Small Business Spotlight: Need a place to display your crafts? There are Things for That

Long active in Wichita’s crafting community, Deona Soderberg and Jennifer Buhrman are now offering fellow crafters a retail space to sell their creations.

“We both like to craft,” said Soderberg, who manages Things for That. “We’ve just always had a dream to help the local crafting community by opening a handcrafted-gift store.”

Buhrman, who is Soderberg’s daughter, owns Things for That along with H&R Block franchises in Winfield and Arkansas City.

“I am supposed to be retired,” Soderberg said. “My husband saw me more when I was working.”

Things for That opened in May at Maple and Ridge, in 2,400 square feet formerly occupied by a children’s clothing store. Its own sign didn’t go up until three weeks ago, but that hasn’t stopped buyers or sellers from stopping by.

The store features items from 61 crafters, and Soderberg said she signed up five more on Monday. The crafters set prices and mark their items with vendor numbers. But the store is set up a like a traditional retail space rather than with each crafter having his or her own booth, as in a fair.

“We didn’t want somebody to walk in and say, for instance, ‘There’s Betty’s things.’ We want them to see Betty’s things throughout the store.”

Soderberg said “99 percent” of the items carried are handcrafted. The exceptions are essential oils that Buhrman sells. She previously ran a business called Oils for That on 13th Street.

The store also carries signs made out of license plates that Soderberg and and Buhrman have been making and selling at craft shows under the name Plates for That.

“We just combined it in one place now,” Soderberg said.

Other items for sale in the store include, Soderberg said, “paper art, things made out of wood, things made out of dominoes. People using Scrabble pieces to make things. Lots of crocheted items – blankets, quilts.

“There’s a really unique welder in there that makes things out of nuts, bolts, screws, wrenches – anything you can think of, everything from an elephant to bugs, spiders, skaters, volleyball players.”

Homemade greeting cards, scrapbooking supplies and painted glass are also for sale.

“We have one (vendor) as young as 15 who’s sold several things,” Soderberg said. “My tastes may be different than somebody else’s. We want a lot of creativity in there, a lot of different price ranges.”

While most vendors still travel to fairs to sell their crafts, Things for That gives them a place where “their stuff is on display all month,” Soderberg said.

She and her daughter change the window display frequently so it doesn’t “look the same it did two weeks ago” to passers-by.

The two also plan to offer classes for people who want to learn crafting from people who specialize in rock painting and more.

“We plan to hold a lot of different events here,” she said.

This story was originally published August 10, 2016 at 2:58 PM with the headline "Small Business Spotlight: Need a place to display your crafts? There are Things for That."