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Store Managers:
Brenda Neufeld (nee: MacPherson)
& Husband Brad Neufeld
photo by: Sean Camp of Lucid Musings
St Marys Ontario Canada |
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In 1972, my parents, Joan & Dick MacPherson, expanded their retail variety business in St. Marys, Ontario
by stocking art & craft supplies. Soon afterward
a separate store was established for the crafts supplies,
hereafter known as MacPherson Arts & Crafts, which
grew to over 8,000 square feet of retail space. For
several years MacPherson Arts & Crafts was the largest
craft supplies retail business in Canada.
I worked in the store in the early years for seven years.
To it's credit MacPherson Arts & Crafts has weathered
the onslaught of big box stores opening across Canada,
the introduction of GST and various downturns in the
economy in the past 27 years.
In 1989, I was re-hired as the marketing manager.
I developed the mail order business and the art &
craft classes as adjuncts to the main business. Since
that time a mailing list in excess of 20,000 customers
from every part of Canada has been developed and maintained.
Meanwhile my husband, Brad Neufeld, worked as the business
manager, taking care of importing & exporting, payroll
and related duties for six years.
After six years in this position we left and
were instrumental in the start up of a regional country
newspaper with a circulation of 25,000 farms in Southwestern
Ontario.
In 1998 Joan & Dick MacPherson were debating closing
MacPherson Arts & Crafts within a few years as they
wanted to retire soon and had another retail business
they needed to focus on.
In 1999, we decided to take over MacPherson Arts & Crafts as store manager's rather than see it eventually
close. We re-organized the retail store, re-started
the art & craft classes and created a web site for
the business. We decided to downsize the retail store
& focus on knowing what they sell and running related
classes to these products rather than having something
of everything but unknowledgeable service. The motto
for MacPherson Arts & Crafts is "For the Serious
Crafter" & we have had the pleasure of
meeting many talented artisans & crafters around
the Country.
In the past few years we were focusing mainly on tole & decorative painting but since the closing of some trade shows and the slowing down of paint supply sales; at this point we have shifted our focus to a growing popular new art form called "Reborn or Newborn Doll Making". We are the exclusive Canadian distributor for Secrist Doll Company, a manufacturer of these realistic looking vinyl doll kits. These dolls are often mistaken for real babies and we run classes on how to create the reborn/newborn dolls on a regular basis right here in our studio and of course you can get almost any supplies from us you need to create these beautiful babies! We still pride ourselves in carrying hard to find items such as chair caning, lazertran tranfer paper, sculpting supplies, beading and much more. You can visit us at the store in St.
Marys in person, on the internet or by telephone.
St. Marys is a beautiful historical town www.townofstmarys.com nestled in a valley along the Thames river....just 15
minutes from the famous Shakespearian Festival in Stratford
Ontario, 20 minutes from the north edge of London Ontario
and 1 1/2 hours from Toronto Ontario. There are many
quality Bed & Breakfasts in St Marys as well as
the five star Westover Inn (where actor Christopher
Plummer stays).
www.westoverinn.com. We can arrange to book our Weekend Workshop
Students at bed and breakfast places just a few blocks away from the store...believe
us....you will want to come back!
Come visit MacPherson Arts & Crafts (NW corner
of Queen and Water St) in St. Marys Ontario and enjoy
a stay you will never forget!!
Here are what some of our customers have to say...
Just a short note to thank Michelle and all the staff at Macpherson for an enjoyable workshop...I have never been involved in anything artistic before but I think I have found something I am going to get more and more enthused about, again thanks to all....I attached some pics of my finished baby...Madison...
thanks
Marylin Howard-Beauchamp
"In response to your welcoming words & asking
me to introduce myself to
you, next time I'm in your wonderful business location,
I sure will!
My father used to love to come to MacPherson's
for caning supplies...he's
been gone for 10 years now but his beautifully hand-caned/re-finished
chairs
of quality endure as a legacy of his interest in your
product line.
I'm a decorative painter & a needlewoman & have
always considered your
"store" to be my personal favourite.
And I've travelled abroad last winter, as far
south as New Orleans, and
I've yet to find a resourceful 'business' as yours,
anywhere...so I'm a huge
fan...and a very satisfied, repeat customer.
Looking forward to meeting you.
By the way, your staff has always been most helpful
without being "in my
face" when I'm busily choosing my next project
to work on...they've been
there to help in any way possible with their expertise
but I've appreciated
the freedom afforded to me to 'browse' at my own pace.
So kudos to your staff & your
way of doing 'friendly business'...it's a
business practice that's obviously successful!"
Sincerely,
Judy Morrison.
Thank you so much for your very prompt response to
my order for two hanks of chair caning, near the end
of business day Tuesday. The package notice was
left at my house in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Wednesday
afternoon. You must have made a perfect connection
to Canada Post.
Our "Cane Fest" chair
caning holiday can go ahead. Your help is much appreciated.
Best wishes,
Laura Macdonald
Just a little note to say thank
you for the wonderful weekend and all the little
extras you girls have done for us (basecoating,
bed & breakfast, etc).
The trip was definately worth it.
Hopefully, we'll
be seeing you again in the spring. Keep up the
good work!! :-)
Carole & Carmen
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