A Treasure in Trouble

Until yesterday, I never really thought about the current bad economy. Other than tuition going up %5 I was not effected by it really. I heard about jobs being lost at the local factory and price cuts but it was never personal…like I said, until yesterday.
Happy Belated St. Paddys
It is also my boyo DC’s birthday (such a Irish baby).
I took him out for food at the local German restaurant (there aren’t any Irish pubs here sadly) and we stopped in on our friends Brandy and June at Unique Treasures which is just down the street form the restaurant.
We found June and her daughter and sat down to talk.
The place is in trouble. With the bad economy, Brandy has pulled out and she wants to close.
I didn’t understand. I thought June meant close that day. She meant permanently.
Unique Treasures is a treasure in itself. The place is beautiful; an old jewelry store that has turned café/boutique. Great coffee, lovely tea, beautiful antiques and charms and trinkets. Everything is for sale, including the seat you’re sitting on.
June reads tarot cards in the front room that looks like it came out of a beautiful gypsy caravan with tapestries and comfortable chairs and dim lighting. (So far I’ve found her readings to be correct)
Brandy wanted June to pull out as well but Unique Treausrures is not just June’s place of business but her home and her daughter’s home.
Determined not to loose this treasure in downtown Johnson City, I’m doing what I can to stir them up some business (getting an ad in the school paper where I work, having my Jane Austen class an hour earlier there, and encouraging others to do the same).
DC and I will be helping June out this Sunday, doing some heavy lifting.

If any of the readers here are local to the Tri-cities area I would love to encourage you to visit Unique Treasures. It really is a beautiful place.