THE PLANT SHOP
When Felicia Simulcik launched The Plant Shop in Lorain in July 2019 she had no idea how quickly her small online venture would blossom. What began with Facebook sales and local pickups, especially during the pandemic, soon evolved into a thriving mobile business fueled by demand. “Jamie’s Flea Market was huge for us,” she recalls. “Every weekend we were there with the truck.”
Her momentum continued. After showing at the Christmas Connection at the IX Center in 2021 and preparing for the 2022 Great Big Home & Garden Show, Simulcik opened her first retail location on Oberlin Avenue. She later expanded to a larger space on Broadway Avenue. Still, the mobile model remained closest to her heart, and she plans to transition fully back to life on the road later this year. “Going back to mobile lets me reach more people and expand knowledge and passion for the industry,” she explains.
Her mobile shop is hard to forget: a former USPS truck that she and her uncle completely gutted and redesigned from the inside out. “Think of it as a food truck for plants,” she says. Shoppers can walk up the steps into the truck, browse an impressive array of houseplants and tropicals, and explore displays that spill onto the street. The compact space comfortably fits up to seven customers at a time as well as a few hundred plants.
Education is at the core of Simulcik’s mission. “Most of my customers are first-time plant parents or people just starting out,” she says. “I want to set them up for success. If a plant fails in their space, it can be discouraging, and I don’t want anyone turned off from the hobby.”
Affordability matters too. Prices range from $5 starter plants to larger specimens around $100. She points to today’s $15 Thai Constellation Monstera, once a $300 rarity just two years ago, as an example of how rapidly the plant world has shifted and become more accessible.
Armed with near-encyclopedic knowledge, Simulcik offers custom arrangements and special-order sourcing trips to Florida. “If you have a wish list plant, we handpick it from growers down there. You even get a photo of the exact plant you’ll be bringing home,” she says. For Northeast Ohio plant lovers, this level of personalization is a game changer.
In June, Simulcik and her mobile plant truck will return to community favorites like the Lorain International Festival and Jamie’s Flea Market, and will be parked at Lakewood Truck Park on several Saturdays during the summer months. “The truck leaves such a lasting impression,” she says.
FOR EWE
When Lisa Whitfield founded For Ewe in April 2022, she was stepping into a new chapter — one shaped not by her decades-long career as a professional violist, but by the fibers of a lifelong passion. “I learned how to crochet when I was five and how to knit when I was 11,” she says. “I thought Oberlin needed a yarn store because there’s such a vibrant fiber community here.”
“In 2019, there were a lot of people of color finally speaking up about our experiences in fiber spaces,” Whitfield explains. The idea of the shop came out of this conversation.
In July 2024, For Ewe moved into a larger storefront in downtown Oberlin, reflecting both its growth and its founding purpose: inclusivity. “I wanted to create a shop that felt safe and comfortable for all kinds of people.” That intention guided the store’s design and atmosphere. Yarn is arranged by weight, with a dedicated section for non animal fibers to accommodate vegans and those with allergies. Independent dyers, especially women, people of color and LGBTQIA+ makers, fill the shelves. The centerpiece of the space is a 14 foot community crafting table. Off to one side, a cozy living room nook invites visitors to sit, stitch and stay awhile.
“We welcome everybody who walks in the door,” Whitfield says. “Oberlin is diverse. The color doesn’t matter. Who you love doesn’t matter, how you identify doesn’t matter, what your pronouns are doesn’t matter. We just want people to come in. All levels, all ages, and we’re all hanging out together. It’s kind of a beautiful thing.”
That sense of community is the heartbeat of For Ewe. Weekly Wednesday crafting nights often fill the long table with knitters, crocheters, students and locals. Some Oberlin College students become so connected to the space that Whitfield affectionately calls them her “shop cats,” a term of endearment for the young people who show up, stay and return for comfort during both hard days and joyful ones.
Her own journey began with a stranger’s kindness. Whitfield was traveling home from school on a very crowded bus in Philadelphia and sitting next to a woman who was knitting. “I was fascinated. I had always been fascinated by knitting,” she says. “She took some spare needles and some scrap yarn out of her bag and she showed me how to knit on the bus. I call her my yarn angel because she appeared that one day. I never saw her again.”
Today, Whitfield pays that gift forward: one stitch, one lesson and one welcoming space at a time.
THE WHITE SQUIRREL
Named after the rare white squirrels spotted near Tappan Square and Morgan Street, The White Squirrel is a warm, inviting space where creativity, community and craft come together.
Oberlin’s only consignment shop dedicated exclusively to local artists and makers opened in August 2023, founded by Marce and Robert Allen as the couple embarked on a new chapter after distinguished careers in public service — Marce as a paralegal with the Department of Defense and Robert as an emergency manager at NASA. Retirement, they realized, was the perfect opportunity to turn their longtime hobbies into something that could serve the community.
“I like to do arts and crafts, and my husband does photography,” Marce says. “We thought, well, we’re retired — why not open a shop?”
What began as a personal passion project quickly grew into a special, community-driven marketplace. At first, Marce wasn’t sure exactly what the store would become. “But we knew we wanted to give back to the community,” she says.
Today, The White Squirrel showcases work from 50 local vendors, most from around Lorain County and Northeast Ohio. The store offers an eclectic and ever-changing array of handmade goods, including crochet, pottery, woodworking, original paintings, sculptural pieces, quilts, cards, jewelry, beauty products and more.
“Anything you can think of that is handmade,” Marce says. “These items bring a uniqueness you can’t find anywhere else.”
The shop also doubles as a creative learning space. Vendors and local artists regularly lead classes in the backroom, offering lessons in crocheting, painting, Cricut crafting, and even a popular “junk journal” workshop where participants build memory-filled books from stitched pages, envelopes and keepsakes.
“I wanted the shop to feel homier — almost like a living room,” Marce says, describing the warm, welcoming atmosphere she intentionally created in their adopted hometown. “We love Oberlin. It’s closeknit and friendly, and we knew it would be the perfect place for a shop.”
