SCRAPBOOKING: SAVING MEMORIES; 2 aspects of the business under same roof in Rockland

By ALYSA LANDRY
The Patriot Ledger

ROCKLAND - Preserving memories got easier this month after two local scrapbooking gurus combined their creative energies under one roof.

After talking about die cuts, stamps and paper for six months, Dee Pierce, owner of The Crop Shop in Rockland, and Colleen Prescott, owner of Colleen’s Memory Place in Norwell, starting talking business.

ССWe both do distinct things, but we felt it would be better to be in the same building,’’ Pierce said. ССWe wanted to merge our mutual love of scrapbooking without losing our individual identities.’’

Prescott closed the Norwell studio after only six months and moved her operations to The Crop Shop on Weymouth Street. Although the businesses share employees and customers, they continue to maintain their own identities, with The Crop Shop specializing in classes and scrapbooking products and Colleen’s Memory Place offering scrapbooking services.

Pierce started scrapbooking as a way to empty the boxes of memorabilia she had sitting around her house. For five years, she took classes at Memory Lane, a scrapbooking store in Weymouth.

When the store closed, Pierce bought its equipment, racks and cash register. She opened The Crop Shop in October of 2005 and stocked the shelves at the store with $40,000 worth of scrapbooking supplies.

Pierce also hosts more than a dozen classes per month that attract women ages 10 to 70, she said. One customer, Chelsea Bates, 14, became Pierce’s first part-time employee.

Prescott served in the National Guard during Operation Desert Storm. Her first scrapbook immortalized her experiences in Kuwait and Iraq, she said.
ССI wanted to be able to tell the story to my kids,’’ she said. ССThen, when I had kids, I started a book for each of them.’’

Family and friends began to ask Prescott for custom-designed albums, framed keepsakes and shadow boxes to preserve their own memories.

Her hobby quickly grew into a business, and she opened a studio last October on Washington Street in Norwell. She enrolled in classes at The Crop Shop and starting buying most of her supplies from Pierce.

ССWe talked about rent, and we talked about the hours we worked,’’ Pierce said. ССWe decided a merger would benefit us and offer our customers the best products and services.’’

To make room for Prescott’s studio and a gallery of her products, the women rented an additional classroom, stock room and office next to The Crop Shop, expanding the original space by about one-third.

The partnership called for retention of individual business and specialties, Prescott said. The women stagger their work hours at the store and refer customers to each other.

ССMy customers can walk through Dee’s gallery and pick out the products for their albums,’’ Prescott said, ССor Dee’s customers can walk through my gallery for ideas.’’

Alysa Landry may be reached at alandry@ledger.com .

Copyright 2007 The Patriot Ledger

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