Storefronts continue to fill downtown

February saw two more grand openings. The first was a food and gift shop featuring locally-made products from Colorado artisans. The second was a thrift store with an eye toward giving back to the community.

The Pickle Patch

Two years ago, Shane Skinner and his wife Lauren loaded up a tiny house on wheels full of jars of pickles and hit the road.

What had started as a hobby for the new couple to bond over quickly grew into a full-fledged business called The Pickle Patch that was raking in money at farmer’s markets and fairs all over Colorado.

The Skinners met dozens of micro-businesses like themselves along their travels. The stories of these entrepreneurs inspired them, and they realized another calling. Using Lauren’s master’s in business administration and Shane’s background in distribution for several huge companies, they began buying wholesale from the brands they fell in love with and selling them at retail on the road.

The brands received exposure and steady income. The Pickle Patch diversified its business.

Then the pandemic hit. Events evaporated. Suddenly, the only mission was survival. For them, and for the brands they’d taken under their wing.

“Look, we want to make money too, of course. But, for us, it’s really about these small Colorado businesses, it’s about their stories,” Shane said.

So, the Skinners diversified again. This time to a retail storefront at 119 North 5^th Street in Cañon City.

Shane points out product after product – hot sauces, wood carvings, wooden watches, soaps, candles – and offers snippets of the stories behind the brands.

That man is using this business to make enough money to put his kid through college. This woman is using her grandmother’s recipe from the old country.

“It’s not about the sauce,” Shane said. “It’s about the people.”

What If Thrift

The question “What If?” started out as a way for Lori Jones to express her doubts about opening a store on Main Street. 

As in, "What if no one comes in?" or "What if I can’t turn a profit?"

Then, that question became a source of inspiration for her. What if she can do some good for a community that has done so much for her family?

Jones has parlayed her years of retail experience into What If Thrift, a new store at 520 Main Street featuring clothing, jewelry, and local art.

 A call for donations to test the waters led to a flood of items from the community to get her started. A two-car garage worth of things, Jones laughed. That settled her doubts, and she was thrilled to see steady traffic all day during her grand opening.

 “I love apparel, I love thrift stores and I have retail experience,” Jones said. “This is a natural fit for me.”

 Plus, she added, she gets to be her own boss.

 She believes her store stands out because of how organized her offerings are.

 “I want this store to be shoppable and pleasant to the eye,” Jones said.

 Jones plans to donate some of her profits back to nonprofits. She encouraged local organizations to reach out to her with their needs.

Cañon Made – Heat, pressure, and lasers spark couple’s “accidental” manufacturing business

The cozy apartment at the back of Tom and Cat Kerstiens home is something of a dream factory.

If you can dream it, this couple can design it and print, engrave and press it onto just about any material you can imagine.

Pyramids of etched pint glasses, leaning towers of t-shirts, rows of engraved wood and stone plaques fill every nook of Karma Studio, the couple’s blossoming craft manufacturing business.

The Kerstiens gathered in the studio on a recent Thursday evening as they do most evenings after a full day’s work, amid the glow of computer monitors and the hum of a half dozen high-tech machines, to create new products and fill orders.

“This was all an accident,” Tom said, pointing at his wife. “It’s her fault.”

Cat cracked a smile.

From hobby to growing business

It started with postcards featuring Cat’s bright, whimsical art. Her work caught on with a handful of vendors. Her creativity led her to seek a new medium for her ideas. Soon followed a heat press to print onto things like t-shirts and coffee mugs.

“All it took was her artistic vision, some heat, and some pressure. Boom, suddenly we had a little business on our hands,” Tom said.

Then, Tom said with a laugh, things got serious. Cat told him they needed a laser machine for engraving in glass and wood.

He relented, Tom said, but warned her he wasn’t going to mess with that equipment.

“That didn’t last,” Cat said. “As soon as he saw the laser sparking and jittering on the surface of the glass, he was hooked.”

Tom and Cat’s 11-year-old daughter, Amariah, has also found her favorite machine for creating products.

She has a knack for creating stickers and decals on a small machine called the “cricket”. She is also venturing into making her own shirts and hoodies on the direct-to-garment printing machine.

The most recent addition to the family of machinery at Karma Studio will allow the Kerstiens to laser engrave on metals and other products, opening a whole new line of possibilities for Tom and Cat to work their creative magic.

Karma Studio has grown fast in the last 18 months. The company’s products can be found in 40 retailers across the state, and requests continue to pour in for custom work.

Business boomed enough Cat is now working full-time for the studio.

For the Kerstiens, the late nights and calculated risks to invest in new equipment is paying off.

Small manufacturers have a mighty effect on the local economy

Encouraging small-scale, local manufacturers like Karma Studio fosters entrepreneurship and homegrown industries. Small-scale manufacturers range from food producers and jewelry makers to breweries and bakeries.

The vast majority of job growth springs from these types of small businesses, and though most serve a local market, some will inevitably grow to employ more people and tap outside markets that funnel new wealth into the community.

“When you start bringing wealth in from outside Cañon City by selling products regionally or nationally, those are primary jobs, and that’s how we build a stronger, more stable economy for everyone,” said Rick Harrmann, economic development manager for the City of Cañon City.

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Do you know of a small-scale manufacturing company in Cañon City you’d love to see highlighted? Send your ideas to tzdixon@canoncity.org. We would love to turn Cañon Made into a recurring feature that helps drive awareness of our local artisans, crafters and makers.