Local entrepreneur calls it quits in Marion
Staff reporter
For longtime business owner Brenda McGinness, the writing was on the wall for her gift and flower shop, Brenda's Bloomers and Gifts, 329 E. Main, downtown Marion.
It was tough finding and keeping good help and her business in Hillsboro was taking off. What was she to do?
The difficult decision had to be made and that was to close the Marion shop and concentrate on Brenda's Bloomers and Gifts in Hillsboro.
For more than 20 years, McGinness has been a downtown Marion business owner. It all started with a Christian bookstore in a former service station at the corner of Fifth and Main. Currently it's the location of Jerry Cady Agency Inc. The bookstore then moved to a building west of the U.S. Post Office.
She was out of the business for a while but then purchased Kraft Korner and eventually moved it to the current location of Marion Wellness Center on West Main Street.
McGinness' business savvy eventually resulted in a combined business of Kraft Korner and The Casual Closet at the corner of Fourth and Main, where the St. Luke Hospital Auxiliary Thrift Shoppe is located.
She and husband David then purchased The Big Scoop and eventually McGillicuddy's, operating more than one business at a time.
The clothing portion of her business closed, so McGinness started The Flower Shoppe.
The couple was faced with the now common dilemma of being unable to find and maintain adequate employees at the restaurant, so it closed in January 2005.
In August 2006, McGinness opened her Brenda's Bloomers and Gifts in Hillsboro, when a full-time flower shop closed. Since that time, she has shared her time between the two stores and found it to be extremely difficult.
"I'm enjoying Hillsboro," McGinness said. "There's more of a market there and no full-time florist."
She has nothing but good wishes for the two new flower shops that recently opened in Marion.
"I hope the shops do well. I want all new businesses and Marion to do well," McGinness said, "but I have to go where I can make a living."
The McGinness' house is for sale.
"It's time to start over in a new community with new opportunities, new growth, and new friends," she said.
Brenda's Bloomers and Gifts of Hillsboro will honor gift certificates issues from the Marion store. The Marion building is for sale.
McGinness is appreciative of those who have supported her all of these years in her business ventures.
"We'll miss it but thought this was an opportunity we couldn't turn down."
