north Douglas County to Carson Mall in early 2010, largely in search of lower rent as economic pressures closed in.

The gift and home decor shop, which first opened eight years ago in the Carson Valley Inn in Minden, later moved to Topsy Lane and then to the inside Carson Mall location. It moved to its new spot Aug. 1, and where the partners once had 1,400 square feet of floor space, the new location gives them 3,500 square feet and a Carson Street address.

"It is so much bigger and so much nicer looking," said partner Dawn Henderson. "People have been comparing this to the other space, and they say, 'Yes, I still feel the same vibe,' but they also notice the difference this new location makes for us."

Among the treasures to be found inside Home Treasures are an array of home decor items, gifts, jewelry, accessories, scarves, ball caps, handbags and new consignment furniture.

In addition to the merchandise, Henderson said, a key to the shop's continued success is the way the partners and their three employees feel about their customers.

"We all just love people," she said. "Consignment brought in a whole lot of new customers, and it's nice to be out front. We enjoy the camaraderie, and we all love home decor and merchandising."

A ribbon-cutting party last week was a great way to open officially, Henderson said.

"We had 88 people jammed into this space," she said. "We served wine, and Schatt's did our catering. It was such a party-like atmosphere. They had a band playing out front, so people were shopping, drinking wine and stepping outside to listen to the music."

Messina said mall's owner, the Carrington Co., is trying hard to accommodate mall tenants.

"Even in this economy, they're painting and landscaping and sprucing things up, really trying to make it inviting," she said. "People say there is nothing at the Carson Mall since Gottschalks left, but they're wrong. There is a lot going on here."