Aug 11, 2010

111 Main Offers Unique VarietyBy Tom EmbreyThePilot.com

Take three friends, 6,000 square feet of wide-open space in downtown Aberdeen, mix in equal parts niche and one-of-a-kind merchandise and combine it with a unique business plan.

What do you have?

A successful business, according to Erin ReVille, Julie Moore and Betsy Saye, the owners of 111 Main, located in the former Aberdeen Hardware store in downtown.

“We went into business, all three of us, thinking that we needed a store that we would want people to come to,” ReVille said, “a store where they wouldn’t have to go to Raleigh or Charlotte or someplace outside this area, to get those one-of-a-kind pieces.”

The trio researched other businesses and began brainstorming ideas for the types of merchandise they wanted to carry in their store.

“We started with a list of things we knew we wanted to sell,” Saye said. “And from that, we put out feelers (to vendors) to see what their interest level was.”

The concept is similar to an antiques mall, where one large boutique carries merchandise from several other smaller ones.

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