The Perfect Gift︱Pocket Full of Posies

There's nothing quite like browsing through a beautiful store to find that perfect gift. In an age of online shopping and instant gratification, it's a joy to slow down and connect with the tangible, tactile world. In today's episode, Christy and Stephanie chat with Kristin Smith from Pocket Full of Posies to explore the wondrous shop created by her mother, Dottie. Together, Dottie and Kristin bring a lovely dose of whimsy and beauty to the Main Street Market in Middletown. Shopping local is easy when there are stores like theirs in the neighborhood. Get a jumpstart on your holiday shopping today!

Book Recommendations

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
11/22/63 by Stephen King
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Strangers at the Feast by Jennifer Vanderbes
Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson
A Galaxy of Sea Stars by Jeanne Zulick Ferruolo

This podcast uses music by Ashutosh, under a creative commons license:
Time by ASHUTOSH | https://soundcloud.com/grandakt
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US

Transcript

Christy: 0:01

Hello, welcome to Middletown Strong. Looking up with Russell Library. Today we are at Pocket Full of Posies Kristin Smith and I have brought along my podcast team member, Stephanie. Hi. Hello. Hello. And we're so excited to be here at the store. Can you tell us where you're located?

Kristin: 0:18

Yes, we are in the main street market. It's right in the heart of downtown Middletown, right on Main Street. For those of you that were around back when, like I was, it used to be the clock tower. But it's now Main Street Market, so we're inside that building with a bunch of other great places too. Like many people's favorites, Spread Cheese company. There's a great salon upstairs. Be Lee, the Man Cave is right next to us and Perk on Main and Pokemoto. I could go on actually. There's way more, but you know where we are now. It's 386 Main Street.

Christy: 0:48

It's a good, it's a good start. Why have you decided to stay here in the Middletown?

Kristin: 0:54

Well, right now, this is my mother's store. Eventually, when she retires, it's going to come to me, but I think she made an excellent choice in choosing to stay here because it's right in the heart of everything. Quite honestly, Middletown is, we often have customers that are meeting from different places like Boston and New York or New Haven and you know, Springfield And this is where they meet. They meet in Middletown because there's, it's known for great restaurants. It's pretty, and it's basically kind of central to everything. So it's a great place to have a shop because people go to restaurants they're gonna want, So gonna do a little bit after that, they come shop.

Christy: 1:31

True. And it is an amazing store. So I, I know your mom started Pocket Full of Posies mm-hmm. Tell me a little bit about her, kind of her path to the store.

Kristin: 1:40

So she started way back when, in 1989. She was in Durham and her first store was called Favorite Things, which she then sold that business and became, that's when she became a Pocket Full of Posies. And when she became a Pocket Full of Posies, she opened up on Block Island. Wow. And then she opened up an Essex, I think she did. There was some overlap with those stores. Don't quote me on that, although, I guess this is a quote, isn't it? But at any rate, she then closed the, the Block Island store. It was expensive there. And it was also highly seasonal. And she kept the Essex for quite a long time. I think that was the longest one over 10 years. And then she got an offer from landlord here. Try out this space, see how it goes. Don't sign a lease yet. See if you like it. And it immediately outperformed Essex. And it's been doing really great ever since. So that's the reason for being here.

Stephanie: 2:34

Location is everything. It really isn't. It's very important. You're proving that.

Kristin: 2:38

And we get people from like all over the state here versus other places where she's been, It's been a little more. Uniform as far as the customer goes, but we get like, you know, sophisticated people, we get easy going, like, you know, beatnik people. It's just everybody. It's a cross section.

Christy: 2:57

Middletown is such a cross section. Yes. Yeah. One of the reasons that Steph and I love doing the podcasts cuz we get to talk to all kinds of, Different interesting community people.

Kristin: 3:06

Yeah. And who were those thought this like we, we grew up in this area. Yes. And did you Steph?

Stephanie: 3:10

I grew up in Simsbury, so Okay. A little bit out, but we would come into Middletown for things.

Kristin: 3:15

Oh. There was no, there were no things when we were young. No

Stephanie: 3:18

Kid City was here when I was little.. But I guess before that I would not have come to Middletown. Cause there wasn't a reason to necessarily,

Kristin: 3:26

I mean, really I, when we were growing up, I don't remember there being maybe a couple of restaurants downtown.

Christy: 3:32

Not like now there was a Sears.

Kristin: 3:34

There's a Bob's Yes.

Christy: 3:35

And Bob Surplus. Yeah. Okay. So you could go to Disney and if you saw somebody with Bob surplus shirt, you knew they were from Connecticut.

Kristin: 3:42

Wow. This is kinda cool. Yeah. Yeah.

Christy: 3:46

This is your first time here, Stephanie? Yes. What did you think coming in?

Stephanie: 3:49

Oh, well Christy, you heard my reaction. I walk in and I was just like a It smells great. Not that you could smell, this is an audio medium, but it smells amazing. I'm assuming it's the combination of like candles and things.

Kristin: 4:00

Yeah, it's just the ambient of everything that we have. The different bath products, candles, they're all just kind of given off into the air.

Stephanie: 4:07

And so imagine that, and that's what it smells like walking in here. I spotted things right away that I loved. There was a pillow, a witchy pillow, so I was very excited just to be meandering through and on the way back out onto meander, back through again. But I was just like so happy to be in this space. It's lit like mood lighting and it smells great and there's all these fun things to look at. So I'm having a great time

Christy: 4:29

It is, it is such a wonderful store. In fact one of the reviews of your many five star reviews reads, I just adore the shop. It never disappoints, it's the perfect shop for that special something that someone, for someone that has everything, Dottie's staff is always willing assist with ideas for gifts and perfect gift packaging. Tell our listeners what you strive for as an experience for your customers.

Kristin: 4:53

Pretty much exactly what she just said. You know, we want people to come in. We, we want a few different things. We want somebody who maybe isn't coming in to shop for our gift to wanna come in and just enjoy, like, enjoy the atmosphere, maybe find something for themselves, or maybe just like, you know, get a moment out of a bad day. Where they just, they're surrounded with beauty and peace and quiet and enjoy themselves. We want people to feel like we're here to help them but not bother them. You know, that's important too. And of course there's the gift packaging. That's another thing that we want people to know that we do that. She has always done and always will do complimentary gift wrapping cuz. I mean, this is part of what it is for a small store like this. It's this what's is what sets us apart from like TJ Max and. Online shopping, things like that.

Christy: 5:41

So I always have my stuff wrapped. I mean, I, I know I'm gushing a bit, but mm-hmm. I am a terrible gift wrapper. I do too. Me too.

Stephanie: 5:51

Listeners. Listeners. You're not alone, terrible gift wrappers.

Christy: 5:58

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Kristin: 5:59

But I know how to do our thing like she's got a. Simple setup going and so like, I can do that, but give me like a roller wrapping paper. So ribbon, tape and scissors. And it's gonna look like a five year old did it. Yeah. Yeah.

Christy: 6:10

At Christmas time. It's just like a tour. Yep. And so I love coming here. So I know you have an event, It's a ladies' event. Mm-hmm. and I, I've bought things and then I've come back later and you've wrapped them for me. Yeah. So, Amazing. But I would love to hear more about your ladies night. About

Kristin: 6:24

Yeah. And we do it every year. We started doing it earlier as of I think last year was the first year we did it in October. And we're gonna keep doing that works out better for a number of reasons. And we're also, we're doing it again by kind of like by reservation. We're making sure there's enough time for everybody to come, but it'll be like a half an hour reservation period. So that we can control the number of people coming through the store once for safety. Keeping it. Yeah. And for enjoyment too. It's much more pleasant when you're not like elbow to elbow with people and standing in an enormous line. It will probably still be lines but but it'll be a little more controlled and we'll have we always put out ordeurves and wine and. Punches and you know, lots of fun things to nibble on and sip while you're shopping. And this year, I believe, although watch our website and our Facebook page for the announcement when we're solid, I believe it's gonna be Sunday the 23rd and Monday the 24th. Let me see, I think I got those dates right. And we're gonna start it at three o'clock to five o'clock on Sunday. And then, Oh boy, I should know this, shouldn't I? The 24th on Monday. I know we're going to six, I think she's gonna open at 12 for it's a day that we're not normally open. Nice. So that, that whole time period will be the lady's night. Nice. And what you get is in addition to the food and drink and the fun time you also get 20% off your entire purchase. Which is a big draw. Yeah. And it's a really nice way to do your grocery shopping oh, your grocery shopping Wouldn't that be great? I would love to get 20% shopping. That would be awesome. But no, 20% off your purchase. It's a great way to do your Christmas shopping and your holiday shopping. Plus you'll be doing it earlier than most people will, so you'll get like top pick of stuff. So you're. Pretty much a pick of all of our great stuff and you're getting the 20% off that day.

Christy: 8:13

And where do you, where do you source? I mean, this, it's amazing stuff. I, I could go on cuz there's, there's things I specifically come here to look for, but yeah. Where, where do you source things from?

Kristin: 8:23

She gets, she, Well first of all there's gifts, gift shows. There's one, a big one in Atlanta, there's another big one in New York and other places all around the country. And. Since Covid and they couldn't have these big gift shows. A lot of things have popped up online that are like wholesale gift markets basically, but they're online, so it's almost like going to one of those big buildings and walking from booth to booth. But there you go. It's, it's there right in front of you on your computer and you'll get suggestions based on things that you were purchased previously, which is a nice way to find something new that you might not have stumbled across. So she's doing a lot of that now too. And we found, one of the things I like about that is that for whatever reason, it seems to be a lot of smaller makers that are on this. Nice. Yeah. So you get a lot more stuff that's made in the US and more unique.

Christy: 9:13

Right. I have to say most things here are very unique. Very different than your typical shopping. And I feel like it's more personable, but not only that, it's more relatable. Like you have stuff that makes me laugh and it's so relatable and I just think, Oh, where the heck yeah. Somebody else had that same experience.

Kristin: 9:35

Yeah. I know it wasn't that neat? Like the Mr. Rogers towel, I think I've mentioned that to you before. That is a, a dish towel, which is of course is something everybody's gonna use. So So it's a nice gift. It's useful.

Stephanie: 9:47

It's always a great gift. We have very many dish towels. They get used Yes, they do.

Kristin: 9:52

But this one is hilarious. At the same time, it says Mr. Rogers did not adequately prepare me for the people in my neighborhood, Oh, true. I mean, it could ring so true for so many people. Yes, yes. I gave it to a friend that in the old neighborhood I used to live in, in Massachusetts, it was, Oh my God. Perfect. Yeah, it was perfect. He laughed so hard.

Christy: 10:12

And that is the thing. Tell us about an item that you carry that people might not realize is here and that you would love for people to know more about.

Kristin: 10:21

Oh, Christy, you stumped me. Let's see. She,

Stephanie: 10:24

Christy does.

Kristin: 10:25

I'm totally unprepared for that. Okay. What do I, Some things that I. Oh boy.

Christy: 10:31

We are not live, so it is not a problem.

Kristin: 10:34

No, I wanna do it. I wanna do it. I can do it. Okay. So maybe other people know about these things. I'm sure people do by now. But you know how bath bombs have been a big thing for over the years, and not everybody takes a bath, and that's sometimes a problem when someone's coming in, they wanna purchase something for somebody, it's like, well, I don't know if she takes a bath. Totally legit. Oh, even has a bath, right? Yeah. But then you have shower steamers.

Stephanie: 10:58

I was hoping you were gonna I was like, is it a shower thing?

Kristin: 11:02

A shower thing. Yeah. Yes. I love those because it's like we have a lot of different sense from a couple of different lines again made in the US which is a nice thing. Awesome. And it's just a great way to like make your everyday activity of a shower, just feel like you stepped into a spa. Yeah. And it's so, it's really nice gift for somebody who's like just having a hard time or has everything on the planet. Yeah.

Stephanie: 11:27

Or for taking a bath? A tedious chore. Yeah. Yeah. You get clean a bath production, right?

Kristin: 11:34

Absolutely. I do love a good bath when my bathtub tub. But it work. Yes, Work. Clean the tub first. I usually shower before the bath cause I don't, in my own filth. And then you have to drain the tub and then you have to clean this tub like so you get like a half an hour of peace

Stephanie: 11:48

and then the water starts to go cold.

Kristin: 11:50

The water goes cold. Yeah. Yes. Steamers are the way to go.

Christy: 11:54

I like, I like the shower steamer. Yeah. No, this is a great idea. Do you have a favorite scent?

Kristin: 11:59

I do actually, cuz Well, I have favorite sense in general. There's a lavender, peppermint one, which I like. Oh yeah. Because I tend to, I like, I like herbally I like citrus. I like very pure real scents versus perfume scents but we've got the perfuming ones too, for people who like those. Nice.

Christy: 12:16

Yeah. Did you wanna add anything, Steph

Stephanie: 12:18

I had Well, yes, I have another question and this, I feel like I know the answer, but I'm gonna ask anyways. I'm curious. So because your gifts change out seasonally mm-hmm. and now we're starting to get into the, the fall seasons. Do you have a specific time of year that you love stocking the gifts for?

Kristin: 12:35

I actually like, it's gonna sound weird, but I like right after Christmas, because you, you know, you've sold out of stuff that you've been, you've had for a while. You've been looking at it and it's all like, you know, all very Christmas seasonally stuff. Yeah. And then, You get to bring in like fresh and like, redo the whole store and make it look different. And that to me, that's the most fun. I really like that. We usually do a theme of like, I like gardening and plants, so I usually make up terrariums and stuff. So it'll just like this nice sense of green and the doldrums of winter that, you know,

Stephanie: 13:09

That time of year is tough. Yeah. Because it's just, it feels long and gray and cold. So that's fun.

Kristin: 13:15

So it's kind of fun to try to counteract that. Yeah.

Stephanie: 13:17

Cool. That's not what I thought you were gonna say. So look at that.

Kristin: 13:20

What did you think I was gonna say?

Stephanie: 13:21

I thought you were gonna say this, like this fall Halloween time because that seems very gift shop appropriate.

Kristin: 13:27

I do like the, I like the fall. Personally, it's probably not the most fun time for stocking store cuz it gets a little bananas and I, there's. There's so much, like, I like the, a little more everything to be a little more spare. I don't know.

Stephanie: 13:41

Yeah. Yeah. It, it really easily could get very cheesy.

Kristin: 13:45

Yeah. Yeah. And overwhelming. So it's just, it's a, it's a tough balance. So that's why I prefer after.

Stephanie: 13:50

Totally. Very cool.

Christy: 13:52

And did you still have the space across the way?

Kristin: 13:54

We have that temporarily through, I believe, through October only because we got a lot of merchandise, particular clothing, all at once, we just, we simply didn't have the space for it. So it happened to be available. So we rented it through October and then hopefully we will not have it after then. Cause I can't imagine how we're gonna be running back and forth when it gets busy. Mm-hmm.

Christy: 14:14

Yeah. So great. So folks have to come get some really cool stuff.

Kristin: 14:17

Exactly.

Christy: 14:18

I already had picked out a couple of things myself. I mean, it's a, it, I love, there's an outfit over there that has sort of not ribbon, but like cross. What do I wanna say? Like, lacing. It's kind of like lacing, but it's in the, it's in the sweater.

Kristin: 14:30

Oh, it's the, the sweater. The hoodie?

Christy: 14:32

Yes.

Kristin: 14:32

Yeah, I love that too. We have it in the oatmeal color and a plum color. Is that the one? Yeah. I like that a lot.

Christy: 14:38

Yeah. It's just different.

Kristin: 14:39

Yeah. And it's like perfect. Just throwing on when you're going apple picking or something, you know?

Christy: 14:43

Right. Apple picking. For sure. I mean, cuz we, we've grown, we grew up in Durham, so apple picking That's right. Yeah. Is like a big Yeah. Sport. Yeah.

Stephanie: 14:52

It's an event. An event.

Kristin: 14:55

Lyman Orchards, baby.

Christy: 14:56

Absolutely. Is there a a place that you would like to recommend to folks that are in Middletown?

Kristin: 15:03

Yeah. I actually really would like to mention one of our neighbors in Main Street Market, they're actually under Main Street market.

Christy: 15:10

Oh, interesting.

Kristin: 15:11

It's the Celtic Cavern and it's probably one of the best restaurants I've ever been to. I am always impressed by their food. They, here's, here's the level of this pub dining, They make their own hummus every week. They make a special flavor of. And Nice. What pub makes their own hummus, Right. That tells you how much work that they're putting into all of their food. They are not an Irish restaurant. Oh, okay. despite the name Celtics. Mm-hmm. So just be aware of that. It's, it's like upscale American. I believe they call themselves a gastro pub. Ooh. Oh, nice. So they're right underneath the main street market. The easiest way to get there is if you park in the Melilli parking lot behind the building. It's the entrance is right there, right next to the main entrance to the upper level. Just go downstairs. It is underground. They do have a nice patio for sipping beer in the summertime right out there too. And they have a great beer list.

Christy: 16:04

They have a fantastic beer list. Yeah. It's one of those places that I, I do tend to forget about, I think a little bit because it's underground. So thank you for reminding us.

Stephanie: 16:11

Yeah, I'm looking for a burger place around here.

Kristin: 16:14

They are amazing. Awesome. Anytime I recommend a customer to go there, if they're looking for a place for lunch, I can't even tell you how many times they've stopped back afterwards to tell me how great it was.

Stephanie: 16:24

Ah, I love that direct feedback.

Kristin: 16:26

Yeah. It's really awesome.

Christy: 16:27

Yeah. Awesome. That's not something people often do. No. Right,

Kristin: 16:30

Exactly. Like, why would you bother to come back and say something unless you were really happy.

Christy: 16:34

With the surface and with the recommendation.

Stephanie: 16:36

Going out of your way for gratitude. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we more of that.

Christy: 16:41

So our podcasting is gratitude. So we'd love to hear about an experience that you've had here in Middletown. We were sort of talking about it during the pandemic, but it feels like 2020 was like five minutes ago and also like 20 years ago. So that's in this timeframe, is there an experience that you'd like to share about gratitude?

Kristin: 17:00

Hmm. Okay. Let's see. I know there is, I'm trying to call it up. There have been a few instances where customers have really gone out of their way to be kind and helpful. Unfortunately I can't call up the exact incidents, but there was, there were a few, Okay, here's one. This isn't like the top one, but this one just came to mind. A customer had gone over to Perk on Main and they had made her a chai latte and there was something about it that she was not what she ordered. So she got the one that she ordered and she gave me the other one. She was like, Here, how'd. It was just nice. Yeah. Very thoughtful. Yeah. Right.

Stephanie: 17:33

Yeah. I love that random act of kindness.

Christy: 17:35

Yeah. That's very cool.

Kristin: 17:37

Or every now and then if, like, if we're really going crazy doing stuff and a customer sees that I can, I need help with something, they'll help out. Like, they'll help you move something or, Well, they'll help like in small ways. Like if. I'm trying to tell another customer where they can find the shopping baskets, but I'm gonna register and answering another question. Another customer will be like, Oh, come here. Right over here. Not that, which is nice like that. It's a small, small thing, but makes a huge difference to the person that's trying to do it all at once. You know?

Christy: 18:05

Absolutely.

Stephanie: 18:06

A moment of community. Yeah. I love that. Yeah. Truly.

Christy: 18:10

So, thank you so much, Kristin and your mom for letting us take some of the time here that you have at Pocket Full of Posies.

Kristin: 18:16

Oh, no problem. Thank you for having us.

Christy: 18:18

Tell us one more time the address so folks can find you.

Kristin: 18:20

Mm-hmm. it's 386 Main Street, inside the main street market.

Christy: 18:24

Looking forward to being here more often this season. Thank you again.

Stephanie: 18:28

I'm looking forward to uh, coming in in January and seeing the terrareum.

Kristin: 18:32

Yeah, you're gonna have to come and see what I'm talking about.