Customers of Northwoods Gallery and Gifts finally will get to see the result of two months of renovations when owners Connie and Doug Cuthbertson open their latest expansion Friday.
Northwoods will delay opening its doors that day until 11 a.m., with extended hours until 7 p.m.
The latest addition increases the Scott Street store another 800 sq. ft. into area occupied by Leisure Time (which moved out in late February), bringing its total floor space to more than 4,120 sq. ft.
Plans to expand the store began last July when the Cuthbertsons purchased the building.
“We plan to turn it into a tourist area where we will sell T-shirts, sweatshirts, jams, wild rice, maple syrup–the full spectrum,” Connie Cuthbertson said Monday morning.
Unique to the area will be wooden “moose” mannequins made by her dad, Harlan Faragher. They’ll be used to display clothing.
“We’ll have to give them names,” she chuckled, noting the “moosequins” hopefully would catch the eyes of passers-by.
“Key to this whole thing was how to catch the attention of people driving by,” said Cuthbertson. “I travel a lot and I keep thinking–what makes me stop at a store, what makes me want to stay?”
Once the tourist season is over, Cuthbertson plans to continue other themes in the new store area, including making it a special place for Christmas shoppers.
“Keeping the space mobile will be interesting because it won’t be static for us or for our customers,” she noted.
Northwoods also underwent an exterior facelift last weekend when the storefront was replaced with cedar siding. A new and bigger storefront sign also will be put up.