Winter Garden Collective to close up shop on May 3

The business will no longer operate from its Dillard location, but customers are encouraged to visit its Facebook to connect with artisans.

By Gabby Baquero
| 12:02 p.m. May 1, 2019

West Orange Times & Observer
News

From tooth-fairy pillows and gourmet confectionaries to bunny-eared baby rompers and crocheted octopus dolls, the Winter Garden Collective’s quaint space was the place to shop for anyone looking for local, handmade gifts.

However, after 18 months of operation, the gift boutique that invited local female artisans to display and sell their unique handcrafted wares plans to close Friday, May 3.

Operated by business owners Kathy Ogg of Re:Image Printing, and Shanny Rios of eSCENTials Bath, Body & Home, The Winter Garden Collective’s Dillard Street location proved to not be as ideal a spot because of the lack of foot traffic, Ogg said.

“There just weren’t enough customers around our location,” Ogg said. “Our location was never actually going to be for the Winter Garden Collective. The collective came out of that space after we found it for our production space. So the location wasn’t really ideal. It’s not walkable, and it’s not around too many things like downtown Winter Garden. So you kind of had to go there with a purpose, so that made it a little bit challenging for a lot of our clients.”

Ogg and Rios, who also share the building space for their own businesses, first formed the idea to open the Winter Garden Collective as a way to support local artisans trying to sell their products.

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Winter Garden Collective was one of three Winter Garden businesses to announce closures in recent weeks.

Let’s Skate, 14207 W. Colonial Drive, also announced its closure via Facebook.

“We enjoyed the last nine years and were honored to be such a prominent part of the community,” business officials wrote. “We will cherish all the memories that have been made in our skating rink forever.”

Similarly, Harry and Larry’s BBQ is closing its downtown Winter Garden location at 54 Plant St.

“My sister and I opened Harry and Larry’s BBQ 10 years ago right out of college,” co-owner Katie Claflin wrote on Facebook. “We have enjoyed every moment, the people, the employees, the changes and growth of Winter Garden and the changes and growth of our families. We both have young kiddos and are excited to focus on family. We are closing this chapter of the barbecue for the time being but will still own the building and are excited for what the space will become next. Thanks to everyone for the support over the last 10 years.”

And Rios, Ogg and their partner at the time, Drew Masangkay, saw the perfect opportunity to support local vendors when they noticed an empty area in the building.

“Shanny and I were looking for a production space since we own our own individual businesses, as well,” Ogg said. “And when we came across this building, it had this empty room in the front, and we wanted to do something with it and that kind of inspired us to open the Winter Garden Collective. ... So we just thought we’d reach out to women who were local artisans and offer them a spot there so that we could kind of support each other and help them get their name out there.”

Ogg added the duo didn’t make money from the Winter Garden Collective and did it only as a service to support other women artisans. They wish to continue supporting local artisans in the community and plan to keep their Facebook page active.

“We’re keeping our building, and still running our own businesses from the building, but we’re going to keep the Facebook page open, because we’ve really set ourselves up as the local experts to find out where you can get custom gifts,” Ogg said. “So we want to be able to keep promoting all the local talent that we have in our area. So we’ll still share what the local artisans are doing and kind of be that conduit between potential customers and the artisans.”

Ogg hopes those patrons who shopped at the Winter Garden Collective will continue supporting the artists in their community and peruse the Winter Garden Collective’s Facebook for gift ideas.

“Everyone should continue to support all these local artisans despite the collective being closed,” Ogg said. “There’s really so much talent in our town, and it just blows my mind. We started out with almost 20 artisans, and then we just kept meeting more talented and creative people. And that’s how Shanny and I also started — in our homes, the same way as all these women have. So we all have our own reasons for doing what we do, and we definitely want to keep supporting everyone.”