BOALSBURG — A Basket Full, a locally owned boutique, is celebrating its 35th anniversary in style. The store will be hosting a “Blossom Bash” party in their store and garden.
Pam Bair, the owner of A Basket Full, got a degree in elementary education and began her career working in the Childhood Development Council as an administrator. However, she had always dreamed of opening a shop.
“But in the back of my mind, I always wanted to have a craft shop. I love doing crafts, and so a Basket Full in Boalsburg was up for sale,” Bair said. “It was more a gift shop, but I could see how I could make it a gift and craft shop.”
For the first eight years that Bair owned A Basket Full, it was in a different location, and it was a country gift shop. However, when she finally moved locations and had learned her clientele, she was able to change the contents of the store.
“It is a real challenge, trying to figure out what to buy and what’s going to sell and then you’re stuck with something that you absolutely loved, and you go, ‘Why didn’t that sell?’ Fortunately, we’ve gotten past that,” Bair said.
Bair is able to do this with help from her staff. Maggie Markle is her go-to staff member. Markle has been at a Basket Full for the 34-35 years that Bair has owned it.
Robin Brouse, another one of Bair’s go-to staff members, who began working at A Basket Full 12 years ago, has helped with curating the store to what customers want to see. Bair discussed how Brouse has an eye for jewelry and knows what customers want to see.
“Maggie has a great eye for fashion, and so between the two [Brouse] of them, they have taken my store a totally different direction and made it more of we used to be a gift boutique,” Bair said. “Now we are a fashion and gift boutique because of those two women, and I go along with them. I trust them completely.”
Bair has also trusted both Markle and Brouse with the planning of events. Not only are they planning the “Blossom Bash,” but they also planned the most recent event at the boutique, “A Fascinating Night — A Kentucky Derby-Themed Event.”
Bair came up with the idea herself when she was in the store one day and someone came in asking if they knew where she could buy a fascinator. Bair started looking up where the store could buy fascinators.
“After she walks away, I said, ‘we need to have a party before the Kentucky Derby,’ and people can come in and shop and we can just party,” Bair said.
A Basket Full’s “Blossom Bash” will be happening on Saturday, May 3, to help celebrate Bair and A Basket Full’s time in the community. For more information on the event, look out for their website basket-full.com/#/ and their Facebook page, where they do live streams every Friday.
The store itself is located at 121 E. Main St. in Boalsburg and is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Monday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday.
