Owners planning soft opening during A’ROR’N Days
After seven years of the Old Homestead Market and Floral, the store is getting an expansion -- Homestead Style.
The past seven years have been filled with growth for owners Robin Sanderson and Jennie Snoberger, and now they will be expanding further into selling clothing items. Homestead Style will be located where Escape Aurora previously was, just around the corner to the north and west at 1214 12th St.
“We’ve always wanted to expand,” Sanderson said. “Whether it be to Grand Island or here, I considered Lincoln sometimes, because the market would be so much bigger.”
The Old Homestead is a unique store -- people from miles around come to shop there, so expanding was a no-brainer for the co-owners.
“There isn’t another store like ours anywhere else,” Snoberger noted.
The store has been selling clothing for the past few years, starting small with items like sweatshirts and t-shirts. But, they never wanted to impede on any other business’s market.
“We didn’t want to compete with anybody in town, but we wanted to compliment the other stores in town,” Snoberger explained.
“We’re all in this together,” Sanderson agreed. “The biggest thing that we’re for is that we’re all bringing the people to town to shop. It’s not just us wanting to do it. We want to do it so that they come to Honeysuckle, to Mo-Nets, to all of them.”
When they learned that the new store’s location would be available, they knew they had to take the chance.
“I said, “I don’t think we should,” And then I was like, “I think we should,” Sanderson said.
“It’s a great opportunity, it’s right out the back door of our flower shop. The location is perfect for us and it’s so convenient,” Snoberger added.
Then, Sanderson made an impromptu trip to Nashville to find the clothes and designers the store would sell. Though Snoberger couldn’t go, the two didn’t want to pass up the opportunity.
Navigating the clothing market was a large learning curve for the business owners.
“For home decor, we really have our set brands that we like, vendors that we like and stick with them,” Sanderson said.
But for clothes, the pair wanted to be able to feel and see the clothes in person.
“We were like, “where is the market? Where do you go? Where do you go to find clothes,” Snoberger said. “With clothing, you really want to see it, touch it and try it on. So even just figuring out where to go and what brands to shop for was kind of a challenge at first.”
Sanderson and Snoberger have planned the soft opening for Wednesday, June 19 through Saturday, June 23 -- coinciding with the A’ROR’N Days celebration.
The pair hopes to see an increased online presence with their new venture as well.
“I’d love to see it (Homestead Style) grow online and be a warehouse for that, and to not only just be a local style store, but to be in other people’s homes that are states away,” Sanderson said.
They are currently working towards housing everything they’ll have in-store on their website as well.
“We have people working on getting that going, and that’s kind of a process,” Sanderson said. “We had it going during COVID. We had the dip mixes and the candles and all of the home decor stuff, so we’ll kind of minimize that into one deal and then have clothing also.”
Sanderson and Snoberger strive to have pieces that are made and sold with longevity in mind.
“I want it to be classic and timeless, and not everything will be that way because the fun pieces are fun, but (we want to) kind of work those in with the timeless pieces that you’re gonna have for a long time,” Sanderson said.
The two hope that anyone who stops into the store will be able to find something that they like and want to take home with them.
“We try to make sure there’s pieces for teenage girls and grandmas and great-grandmas, too,” Snoberger said.
Ultimately, the pair hopes that anyone and everyone will feel welcome in their store -- along with finding styles that they love.