Once in a Blue Moon International Gift Gallery has opened at 1535 W. Wabash in Springfield. The retail location occupies 2700 square feet in the other half of the Benchmark Auto building, just west of Little Saigon restaurant.

While the store has only been open for a week, owner Janet Barkmeier says she has come full circle, since she had the same type of business 20 years ago in a location on Wabash Avenue. “It’s an international gift gallery; everything in it is handmade,” she explained. The store carries a wide variety of jewelry, artwork, ceramics, gift items, and more.

Barkmeier is no stranger to the retail business. “I started in Lincoln in the 1970s; I had the Yellow Unicorn Gift and Pipe Emporium,” she said. “Then I opened Wildflowers Limited, a clothing store that was in a connected building. After that, I did a holiday store for a while.” Barkmeier also owns Blue Moon Communications, which handles marketing and design work. However, she is glad to be getting back into the retail side of things.

“I really missed the whole business and life finally settled down a little bit, so I was able to give it another go,” she said.

Barkmeier has hired four employees and the store is currently open Monday-Wednesday from 10 a.m.-6 p.m, Thursday and Friday from 10 a.m.-8 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

 

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