Piety Ridge Primitives store closing after 30 years

June 4, 2014 · 0 Comments

By Mark Pavilons
All journeys must come to an end.
A fixture in Schomberg will be closing its doors after more than two decades gracing the Main Street.
Piety Ridge Primitives, owned and operated by Kathi Vogan, will close at the end of July.
In late 2013 Kathi was diagnosed with an illness that has curtailed her retail career. It has become necessary to end the Piety Ridge Primitives journey. Kathi passed away at home June 5.
A closing sale is in the works with substantial savings.
While Kathi will miss going into Piety Ridge on Main Street Schomberg every day, it is a given that Main Street will also miss Piety Ridge Primitives after more than 25 years.
The store’s history is one filled with character and charm, just like the items that grace its shelves.
Kathi and her staff have been familiar faces in Schomberg, providing the spark and passion that small town Ontario is known for.
Aside from operating the store, Kathi has been instrumental, along with her husband Gary, in creating and promoting the popular Christmas in Kettleby artisan show and sale. Gary remains a strong supporter of the King Township Food Bank.

The Evolution

In the fall of 1983, Bea Grant walked into Landmark House antiques. Landmark was a weekend hobby business at 332 Kettleby Road specializing in Canadiana. Bea was an avid collector and an authorized Adele Bishop stencil instructor. In the winter of 83/84 Bea held a small class in Kettleby to teach stenciling. Kathi attended the class and loved the creative opportunity that stenciling provided.
Bea and Kathi started to travel to the U.S. to the large craft shows. These were high-end shows that specialized in replicas from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Both women decided that the Canadian market needed to be exposed to these wonderful collectibles. After selling their initial offerings at several shows in Toronto they decided in January 1985 to open a small store at Crawford Wells in King City. The store was named Piety Ridge Primitives. Most of their limited lines were handmade baskets (from Simcoe Ontario), reproductions of the American products they had collected and miscellaneous offerings from Canadian crafters. They also picked up a line of braided rugs from Carpel and for a while were Carpel’s largest vendor in the area. Of course there were also lots of Adele Bishop stencils and art supplies.
During the early years in King City they stared to import hand-made items from small American artisans and small Canadian suppliers. It was their intention to create a turn of the century “mercantile” (general store). The store was well received from the outset.
They did, however, decide that only one person could run the store if they were to remain friends. Over a dinner Bea and Kathi decided that Kathi would buy out Bea who would become an employee of the store. Bea also became the store’s largest customer using the proceeds from the buyout.
In 1989 an opportunity presented itself to open some small stores in the old Mill in Schomberg. Kathi was encouraged to open a branch of Piety Ridge Primitives in a small room in the complex. It became known as Piety Ridge Rustics and sold unique items for cottage country. Bea Grant opened a store selling lawn and garden items.
Cheryl Hancock opened a store specializing in baskets, enamelware and other items imported from Hong Kong (where she had lived for 13 years). Mellissa Howard opened the tea room and Mellissa, Kathi and Cheryl combined their efforts to operate the larger space as a co-op. After two years it was decided that the concept had no sustainability and everyone decided to close down their stores. Even the tea room was struggling.
The space was back looking for a tenant. Back in Crawford Wells, Sheena Henderson had expanded her bakery to assume the tea room. Kathi had assumed all the retail space. There were issues, however, with water, sanitation and a pending rent increase. Sheena and Kathi decide to move their respective operations to Schomberg. The rest is history.
The tea room became Sheena’s Kitchen and all of the retail space was assumed by Piety Ridge Primitives.
In the early ‘90s all of the shops on Main Street were aware that they needed to do something to become better known in the Township and make the Main Street a better experience. They formed a retail association, introduced plantings and street decorations and started Main Street Christmas. The early versions were based on a historical theme including reenactments from the Lloydtown rebellion troops.
After several years the retail association became members of the Chamber of Commerce and the current format for Main Street Christmas was introduced and continues quite successfully to this day. Through some good times and bad times, Main Street Schomberg was able to maintain a critical mass of small retailers and service offerings. It became a community.
The Old Mill changed hands several times with several attempts to operate restaurants. Sheena and Kathi’s futures seemed somewhat unstable at best. A number of times they looked for another location. Finally Paul and Janet Hill arrived and created a more sustainable restaurant and bar model with the Scruffy Duck.
While operating in Schomberg, Piety Ridge turned to replica 19th century furniture, some antiques and broadened the offerings to include a line of Woolrich outdoor clothing and handmade Irish pottery. Over the years Kathi introduced many lines from the U.S. not available in Canada – Burt’s Bees (to name only one). Her resolve was to not offer lines that could be found in chain stores.
Over the past 15 years this pattern has continued. Kathi attended many of the major shows always looking for new lines to offer her appreciative clientele. As the suppliers of furniture became less reliable, Kathi moved her main focus to women’s clothing, bringing in higher end lines from Cut Loose (California) and Bryn Walker. Woolrich also introduced broader offerings and continued to be a mainstay at Piety Ridge Primitives. A children’s line was introduced from North Hatley Quebec and health and beauty soaps and creams were introduced. Canadian art and furniture and unique gift cards were added along the way.
Kathi was always blessed with a dedicated staff that helped her through the years. Kathy Grant was her store manager for many years followed by Laura Cornell and Joan Thompson. Arlene Irwin, Kim Grant and Linda Doggett have filled out Kathi’s support network for the past 10-15 years. Bea Grant continued to help out from time to time, always spending her wages at the store.
Piety Ridge has also been blessed with a core of shoppers who have become friends over the years. Their loyalty has always been treasured.
“Thanks for all the memories. There are so many.”