Avenue 4 Accessories, 4 W. Lancaster Avenue in Shillington, opens its doors to the public at their Grand Opening on Saturday, April 25, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The store features handcrafted items from the Rickenbach sisters: Janice E. Maulick, Karen A. Nein, Loren E. Eisenhofer, and Marcie S. Bilger, along with their mother, 91-year-old Betty J. Rickenbach.
Janice, Karen and Loren began crafting various items to sell several years ago in an effort to help their mother, Betty, sell her watercolor paintings at craft fairs. Paintings were stuffed into every extra drawer, and closet and littered the upstairs bedroom floor in her home! Since Betty’s ‘studio’ was located in her basement and her mobility was decreasing, her daughters encouraged her to do more crocheting and knitting so she would not have to take stairs anymore.
Like many crafters in the area, the four would pay fees to participate in craft fairs, pack up their creations and lug them to and from various locations, sometimes doing very well, and other times, bemoaning the lack of foot traffic. All that has now come to a happy end.
More than a year ago, Loren and her husband, Dale E. Eisenhofer, purchased a piece of property that housed the former Charles E. Boyer Jewelers on Lancaster Avenue in Shillington. After renovating the two-story apartment above the store, and renting it out, Loren started the rewarding but time-consuming renovations in the store portion of the property: new windows, lots of paint, floor restoration, various repairs and amazing improvements. Working on the property whenever she was not babysitting her grandchildren or sewing at home, she utilized her eye for design combined with perseverance to transform the once empty and deteriorating space into a classy store.
Avenue 4 Accessories’ hand-crafted items include purses, key fobs, wallets, baby blankets, buntings, little girls’ pinafore dresses, various types of jewelry, hand-dyed silk scarves, crocheted scarves, shawls and hats, quilted jackets, wall hangings, watercolor paintings and hand-made fudge. The display areas are set up in coordinated color groupings so shoppers see how well a pair of earrings and a necklace coordinate with a certain scarf and handbag. There’s even a comfy chair for the shopper’s partner to relax and read a magazine while the shopper takes the time to explore.