UPDATED — St. Francis in Old Town between Douglas and Second Street continues to develop.
The newest addition will be Mr. Diggs Dwelling & Co., a shop that will open later this month on the northeast corner of First and St. Francis.
That’s halfway between the newly renovated Zelman Lofts at Douglas and St. Francis and the new urban park going in at Second and St. Francis.
“When you go shopping it should be fun,” says Annette Shankle, who is opening the shop.
“There should be laughter. There should be excitement that you’ve bought (a) piece.”
Shankle, with help from her sister, Linda Fisher, plans to sell furniture, home decor, art and lamps in 5,500 square feet of what Shankle calls “warehouse-esque” space across from Tracy’s Automotive.
“It’s all about unique pieces,” she says. “We don’t want to be the same as everything else in town.”
She wants her customers to buy items that cause others to say, “Wow, where did you get that?”
Shankle’s merchandise will be old and new.
“We all want to mix new and old in our homes. That’s kind of the new way of decorating.”
Mr. Diggs will be open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday – but only during the third week of every month.
The grand opening will be March 22 through 24.
“You have to have time to find the products (and) get a new look in,” Shankle says. “We go everywhere.”
Where is “everywhere”?
“I can’t give you my secrets,” she says, laughing.
“We want you to be able to walk into the store one month and see different things from the month before.”
So who is Mr. Diggs?
“It was just a name that we came up with,” Shankle says.
She says “digging for things for your dwelling” was the inspiration.
“It kind of became a joke. Mr. Diggs is like ‘Charlie’s Angels.’”