As you walk down along the riverwalk in Astoria, take a quick detour and you’ll run into the Rusty Dahlia at 100 10th Street. The store is home to gifts, goodies and two great friends and entrepreneurs, Teresa Varner and Mary Thorsen. With products new and restored, the Rusty Dahlia boasts retail and instructive craft-making classes since it opened last March. The women have thrived in their new business through a year of tourism and holidays and are taking lessons learned into their second year.
Mary and Teresa were young when their dream to open a business began. When on walks after college, their talk would turn toward the future and using their creativity in a store. As they grew and developed careers and families, they stayed close through crafting. “It’s been a fun hobby that allowed us to spend time together,” Mary explains. “Painting, garage-saleing, refurbishing and restoring.” Teresa agrees, “It was an excuse to hang out.”
This hobby led to an income about 5 years ago when they started to sell their finds and creations through local antique malls and at Country Crafters barn sales. Then Rusty Dahlia’s current location became available in March 2017. Teresa, Mary, and their collaborators Julie Bay and Tiffany Hunt, decided to open a home decor boutique together. The store focuses on farmhouse style, with displays that highlight a cozy feel. Linens and hats for Astoria’s chilly days are interspersed with Rusty Dahlia’s key brands, including Fiestaware, Miss Mustard Seed and Annie Sloan paints.
Although the first year in business can be challenging, Mary and Teresa are only positive. “All of it is new to me,” Mary explains. But what has been tricky this year? “Only small stuff,” she adds.
This roll with it attitude may be linked to the women’s experience. Both Varner and Thorsen have encountered stress on the job before. Mary was a surgical nurse for 22 years before changing careers in 2016 and Teresa has been a teacher for 10 years. The friends are used to being busy and thinking on their feet. Crafting was always been a stress reliever for these high energy women. “It was a different avenue,” Mary shares. “It’s fun.” So the switch to crafting as a career when they opened Rusty Dahlia last year was easy.
What was surprising? “The time commitment and how much it takes to grow a business,” they both agree. Lucky for them, they have a team of four experienced women working together to make their endeavor successful, plus Mary’s husband Erik. He does the bookkeeping, financials, taxes, payroll, etc. “Everything, really we couldn’t do it without him,” they add.
The store is a passion. Mary runs the day-to-day after a transition from her work in healthcare, while Teresa shares time between teaching and the business. “I’m getting better at balancing,” she explains. “I want to be successful in both and if I’m organized all things can happen, including time for my kids, really being there for them.” It’s worth it she says, because, “Rusty Dahlia is a release, my happy place, there is no other way to describe it.”
Everyone collaborates on the dream. Julie and Tiffany help with displays and pitch in wherever is needed. Tiffany’s daughter, Madison, also keeps the store operating when the women are away. Just look for the smiling happy gal behind the counter – that’s Madison.
Teresa’s teaching experience has been helpful in Rusty Dahlia’s business model as well. The team hosts classes where a group of like-minded people come together to create something for their home. “Everyone wants to be there and is happy,” Mary notes, whether it be to make a clock, holiday sign or tool box. They have also hosted kids craft classes, led by Julie, and private parties.
In celebration of their first year, the team will be hosting a Spring Open House March 8 – 11. If you attend, look forward to homemade treats, raffle prizes and new spring products to commemorate this exciting milestone. In the next year, they hope to grow. Making classes easier to sign up for and expanding their notoriety for gift registries are just two of their 2018 pursuits.
If you’d like to sign up for a class with Teresa and Mary, visit the store or message Rusty Dahlia on Facebook. At all classes, Teresa says, you get to “walk away with something and feel accomplished along the way.”
