Gypsy Trading Co. puts down permanent roots in Brandon

By: 
Jill Meier/Journal Editor

Ellison Cutrer stands in the surroundings of Gypsy Trading Co.’s spacious new store. The new space has allowed the Cutrers to change things up in their 2-year-old busiess, having added eight new retail lines. Jill Meier/BV Journal

Ellison Cutrer is co-owner of Gypsy Trading Co. Jill Meier/BV Journal

Limited space, revamped business signage rules and a desire to make Brandon their permanent home is what prompted Gypsy Trading Co. owners Billy and Ellison Cutrer to put their roots down in a big way: a four-space strip mall way. 
“We receive support from Brandon people, our kids go to school in Brandon and we needed space,” Ellison explains, “So do we want to lease more space or put out a little extra money, own it, make it permanent and take other businesses with us?”
They opted for the latter and gained a tenant in a familiar retail neighbor, beautique, which also made the move from their former Cedar Street location to the high-traffic Splitrock Boulevard venue. Positioned just off of Splitrock in their former location, Cutrer said the recently-adopted limits placed on boulevard signs in the city, also prompted the move.
“I was at a P&Z meeting regarding the signs, and one of the gentlemen on the Commission had made a comment, ‘Well, if you wanted to put a sign on Splitrock, you should’ve rented on Splitrock.’ Deal. Challenge accepted, and here we are,” she said.
The Cutrer’s leap of faith has allowed them to change things up a bit in their two-year-old business. For starters, they’re now able to offer eight new retail lines, which is already paying dividends in increased sales.
“I’ve picked up 15 new vendors that bring in consignment, makers that do handmade goods and local builders; we’ve got tons of new stuff,” she said.
With new merchandise coming in and going out the door daily, Cutrer describes the new pace of business as “Christmas every day when the UPS girl comes.” 
“Brandon’s obviously growing, and you can see it with the new faces that are coming in. Because we sell home décor and furniture, we get new people that come in all the time. Just yesterday, a woman interviewing at the school for a job stopped in,” she said. “There’s a certain amount of people that move into Brandon almost on a daily basis it seems, and so there’s a need for businesses like ours and the other businesses that are in Brandon, too.”
The additional space also allows them to step up their class offerings. Their former space could only accommodate 10-person classes, and now they have the availability to host up to 60. 
A handwriting class, which Cutrer took previously, is coming up on Aug. 6.
“We had so much fun the last time. We had people making signs for their kitchen, their daughter’s room or their bathroom and it was kind of funny to see the different sayings people were coming up with. We didn’t stop laughing for 2.5 hours,” she said.
Future class opportunities include sewing, stained glass and DIY projects.
Another new endeavor the husband and wife duo are behind is “Second Saturday,” which will launch in September.
The Second Saturday promotion is a spinoff of Sioux Falls’ First Friday, and will offer a variety of special events, classes, shopping deals, food and beverage and even live music.
“We like that downtown feel and want all of the businesses to participate,” she said. “We plan on having special classes during that Saturday so when parents are in here shopping their kids can do a quick 10 to 15-minute craft and take it with them.”
Tasty Trolley and neighboring beautique are already on board, and the Cutrer’s are rib-poking a couple of breweries to set up on Second Saturdays, too, she said.
“Come to Brandon, shop, and the businesses will have some things going on, and then after 7 o’clock, you can come to our parking lot and we’ll have a block party,” she said. “We want to give people a reason to stay in Brandon on a Saturday night, but it’s really up to the people of Brandon to tell us what they want.”
They are planning for Second Saturday to be a year-round event, with festivities moving indoors during the winter months.
The Cutrer’s began exploring their new building options nearly a year ago. The land purchase and ground breaking followed in October, she said.
“We’ve been planning this for quite a while,” Cutrer said. “But there’s still work to be done, small improvements, and we still need to get our monument sign.”
Two spaces remain available for lease, one is 2,000 square feet, the other is 1,500 square feet, and both are end space locations.
“One of them has been set up to have a drive-thru if a future business wants to put one in,” Cutrer said. “They’re great, big open spaces. They have dirt floors and open walls now. We left it open so you can literally come in and plan it from the ground up.”

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The Brandon Valley Journal

 

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Brandon, SD 57005
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