Sep 22, 2008

Panache offers eclectic gift mixBy Traci GregoryCNYBJ.com

Whitesboro, NY – For about five years, friends Gretchen LaManque and Karlene Cimo knew they wanted to go into business together. They just weren’t sure exactly what they wanted to do.

A number of ideas – such as selling gourmet dog biscuits or cupcakes – were discussed between them and quickly rejected, the women say.

But the pair kept pursuing the goal, while also parenting their children and each operating her own home-based businesses – quilting for LaManque and decorating and silk floral arranging for Cimo – for several years.

“We sort of ignored what we always did,” Cimo quips, explaining the business ideas they rejected. However the women, who had both turned their hobbies into businesses, finally realized the perfect business for them would be one that would allow them to sell LaManque’s quilts, Cimo’s flowers, and other items that appealed to them.

That idea eventually developed into Panache, a gift shop at 101 Main St. in Whitesboro.

“There really isn’t a gift boutique in this area,” LaManque notes.

With an idea firmly in hand, the women worked with Sharon St. John, an adviser at the Mohawk Valley Small Business Development Center at SUNY Institute of Technology at Utica/Rome. The women also began searching for a site, and happened to stumble upon their 700-square-foot location one day when Cimo drove past and saw a “For Rent” sign in the window.

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