Two floors on Front Street, bought one piece at a time
Horse Feathers Mercantile is Brenda Bishop's store, and it looks like it. Nothing here arrived by the case.
Where the name came from
[ BRENDA, IN YOUR OWN WORDS. Where the name came from, and why it stuck. Three or four sentences. ]
How the store started
[ BRENDA, IN YOUR OWN WORDS. What you were doing before this, and what made you open a store on Front Street. When the doors opened. ]
How the floor gets bought
Most of this store comes in one and two pieces at a time. That is a harder way to run a shop and it is the whole reason it looks the way it does. A print you like is often the only one in your size. An antique is the only one, full stop. The floor turns over weekly, and the window gets rebuilt around whatever just came in.
It also means we cannot put most of the store online. What ships well goes on the website. Everything else is a phone call, and we would rather take the call than pretend the website is the whole store.
Two floors, and the upstairs nobody expects
Downstairs reads like a boutique. Upstairs reads like somebody's very good attic, in the best way. More clothing, the long table under the window, and the antiques and finds that move fastest. People walk up those stairs out of curiosity and come back down carrying something.
The makers we carry
A steady share of the store is handmade by people we can name. Willow Hill soap. Parfums de Essentia, a small batch perfume house. Jewelry by makers within a few hours of this building. When you ask who made something, we can tell you.
Behind the smokehouse
The store sits directly behind the smokehouse on Front Street, which is family. Put your name in for a table, walk back here while you wait, and nobody is in a hurry. It is a good arrangement and it was not an accident.
It reads better in person
Pictures flatten a store like this one. Come walk both floors, and call ahead at 828 276 5157 if there is something specific you are hunting.
About the store
Who owns Horse Feathers Mercantile?
Brenda Bishop. She buys the floor, sets the rooms and is usually in the store.
Is the store connected to the smokehouse?
Yes. Horse Feathers sits directly behind the smokehouse in Dillsboro, and the two are family.
Why is so much of the store one of a kind?
Because of how it is bought. Pieces come in one and two at a time rather than by the case, which is why the floor looks different week to week and why a piece you liked may not be here next month.