The rumors started where they usually do: on Facebook. Folks began to caution against doing business with the owner of a fairly new shop in downtown Sapulpa called The Vintage Attic. The story was that the owner was selling her vendor’s products but not paying the vendors their cut. As the comments and suspicions grew, it turned out that the rumors weren’t rumors at all. Talks of a class-action lawsuit began to swirl. Before move was made, the owner had closed the store and all but left town. We discovered a few days later that she was throwing in with another store in Broken Arrow, who is apparently selling her leftover items from her now closed store.
The building sat empty for a several weeks, a sad reminder of the spark of life that had been there just a few months earlier. Then the rumors started again: Someone was renovating the building in preparation for another new store, with the same business model as Vintage Attic. Immediately the questions began. Was this the same owner trying to pull the same stunt? Were the previous vendors going to be involved? Was anyone going to get to collect the money they were owed?
Finally, the truth came out: Lisa Greene, owner of Day Dreamer’s Essentials and The Flower Shop, located at 114 E. Dewey Ave, was relocating her products and picking up where The Vintage Attic left off.
Greene, a fairly new business owner who purchased Sapulpa’s 20-plus-year-old Flower Shop in May saw potential in the business model and location, and the opportunity to help out the vendors who had already established their name there. She began talking with the building owner about working an agreement with the vendors. “So far,” she says, “about 60% of them have signed on.” She’ll add those to her vendors from her current (soon to be former) location and by her launch date on November 2nd, she should have a fairly packed store.
Greene has made it clear that she is not affiliated with the previous owner in any way, even going so far as to assure her vendors in their contract. “Part of our agreement is that she will not be allowed to be a part of this business, either as a vendor, or as a patron,” Greene says. “If she shows up and is not immediately escorted out, I’ll be in violation of my agreement with my vendors.”
Despite the less-than-stellar reputation that the location has gathered over the last few weeks, Greene is confident that a fresh rehab of the space and a new name will bring in new business. “I’ve been asking customers what they want to see in windows of downtown Sapulpa,” she said. “They all say, ‘we’re shopping for vintage,’ and with this new shop, we’re just going to try to give them what they want.”
