It’s part of the fabric of Old Lyme –“people would string us up if we closed,” quips co-owner Chris Kitchings. She’s talking, of course, about The Bowerbird, the extremely popular and highly successful gift store on Hall’s Rd. in Old Lyme.
But the winds of change are blowing amongst the tree-trimmings, cards, toys and so many more “Impulsive Necessities,” for which the store is renowned. Jennifer Torgersen, who has co-owned the store with Kitchings since its humble beginnings on Lyme Street in May 1989, is retiring.
She explains, “My family is scattered,” noting her husband has been living and working in Washington D.C. area for several years now and her children are variously located in Nicaragua, California and Denver. “It’s got to the point that’s it’s been long enough,” she states emphatically and so she has made the difficult decision that her last day will be Dec. 31 of this year.
Torgersen looks back fondly on the 24 years she has spent working with Kitchings. Asked how The Bowerbird came about, both women laugh and Torgersen recalls, “It was the first day of Kindergarten in Old Lyme and [her son], “Kristo got off the bus and said he’d just met his best friend.” The friend in question was Kitchings’ son Charlie and thus began the friendship between the two young mothers, which ultimately blossomed into The Bowerbird. And, for the record, and perhaps indicative of the success their mothers would enjoy, those two Kindergarten friends are still best friends today.
Back in the 80s, Kitchings had already concluded that Old Lyme “needed a gift store in town,” because there was “no place local” to buy gifts – at that time, the nearest gift store was in Guilford. But she didn’t share her idea with anyone until Torgersen came into her life as a result of their son’s growing friendship.
With a lifetime of retailing experience, Torgersen helped Kitchings turn the latter’s seed of an idea into reality. Torgersen had previously been a buyer for Lord and Taylor, but when they opened their first store in the 400 square foot premises opposite the Lyme Street Firehouse, which subsequently became The General Store, both women “shared everything” serving together as ‘Jacks of all trades.’
Over the years, however, they started “to play to their strengths,” says Torgersen, developing a division of responsibilities that involved Kitchings “Running everything behind the scenes” and Torgersen being the “Visual merchandiser out front.”
Asked how they arrived at the charismatic store name, Torgersen responds that they were “floating names around, looking for something unique,” when she suddenly mentioned the bird found only in New Guinea and northern Australia, in which the males of the species, according to Wikipedia, “build a structure and decorate it with sticks and brightly colored objects in an attempt to attract a mate.” Torgersen had recently returned from living in Australia and so was familiar with the bird.
As they researched further, the friends discovered that the all-black bird was, “a bit of a playboy, but also a smart bird, who redecorates if it doesn’t work out.” The name seemed perfect in every way, but as Torgersen says with a broad smile, they broke every rule in the branding book as they simply picked the name they liked without regard to defining the whole brand.
Enter Rob Braunfeld of Hadlyme, who dropped by one day to see if the store would sell his postcards and ended up with a contract to design their signature bowerbird. Subsequently, he has designed all their advertising and, according to Kitchings, has given, “Personality to the bird” with his charming designs.
The tiny store on Lyme Street soon outgrew itself and the women went looking for new premises. Kicthings recalls approaching Matt Prosser, the owner of the Old Lyme Marketplace, and asking about the store previously occupied by Brown’s Hardware. He told them unequivocally, “You don’t want that space,” but Kitchings insisted and not only did they operate in it successfully for the next seven years, but in 2000, they opened another major expansion to the store on Halls. Rd..
Did they ever imagine that The Bowerbird would become so successful becoming effectively a household name? Kitchings doesn’t hesitate for a second in her response, “Absolutely,” she says firmly, continuing cheerfully, “We never had any doubts.”
And the secret to their success? Kitchings responds thoughtfully, “We taken risks … and we’ve probably worked much harder than most people would want to work.” Both women note that have used computer technology since the very beginning of their venture, recalling the Apple 2C on which they originally recorded inventory, although they hand-wrote the sales tickets at that time. Now the store has 10 computers and five check-outs, but they still “track everything,” and significantly – and a key ingredient in retail success — “know how the stock moves.”
Asked how she plans to continue without her colleague of so many years, Kitchings explains that the business is structured legally as a partnership and so, in order to retain that status, she is naming her husband Ken as a partner and giving him a share of the business. She says with a chuckle that she doesn’t expect him to be more than a silent partner, since he is currently intimately involved in the re-establishment of the Old Lyme Inn as a major dining and entertainment spot in town.
Kitchings notes “Retail is at a critical juncture – we feel we’re still making a contribution. This was our biggest year yet for our online business.” The store has been widely recognized both as the best Gift Shop in Connecticut for four consecutive years by Connecticut magazine and nationally for their significant level of charitable donations. Kitchings remarks that The Bowerbird has donated over $62,000 to various charities from their 20 years of charging a nominal sum for gift-wrapping. She notes, “That’s really community helping community – we were one of the first stores to do a charitable program like that.”
As for Torgersen, she plans on moving down to Alexandria, Va., to live again full-time with her husband, Tom, and have time to visit her children and grandchildren – or, in a nutshell, to have, “a little more freedom.” First she has to sell their house in Old Lyme, which will go in the market in the New Year, and notes she’s pretty much booked through January and February. Her goal is to move “all the flotsam and jetsam” out of Old Lyme in the early part of 2013 and to be in Virginia by late spring.
Torgersen hopes folk will drop by the store this week to reminisce and say goodbye to her: Kitchings adds that a farewell extravaganza is planned for Torgersen in January.
Kitchings says the greatest challenge of losing her partner of 24 years will be not having someone round “who knows the minutiae of the store,” or who, Torgersen jokes, “… can finish her sentences!”