Today, gift seekers can head
to Cleveland’s Fiddlehead
Gallery or hop back across
the street to Eclectic
Eccentric in Shaker Heights.
Crafty home improvement
types can channel their
inner artist with a chalk
paint class at Shaker’s
Metheny Weir. Need a new
‘do? Shaker Heights’ Martel Salon can help. Your
canine need one, too? Across the street, Cleveland’s
Groovy Grooming specializes in putting your
pooch’s best paw forward.
“This amalgamation of different businesses
makes the District more interesting,” says Harriet
Logan, owner of Loganberry Books. But for Logan,
amalgamation goes beyond having a good mix
of entrepreneurial enterprises in Larchmere. As
a retailer who subleases part of her building to a
complementary company – Strong Bindery, operated
by Ellen Strong – it’s also part of her business plan.
“When Harriet told me she was moving to
her new space, she said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if you
moved over here to Larchmere?’,” recalls Strong,
whose first Bindery location was in Cleveland’s
Murray Hill. “It’s one of the best things I did. The
reason being that when someone wants a book
repaired, they either go to a librarian or a bookseller.
Harriet can just send people down the hall.”
That cooperation, coupled with a spirit of
empowerment for hopeful entrepreneurs – particularly
women – seems to be the rule with Loganberry’s
four Shaker Heights neighbors: Eclectic Eccentric
and Two Crows for Joy, who share the space
immediately west of Loganberry on Larchmere, and
Metheny Weir and The Housewarmings, located in
the storefront at the corner of Cheshire Road and
Larchmere Boulevard. Each of the businesses is
woman-owned and the two pairs, like Loganberry
and Strong Bindery, offer customers products and
services that are similarly themed.
Carina Reimers, a native of Hamburg,
Germany and owner of The Housewarmings, says
she was attracted to Larchmere because it reminded
her of home. “This is almost as close as I could get
to the lifestyle at home because of the individual
shops, the window shopping, and the street
events,” says Reimers, whose gift shop doubles as a
showroom for her uniquely distressed chalk-painted
furniture and home decorations.
“This is the kind of thing you can get in New
York. You have so many people on the street and
there’s vibrancy. It’s what I miss from Hamburg.”
Reimers, who lives in Fernway, subleases the
front of Kim Metheny and Sue Weir’s space. When
she decided to move from her first location in the
back of Juma Gallery on Chagrin Boulevard, she
wanted a front-facing window but she didn’t want
to sign a long-term commitment. “I’m grateful that
they offered me the space without having to sign a
full year lease. I didn’t want to throw a lot of money
into a new business.” Today, she jokes that her
inventory is crowding Metheny Weir’s space.
But Sue Weir and Kim Metheny enjoy the
chemistry they have with Reimers. The positive
relationship and their well-known location have
enabled their business to grow and recently, to open
a second location on the West Side in Rocky River.
“We like Larchmere. It’s convenient. Everybody can
get here,” Metheny says.
“We wouldn’t be in business without each
other,” adds Reimers.
The story is similar next door at vintage and
consignment shop Eclectic Eccentric, owned by
Tracey Hilbert, and Two Crows for Joy, owned by
children’s clothing designer Anne MacGilvray. Being
neighbors in Fernway originally brought the two
together, though Hilbert was already familiar with
MacGilvray’s clothing line, Adooka Organics.
Shared Spaces
A visitor who still thinks of Larchmere as
an antiques destination will be pleasantly
surprised by its mélange of retailers and
restaurants. While the District was an
antiques destination from the 1970s
through the 1990s, its offerings have
broadened decidedly since then.
(left-right)
Conservation Studios,
Loganberry Books,
The Dancing Sheep,
The House Warmings,
Metheny Weir, Strong
Bindery
52 SHAKERONLINE.COM | FALL 2014