Store owner makes her customers feel at home

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March 14, 2010

By LEE WARD The Daily Independent Sun Mar 14, 2010, 09:49 PM EDT

SUMMIT — If Dawn Fleming’s gift shop were mistaken for her home, it would be understandable, and it would be all right with her.

Fleming is the owner of Love Bears All, a shop set in a house on Summit Road. She said she opened her business in 1991 in a building “down the road” from the current location.

“I wanted to do something that would allow me to spend time with my daughter, who was 3 at the time,” she said, adding she soon realized how time-consuming owning a business is, even a small store.

“I thought I would be able to come and go, but I soon learned the more your business grows, the more demanding it is,” she said.

After seven years, she was able to buy a house for her business.

“Having the business in a house makes you feel at home,” she said. “It makes me feel more at home because I spend so much time here. And you can display items better.”

The pleasant, sweet smell of candles is the first thing visitors notice. The store offers a variety of the best brands of candles, many of them Kentucky made, including Candleberry.

In addition to candles and other items to scent the house, there are lotions and soaps, plaques, candies and other food items, dolls, dishes, flowers, wreathes and other gifts spread out through three rooms downstairs and two upstairs.

As buyer for her store, Fleming has to know what kind of items to keep in stock. She said she offers seasonal items. She also reads the trade publications and talks to sales representatives to keep on top of the trends in gifts. But she also said she understands her customers; regardless of the trends, she said she buys what she knows her customers will want or need, and will buy.

“Many of my customers are good friends,” she said. “Some of my customers have become friends.”

One of those customers, retired teacher Brenda Campbell of Catlettsburg, said she is a regular at the store. She said she likes the gift baskets.

“My daughter came in from North Carolina and bought gifts for her staff here,” Campbell said.

Fleming added, “I wrapped them all for her so she wouldn’t have to do that when she got home.”

Her store is classified as a general gift store; she said she carries few primitive items.

It’s not just about what’s in the store, either. Fleming offers the service of making gift baskets and floral arranging. She also does some interior design, mostly for close friends.

“I try to personalize everything I do,” she said. “I think it makes a big difference.”

Fleming said she had no business background but she believes she inherited her creativity from her mother, who she said was multi-talented, and her grandmother, who was a professional seamstress at several department stores in Huntington.

She also got some help from her four children, who helped her in the store as they got old enough. She said they learned to earn their own money and manage it.

“Recently my youngest son told me the reason all the children are hard workers is because I was a good example,” she said. “That means a lot to me.”

Love Bears All’s winter hours are Monday through Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call (606) 928-6112. Fleming said samples of her gift baskets and floral arrangements can be seen on the store’s Facebook page.

LEE WARD can be reached at lward@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2661.

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