Mary Beth Babcock Offers Oklahoma at Dwelling Spaces
Mary Beth Babcock owns Dwelling Spaces, a downtown Tulsa boutique that specializes in items made by Oklahomans. The store is just over three years old and has already expanded to a second location. Babcock is a retail genius with a penchant for quality boutique gifts. “I like to provide an eclectic group of gifts for people to choose from and the fact that it happens to be people from Oklahoma is a huge bonus,” says Babcock.
Babcock is a retail management graduate from Oklahoma State University. She always wanted an eclectic gift shop. Right after college, she worked for Zach Matthews of Pie Hole Pizzeria. The job was not very engaging, but it paid the bills. All the while, she was planning her dream business.
Babcock was creating, on paper, a place where she could sell her favorite merchandise and favorite lines. She had no real idea where the plan was going at that point. “To be honest, this Oklahoma thing was not in my original plan,” she remembers. “That whole thing has just evolved.”
Jack Allen, a friend of Babcock, had a furniture store called “Dwelling Spaces.” She went to him for advice on how to open a store, but he was in the process of closing his doors. They worked out a deal and she bought the name and some of his furniture and Babcock was ready for business. However, she still needed a storefront.
Babcock approached Michael and Patricia Sager about a spot they owned at 119 South Detroit in Tulsa’s Blue Dome Arts District. She pitched them with her idea for a unique gift shop with furniture. She felt it was grandiose, but they were impressed and let her do it.
Dwelling Spaces soon opened at 2nd and Detroit. They still carry some furniture today, but the store’s primary motif is a gift shop.
