Gift shop owner couldn’t part with customers
It’s mid-May in downtown Grass Valley, but round, plump faces of stuffed Santa Claus dolls smile from racks flanking either side of Joyce Barbour’s gift store.
Rosy-cheeked children in the form of German Hummel figurines smile out from a glass case. On another shelf, dragons twine over medieval castles. Disney’s wicked witch from “Snow White” extends a ceramic poison apple.
Turquoise bolo ties and earrings in Native American designs contrast against a decorative woven rug.
Collecting beautiful, whimsical and fun decorations is what Jewells, a downtown Grass Valley mainstay, is all about.
Barbour got into collecting in part through her love of Hummel figurines, and in part due to geography, the native Ohioan said.
“People from Ohio love to collect. My mother collected, and I enjoy it,” Barbour said. “I take care of everything I’ve ever had.”
If her hobby still connects her to the state, it’s the landscape that chased her away, Barbour said.
“It’s so flat there,” she said, gesturing out with her hand to suggest an invisible, unbroken horizon. “I always wanted a house on a hill.”
