Shoppes at 127 to mark 40 years in Geneva

GENEVA – When Jane and Bill Briner opened Persimmon Tree on Geneva's Third Street 40 years ago, neither of them had retail experience.

“I was a nurse, and Bill was a banker,” said Jane Briner, 70. “We just had always wanted our own business, whether it was wholesale or retail. I wanted a business in Geneva. I fell in love with the town … and I wanted a business on Third Street.”

Renamed Shoppes at 127, located at 127 S. Third St., in 2011, the concept of renting out space to independent companies under one roof has worked remarkably well, Jane said.

The store features several brands of baby clothes, such as Kissy Kissy and Mud Pie, as well as Bearington Bear and Douglas stuffed animals, she said.

Other boutiques among the 4,000 square feet at Shoppes at 127 include Regalia, Salt Creek Pottery, Skarah Designs in Glass, De’Marco Designs, Sister Scissors, Bonnie’s Garden Art, Next Chapter, Poppy and Tea Junction, she said.

“We don’t rent anything less than 4-by-6, and because everybody owns the aisle, they pay for 2 feet of the aisle. We have a 4-foot aisle through the store,” Jane said.

The couple first rented half the building when they opened on Oct. 18, 1976, but after the owner wanted to move, they bought the building, she said.

“I’d done enough investing in real estate to do it,” Jane said. “We put a cooking school in, and by the third year, we doubled the size. I brought in local people who were known for teaching food classes and then we began to bring in cookbook authors.”

Eventually they stopped the cooking school and used all the space for retail, she said.

Jane found she loved creating displays and promotions and dealing with people.

“I always did displays in my dreams at night, and I woke up knowing what I was going to do,” she said.

At first, the couple was going to name their store Blue Strawberry after a restaurant in New Hampshire, Jane said. But after the restaurant threatened to sue, they had to come up with something else.

“My mother started naming fruit and vegetables,” Jane said. “She said, ‘You like the color orange, Jane. Why not a persimmon?’ We picked it, but nobody could spell it.”

So when they renamed the store, Jane said they picked something simple and easier to remember than Persimmon Tree.

Their success is tied to the business community in Geneva, Jane said.

“Geneva is a unique town. You really do find that out,” she said. “They care a lot for their people and their businesses. It is a pretty workable relationship.”

Their concept allowed people who thought they wanted to own a business a chance to try it out without investing in 1,200 square feet and a five-year lease, Jane said.

“It all goes through one cash register. Each has a vendor code so [purchases] all go to the proper place,” Jane said. “We were one of the first stores in Geneva that had a computer.”

Bill Briner, 73, said he remembers the first time it hit him – the chance they were taking.

“It was right after I quit the bank, and I went out and got the mail,” Bill said. “And there was my mortgage statement. ... That was the realization we have to make this work. It was reality hitting me in the face, and I have not forgotten it.”

The contingency plan was for him to go back into banking if it failed, he said. But after the second year, the couple realized it was working, he said.

Still, he remembers their naiveté when the first shipment of gifts for their store was delivered to their house.

“I said, ‘Wow, this is great. How are we going to price this stuff? Where are we going to get price tags?’” Bill said he remembers saying.

“We got lucky that Jane had a very good sense of display and I had a good business aspect that worked out well for us,” Bill said. “We feel very fortunate we were able to raise our two children and be able to be at school activities because we were self-employed.”

Despite being well into retirement age, neither has any intention of quitting, they both said.

“It’s been a nice run,” Bill said. “If we could go back 40 years, would we do it over again? Yes. We would not make the same mistakes, but we’d probably make new ones.”