JMerc grand opening celebration Friday

Downtown Red Oak staple JMercantile has recently completed a move to a more expansive location.
The store moved from its former location on North 3rd Street to 304 E. Coolbaugh St., and celebrated with a soft opening Sept. 12 through 14. A grand opening ceremony is planned for this Friday, Sept. 26, with the opening at 10 a.m. and the ribbon cutting following at 10:30 a.m.
Jill O’Neal, the owner of JMercantile, said the store has grown by leaps and bounds over its humble beginnings in 2017.
“Lynn Adams of Iowa State Extension had the idea of an incubator-type retail space, so I opened JMercantile as a pop-up in the back of my husband Daric’s architecture firm here in Red Oak. Alley Poyner Macchietto out of Omaha decided to open up a branch in Red Oak. There was extra space in the very back of that building, so we thought, let’s kind of try it on a small scale and see how it’s accepted and see if we can grow it from there. We did that in November of 2017, and things went really well,” explained O’Neal.
Things went so well that O’Neal said they decided to renovate the front half of the former location at 503 N. Third St., moving to the new location over Junction Days in 2018. While initial plans were to keep renovating the rest of the building, O’Neal felt she was outgrowing the space.
“We knew that the footprint of that building was probably not going to be big enough to bring in the furniture and the rug line that we had our sights on, so we started to look for other buildings and other options on the square, and we landed on this building that we’re in today,” commented O’Neal. “ROOT Development had the building for a number of years, renovations took a little longer than expected, but Troy Hall of Building Crafts and Williams Construction were both great companies to work with.”
While there are a few more details to finish, O’Neal felt the time was right to get the doors re-opened.
“We call it a soft opening because our furniture is still trickling in, and other products that we have ordered are still coming in daily. We still have some signage to complete out front, just a few small things to finish in the interior, but we just didn’t want to keep our doors closed any longer,” advised O’Neal. “Going into the fall holiday season, and after that little glimpse of fall weather we had, I think people were anxious to get their fall decor out. With our doors closed, we weren’t offering that to them. So we went with a soft opening and it was amazing. Lots of people came in to see the space, lots of them purchased fall décor, and they had very kind things to say. I feel like we accomplished what I wanted, and that they came in and they felt welcomed.”
O’Neal said she’s been excited for multiple years to open in the new location, and now, finally, her dream has come true.
“You hear people say, ‘I had to pinch myself.’ Even now as I walk in through the doors, I feel like I have to pinch myself now that I’m actually in the space. It’s here for me now; I can actually operate my business out of it. It’s been a long time coming. A lot of people have been anxiously waiting with me to open that door. It’s kind of a surreal feeling. I feel very blessed that the community is there to support our business. By supporting the business, you’re supporting a small family as well,” said O’Neal.
Adding the space and the furniture line, O’Neal said, allowed her to make JMercantile an even more welcoming space for customers.
“I could sit down on a piece of furniture to have a conversation with them as if I were in my own living room. What I’ve always wanted for JMercantile is to make it feel like it’s a space where you can come in and have an experience, not just come in to purchase something. I want it to be a more personal experience for all of our customers.”
The new location for the business is now providing O’Neal with three times more space than the prior location.
“It wasn’t only a requirement that we have a larger footprint or more square footage because of our furniture line that required that, it was also because we were growing in other ways, and had different requests for different products. I have a vision that saw us growing into the sector of potentially having classes in our space. We do lots of events with fellow retailers in the in the town and surrounding communities,” commented O’Neal. “We will have “Ghouls Night Out,” which is our Halloween event. We have “Ladies Night Out” in the Christmas holiday season. When we have those events, we offer drinks, we offer appetizer-type food, we offer just a lot of mingling amongst the women and of course, shopping, and this space will give us more room to move around. We put in a  studio kitchen to allow for us to have more events and classes, so that’s kind of what’s on the horizon for what we’ll be doing.”
While the new location will have a lot of new features, O’Neal feels the biggest new offering is the furniture and rug line.
“We carefully sourced the company that we are currently carrying, which is Norwalk Furniture, based out of Ohio. It’s American made, everything is made right here in the USA. It’s heritage furniture, meaning you will have the pieces for many, many, many years, it’s not furniture that you acquire and then in a year have to replace because the fabric is worn out or the frame is breaking down. They are very well made hardwood frames. We also have thousands of fabric options; they’re completely customizable even down to your thread color, if you wish. Lots of the options are included as well. You don’t have to pay for these upgrades. We’re going to offer design services for creating furniture pieces for people’s homes,” O’Neal explained.
In addition to the new line, O’Neal said they still have all the things that customers have enjoyed for years.
“Last year during the Christmas season, we expanded our gift line, which included a popcorn line, a different variety of watercolor workbooks, candles, kitchen towels, and those sorts of things. It was very well received. We have expanded on our gift line a little bit as well, so when you walk through the door, you’ll be greeted with lots of home decor, as well as a potential gift for someone or just a gift for yourself,” O’Neal said. “While in the smaller space we could set things up for a seasonal change, this space will be a little bit more challenging if I were to do that, because it’s just so much larger. Our plan is to have everyday pieces, just as if it’s your home when you walk in, and we will showcase how you can utilize some of the seasonal pieces that we offer and incorporate that into your everyday living, and not just have to walk in and buy an entire display of Halloween or fall. We’ll be sprinkling in seasonal pieces, just like we did over in the old space, it’ll just be spread out a little more.”
With such an increased focus on buying online, O’Neal said she’s thrilled that there’s been so much demand in Red Oak that she’s been able to expand even further.
“I cannot stress enough how much small business relies on our consumers, our local family and friends and shoppers coming in through the doors of our brick and mortar stores. Online shopping is just always going to be around, and everybody does it, but I think that we offer something to this community and surrounding communities that you really can’t get when you do online shopping. We have a tangible product right here, you can see the true color, you can feel the texture, you can see the quality of it. That’s a lot different than when you’re on a computer, and you’re trying to figure out if that’s going to look good in your space,” stated O’Neal. “We also offer the coziness you feel when you walk through the door. You’re greeted with a smile when you walk in, and you always feel welcome. I don’t think you can get any of that online shopping. When it comes to small brick and mortar stores, I do feel like there’s an uptick in that kind of shopping. I think we have a niche here in Red Oak for that, and I hope people keep shopping with us.”
Moving to the new space also has the added benefit of seeing one of the older downtown storefronts repurposed to keep the downtown square thriving.
“I think there’s a lot of support in town for buying properties, and having local resources available to help you renovate them. This square that we have is amazing.
“There’s lots of people that come here just to see our historic downtown square and all of the homes. I feel very lucky, very fortunate, and very blessed that I was able to take one of these buildings that needed to have a little bit of new life brought to it and do so. We’re (ROOT Development and Alley Poyner Machietto Architecture) doing the same thing with my old building. We’ve put living spaces above. There’s an apartment right above this current space. In the space I just moved out of, there will be two apartments above that,” O’Neal explained. “The main storefront down below will stay retail, it will be a pop up retail space. In addition to being happy I’ve brought new life to this building I’m in now, I feel good that there’s not a building sitting empty. It does have a future, and I think it’s just going to continue to thrive. Hopefully, there will be businesses that will pop up in that space and decide that they want to try it as a permanent brick and mortar, and we can help them find another building that could be renovated to their own needs.”
O’Neal added she loves being able to help people who come in and make them happy.
“They might bring something with them that they’re trying to place in their home, and we can help them source exactly what they need to add to it. I also enjoy seeing people’s faces light up when they find the perfect gift or when they find the perfect piece for their own space. They walk in and they smile because the space makes them happy, and feel like it’s a warm and welcoming space. I love to help people. I was in the medical profession for 19 years, now I’ve transitioned from helping them physically to helping them with different needs. If you’re in your space, and you’re surrounded by things that bring you joy and bring you happiness, then I feel like you’re a happy, joyful person. We try to really help people with that. It can be a big change, or a small change, as simple as a new pillow, a new blanket, a new candle scent or a new picture frame to put a photo of a family member or something in. All those things bring a smile and bring joy to people. And I think if we can help them in that small way then that brings me joy as well.”
O’Neal said that there are new regular hours in place, but they’ll do whatever they need to be accommodating.
“We are currently open Wednesday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and now on Sundays we will be open one to five. We are looking at adding maybe other hours as needed. If our hours that we have now don’t work for you, or maybe you have a group of women or family members in on a Monday or a Tuesday or even in the evening, call me, email, me and we always welcome private shopping experiences too. The number to call is 712-310-6519, and the email is jill@jmercantile.com.
O’Neal also expressed her appreciation to the community and all those businesses that helped renovate the building, fellow community retailers and the Chamber for their support, her mom and JMercantile girls that help keep it running, and most of all,  the support of her family.
“It’s a lot of hours behind the scenes that a lot of people don’t see but my husband and my girls, and my parents and in-laws, they’re all really supportive and interested. They ask me what I’m doing, they ask about what my space looks like, and they’ll just pop down and check it out. I appreciate all of them, and above all, I just thank God for the opportunity to do what I love doing,” O’Neal stated.
While the JMercantile website is still under development, O’Neal said the Facebook and Instagram pages are great resources. Find them on Facebook at facebook.com/JMercantile/, and on Instagram at instagram.com/jmercantile/?hl=en.