Middle of nowhere

It’s safe to say most who drive from Portland to Redkey, or vice versa, use Indiana 67. 

It’s the quickest route.

But those who venture the “back way” will stumble upon a tiny shop that even its owner refers to as being in “the middle of nowhere.”

Even so, The Cottage Shop drew 176 paying customers for its “Christmas Extravaganza” a couple of weeks ago and has become owner Jenny Outcalt’s full-time job.

The store — it is at 4469 W. 575 South in the now unincorporated area that used to be the town of New Mount Pleasant — is stocked mostly with handmade decorative items. It is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays from April through December.

“Some people look at me like, ‘But you’re only open twice a week, how is that full-time?’ said Outcalt, who said she typically sees 15 to 30 customers a weekend, depending on the time of year. “Because there’s a whole lot of behind the scenes that makes everything happen. I don’t just walk in on Friday morning … and it’s ready to go.

“I make everything. I cut it, paint it, sand it, seal it, finish it, decorate it, whatever.”

The Cottage Shop features a variety of handmade items. Among the most popular are porch signs — customized signs, especially as wedding gifts, are in demand — wood cut-out trucks and wreaths. 

The signs often lead to custom orders, with a customer seeing something they would like in a different color, shape or size. (Lead time is usually two to three weeks for custom orders.)

Outcalt created a bed design for the little red trucks this year, initially using it to add flowers. 

Since then, customers have asked for various other options, including decorations to add to the truck for Independence Day, Halloween and Christmas.

“Those have really become popular,” she said. “I have people who come each season for a new truck bed.”

Wreaths come in a wide variety too.

There are the standard circular Christmas wreaths, but Outcalt has also created a tree-shaped wreath for Christmas.

This summer, she had a request for a flower wreath. That led to poinsettia wreaths for a holiday season.

“(The flower wreath) had been on my list of things to try and I hadn’t gotten to it,” she said. “So I kind of like it when people say, ‘Hey, can you make this?’ Usually it’s something I’ve thought of and I just haven’t gotten to it. So when they push me just a little bit, then I can try it.”

She especially appreciates that in the area of wreaths, which are her favorite to make.

“I like just taking all these random things and turning it into this beautiful wreath,” Outcalt said. “I kind of obsess over them. I want them to be really nice.”

Outcalt’s youngest daughter, Emma, helps make earrings of faux leather, beads and wood — the wooden earrings have already sold out for Christmas — her middle daughter Hannah makes small quilts and quilted candle mats and her eldest daughter Victoria handles pottery and weaving coasters and candle mats.

Her husband Ryan’s contribution?

“I jokingly refer to him as my maintenance crew,” she said.

“I’m the yard mower is all I am,” said Ryan Outcalt, a 1988 Jay County High School graduate who farms, sells crop insurance, sells seed and owns Outcalt Trucking.

The Cottage Shop being Jenny Outcalt’s full-time job was never in the plans. Opening a store at all was never in the plans.

A 1995 JCHS graduate, she continued her education by studying business at Indiana University – East in Richmond. She didn’t finish a degree — “but it turns out I use what I did learn,” she said — instead returning home to marry Ryan.

She spent about 15 years at home raising their three daughters before becoming the secretary at Redkey Elementary School.

Even in summer 2018 she bought the former Finch’s Grocery and Hardware, which had been closed since the early 1980s and the building used for storage, she didn’t expect to start a retail outlet.

“When we first got the place, I really thought I was going to use it for storage and ready-to-go rummage and just open the door when it was rummage time,” Outcalt said. “It just went from there.”

When the shop was open in the early days, it was without set hours — the schedule would be posted on social media. The selection was limited.

“It was really bare and it was more rummage stuff and a little bit of stuff that I made,” Outcalt said. “I quickly noticed that’s what people were drawn to was the things that I made. I just started more and more of that.”

“It’s definitely grown. I kind of always thought it would be a side thing … a side hustle. …

“But once it started growing … I kind of knew it was coming one day. It came a little faster than I thought, but I knew I would have to pick at some point.”

That change came this spring. Outcalt’s resignation from Redkey Elementary was effective April 29.

The timing seemed right  — it had become exhausting to work the full-time secretary job and fulfill needs for the store on nights and weekends. And the change was no surprise to Ryan.

“I kind of saw it coming a little bit,” he said. “It took it a while to get there. This doesn’t happen overnight.

“I think it’s great. She’s doing very well and she likes staying at home.”

There’s not much to the New Mount Pleasant area — a smattering of houses, a United Methodist church, a marker acknowledging the former Gov. I.P. Gray High School and Paradise Point Campground — but during an era when brick and mortar retail has been slipping in favor of online delivery, Outcalt has bucked the trend in the “middle of nowhere.” She currently does all of her sales from her store. And while she was looking toward a move to the online world as well, that may not happen.

“My goal was, as I was growing, especially in this last year … I thought this winter I’ll open an Etsy shop and I’ll see how that goes,” said Outcalt, who jokes that she’s like Etsy but in person. “I’m not so sure I’m going to do that anymore, because just since I’ve had that idea I’ve grown even more.

“Right now, I’m swamped with orders. Honestly, I don’t know if I can keep up with  online sales and in-person sales.

“If I have to pick, I would prefer to keep my people here happy rather than the world wide web.”

For Christmas, she has a display with a sleigh on the front porch for customers and passers by to take photos. Inside, Christmas music plays in the background.

Outcalt is getting ready for her lone sale of the year, scheduled for Small Business Saturday. (Other special events include her opening weekend, a small community rummage sale on Fourth of July weekend, “Autumn-palooza” in September and her “Christmas Extravaganza.”)

The Outcalts are working on creating a new, larger workshop for Jenny in an existing barn at their southern Jay County home — they have a Ridgeville address — and she plans to purchase a CNC machine this winter in order to be able to create even more intricate custom items.

It’s that ability to create, on her own terms, that Outcalt loves about her little shop in the “middle of nowhere.”

“(I think) the freedom, working for myself, the creativity outlet,” she said. “And there’s endless possibilities. I’m always coming up with ideas. My customers are always coming up with new ideas. It doesn’t get boring.”