The Body Store Celebrates thirty fifth Anniversary of Present Possession
Simply previous the Ithaca Commons stands a pine inexperienced home. When patrons stroll in, they’re greeted with scents of sawdust and wooden glue. Colourful image frames line the partitions of the entryway, displaying the countless choices obtainable. People music accompanies the refrain of craftsmen, their saws and chisels busy at work. Welcome to The Body Store.
After a few years of enterprise at 414 W. Buffalo St., The Body Store is celebrating its thirty fifth anniversary of possession by the Russell household. All through its 35-year historical past, The Body Store has supplied high quality framing companies to the higher Ithaca neighborhood.
“Serving to our prospects defend, protect and superbly show their recollections,” The Body Store affords a variety of companies, framing many sorts of artwork and media, together with authentic works, maps, newspaper articles and puzzles. In keeping with their web site, they will body “about something you’ll be able to consider!”
We had “any person [come in] who had had a hysterectomy, so it was a knitted lady’s reproductive system that we put right into a shadow field,” stated Emily Russell, the proprietor of The Body Store. “Individuals have introduced in distinctive fossils which are very fragile that in the event that they received bumped may break in half.”
414 W. Buffalo St. has been dwelling to many companies earlier than The Body Store. The present home, constructed within the late 1800s, was initially occupied by a shoe retailer. Within the early 1900s, a grocery retailer referred to as Albert Huff’s Groceries operated out of this area. It will definitely turned The Body Store after Hugh and Adele Cheney purchased the shop round 1956, in response to their web site.
Nancy Russell started to work at The Body Store in 1986, the place she realized the artwork of framing underneath the Cheneys. She purchased the constructing from them in 1988 following their retirement. In 2004, Emily Russell joined the enterprise underneath her mom’s management.
“Subsequent yr shall be 20 years. I joined my mother, after which I ultimately purchased it from her,” Emily Russell stated. “I do principally the enterprise items, not likely the hands-on framing, so I’m doing all of the PR, advertising, HR and the whole lot you do when operating a enterprise. Now we have 5 different workers right here. Virtually everyone has been right here for over eight years.”
The Body Store is a member of many organizations, together with Native First Ithaca, the Skilled Image Framers Affiliation and the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce. It additionally identifies as a Dwelling Wage Employer and an Empire State Growth Minority/Girl-Owned Enterprise Enterprise.
“Now we have a reasonably robust repute locally. Individuals know us,” Emily Russell stated. We’re one of many few body retailers. Now we have seen a number of body retailers come and go. In all probability at one level, there needed to be 10 body retailers in Ithaca.”
Emily Russell defined that with restricted choices for framing companies in Ithaca, many artists and college students use The Body Store to border their works. To incentivize their patronage, The Body Store affords reductions for these artisans.
“For artists who’re going to point out their work or resell their work, we do provide a 20 p.c low cost, so we do get numerous calls from college students at Cornell from the structure program who’re about to do one in all their reveals,” Emily Russell stated.
Whereas The Body Store holds sturdy units of standard prospects amongst Ithacans and Cornellians alike, the shop stays wanting to welcome new consumers.
“We welcome anyone and everyone to The Body Store,” Emily Russell stated.
Jack Grossman ’27 is a Solar contributor and will be reached at [email protected].
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