Hays Daily News, The (KS)

January 2, 2004
Brewster's peddler of crafts
Author: JAN KATZ ACKERMAN
Hays Daily News

BREWSTER - A tiny town in northwest Kansas is home to a craft store that services the tri-state region and is about to bust its seams.
When Carolyn Richards moved to Brewster in 1984, she was able to make her dream of opening a craft store come true.
"In June that year, Steve and I, along with our three children, Shawn, Scott and Trisha, all moved to this small rural community," Richards said. "A few months later, Steve called me from work and said that there was a building for sale downtown. The rest is history. We bought the building and opened the craft peddler on Dec. 1."
The unique name stems from the fact Richards, who lived in Syracuse before moving to Brewster, used to do wheat weaving and, as she says, she "peddled" the products she made.
"I kind of peddled my wares, and it just kind of became the craft store name. I wanted the name to be different, so it's all lowercase," she said.
Celebrating her 20th anniversary in business, Richards hosted an open house Nov. 13 and 14, just in time for the opening of the Christmas holiday season.
"This year we have more gift! items than ever," she said. "They look handmade, and we don't claim to make them, but sometimes people don't have time to make things so we have them for them."
Going from a building that had only about 1,000 square feet to one with 2,400 square feet, Richards isn't sure what she'll do about the fact she's about to bust her seams.
"We kind of cater to people who know we have cake-decorating items so we'll ship them to them," she said, walking up and down two long aisles of cake pans, cake stands and decorations.
An even larger section of the store, about one-third of the building, is home to a scrapbook section.
"I started out thinking, 'Do I want to do this?' when I thought of adding scrapbook items, but it's crept out of that back room into about one-third of the store," Richards said.
"It's just like a fungus, it keeps growing. It's a good fungus though, and it's been truly amazing," she said about one of the hot craft idea.
Not only ! can a crafter purchase items for his or her particular passion! , classe s are available for those wanting to learn.
Classes in scrapbooking, one-stroke painting, retro artwork, clay sculpting, aromatherapy soaps and creams, Christmas ornaments and jewelry can be signed up for by stopping by the store or calling Richards or one of her staff members, Debbie Luckert, Becky Luckert, Val Chleborad or Sherrie Eicher. In addition to these women, each school year Richards employs a Brewster High School student as part of the school's work-study program. This year's student is Jalyn Reid.
As part of the 20th anniversary celebration, Richards has had her employees, customers and friends contribute to a "first and last" cookbook. Selling for each, Richards said she wanted to commemorate this milestone in business with a cookbook that has recipes and several pages of photographs taken over the years at the craft peddler.
The cookbook was unveiled at the open house.
"This is the first and last cookbook. Actually, it's kind of a me! mories cookbook - memories of the past 20 years that is," Richards said.
Also unique at the craft peddler are licensed craft items such as charms and molds specifically designed to depict logos for Kansas State University and the University of Kansas.
"I hope by the first of the year to be licensed for Fort Hays State University, also," Richards said.
A quick tour around the store, any crafter will find his or her particular needed items, whether it be papier mache boxes, beads for making jewelry, ribbons, clay, stained-glass paint, doilies, paints, wooden cutouts, rubber stamps, frames, pom-poms sold individually or greeting cards. Also sold at the craft peddler are items that will help avid Red Hat Ladies complete their outfit or host their upcoming party or event.
With a customer base of almost 3,000 people in the tri-state region of northwest Kansas, southwest Nebraska and northeast Colorado, the craft peddler is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday! through Saturday. It is located in downtown Brewster at 313 K! ansas Av e. The phone number is (785) 694-2817. Richards can also be reached by e-mail at craftpeddler@st-tel.net.
Reporter Jan Katz Ackerman can be reached at (785) 628-1084, ext. 163, or by e-mail at ackermanjk@ruraltel.net
Copyright 2004, 2005 Hays Daily News, The (KS)
Record Number: 10A4E1FA29B77E9D