Rebecca Knobloch opened Kennedy Sue, a gift and home boutique, on the west side of Springfield in 2017. In less than two years, the store has gone from being open five days a week to seven, and branched out into online sales in addition to a retail location. The business currently occupies 1200 square feet of space at 4311 Yucan Dr., but will soon be doubling in size and relocating to 3014 Montvale Dr., the former Atlantis Pools building.
Knobloch said, “We launched our website about a month ago, and I had to find a bigger space because we have a lot of online inventory,” noting that there are hundreds of chandeliers, mirrors, clocks and other home décor items available through the website. “A lot of the bigger pieces are online only, but now we’ll have more space for pieces of accent furniture and we can expand our home décor and gift lines.”
Knobloch said she recently hired a full-time employee to manage the website and online sales and now has seven other part-time employees, which has enabled her to expand the hours of operation to seven days a week.
She has also partnered with Three Twigs Bakery and plans to offer coffee and pastries at the new location in a bistro setting. “A lot of women come to the store as an outing,” said Knobloch. “We wanted to make it a destination for people to be able to sit and relax.”
And as the mother of a two-year-old, Knobloch said she feels she knows what other parents of young children want. “We’re expanding our children and baby section, so if the kids can be occupied for 10 minutes while mom picks out a candle, that’s huge. Or mom can get a coffee for herself while the child eats a doughnut.”
Cochran Construction is currently renovating the Montvale property, which Knobloch said has been “completely gutted” and will have a new floor plan. In January 2018, SBJ reported that Kyle Killebrew, a broker with The Real Estate Group, had purchased the property, which had been vacant since Atlantis Pools closed its Springfield location in December 2016, citing poor sales in the local market.
Killebrew said at the time that he planned to paint the exterior and make improvements to the building in hopes of identifying a potential tenant.
A grand opening for Kennedy Sue at the new location is planned for Oct. 11.
