Eclectic Mrs. O’Leary’s like ‘five different stores’ in one
Mrs. O’Leary’s can’t be summed up in one word, unless that word happens to be eclectic.
The Old Town business is gift store, arts and crafts workshop, massage studio and restaurant all rolled up in one (and that doesn’t even include the vintage clothes, furniture and technology that would be at home in a museum).
“End to end, it’s like five different stores,” said Joni Russell, who owns Mrs. O’Leary’s with her husband, Mark. “I don’t think there’s another shop like it.”
The Russells opened Mrs. O’Leary’s in 1992, making it Old Town’s oldest retail business.
After six months in a space on Mosley, they moved to the current location on Rock Island, which had been a boarded-up warehouse. With friends and family, they spent two months restoring the 100-year-old building, where they use about 5,000 square feet of space.
