After less than a year in business, a Williamsburg-area shop is making a move from Lightfoot to New Town.
In an effort to gain more storage space and a better location for customers on shopping trips, the Ivy Trellis will open at 5104 Main St. in New Town in late February or early March, owner Rosa Mann said.
The shop, which sells decor, gifts and more, opened in Lightfoot in April 2018. It has been closed since late December because Mann needed to rest after breaking her foot in September.
“I had already told my entire customer base we’d be taking a break to do inventory and be closed,” Mann said. “They just didn’t also know I was moving.”
Mann began moving her inventory to the new location on Main Street in New Town about a week ago.
Mann said the move will open new opportunities for both herself and her customers.
The new location is a few hundred square feet larger and has more storage space — something Mann said her Lightfoot location lacked.
Mann also said she listened to her customer base over her eight months in Lightfoot and realized she was missing something: Lunch.
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“A huge percentage of my customers asked me why don’t I serve food with the outdoor seating and courtyard,” Mann said. “One day, a man walked into the shop and asked me ‘What’s for lunch?’”
Mann found many of her customers enjoyed grabbing a bite to eat at various locations in New Town — especially Opus 9 — while out on shopping trips. The desire to be in a more-traveled location for her customers prompted Mann to consider a lease in New Town.
Her new location is just a quick walk down the street from Opus 9.
“When you hear it several times over, you really need to think right now, ‘Maybe that’s a niche I should try to fill for my customers,’” Mann said.
While the location is new, some aspects are a step back in time for Mann.
The first iteration of the Ivy Trellis opened in Farmville in 1994, selling a collection of items Mann adored, including fabrics and home fashion. That business operated for about 16 years in multiple locations along Farmville’s Main Street.
Mann was also part of a group of female business owners in Farmville who banded together for advertising, weekly breakfasts, book clubs and cross-merchandising.
In New Town, her neighbors include the Nautical Dog and Life is Good Williamsburg — both of which are owned by women.
Mann said the move to New Town is “certainly a risk” because of higher overhead costs, but she is confident the move will help grow her business.
“I’ve always been a Main Street kind of girl,” Mann said.
