Fireflies and Fezziwigs features quality toys and games
Pioneer Times photo/Joseph CyrHOULTON — An empty storefront in downtown Houlton has new life for the holiday season as Fireflies and Fezziwigs, a “pop-up” shop featuring high-quality educational toys and books for children, celebrated its grand opening Friday evening.
Located in the former Visions/Blue Moon Gallery at 66 Main St, sandwiched in-between Hollywood Pet Salon and The Vault at Farmers National restaurant, Fireflies and Fezziwigs is the brainchild of Kathryn Harnish.
A pop-up business is a temporary store open for only a certain period of time, explained Harnish.
“I have a couple of friends who have done these types of businesses downstate, with locally-made products, so that is where I got the idea,” she said. “I was also taking with some people locally and they said one of the things Houlton needs is a toy shop.”
Pioneer Times photo/Joseph CyrHarnish, who is also the owner of the Vault at Farmers National restaurant and Took a Leap Farm with Rob Lawless, said she struggled at first with the idea of starting up another business in Houlton, but after consulting with friends she ultimately decided to “just go for it.”
“I decided to do it for the holiday season and see what the response is like,” she said. “It’s a little bit like market research. I’m curious to see how the community will respond and what they are interested in.”
Coming up with the brands of toys and types of children’s books to stock was relatively easy, she said.
“My mom was a children’s librarian, so the decision to have books was pretty easy,” Harnish said. “I picked out books that won awards. As for the toys, I wanted quality selections and picked an assortment of things I thought people might like that were also educational.”
One of the more popular items has been the hand-crafted, wooden trucks made by Larry Sawyer in Winterport. Those toys were featured on the shop’s Facebook page and have already sold out, but Harnish hopes to have more before Christmas.
“One of the challenges of having a shop that is open for such a short period of time is making sure it is stocked so people want to come in, but also not having a huge amount of stock left at the end,” she said.
Fireflies and Fezziwigs is open through Dec. 31 on Mondays and Tuesdays from 3-7 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, visit their Facebook page.
