BELIEVE IT OR ELSE, PLUS CAT, GOING TO PULASKI'S MAIN STREET

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 3, 1993                   TAG: 9303030090
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-6   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI                                LENGTH: Medium
BELIEVE IT OR ELSE, PLUS CAT, GOING TO PULASKI'S MAIN STREET
Another empty building on Pulaski's Main Street is about to be filled with a new shop.
Marlis Ryssel-Flynn, who rents space for the Believe It Or Else consignment shop at 61 W. Main St., will move her operation to larger quarters at 27 Main St.
She'll also move her cat, Tinkerbell, who has been something of a fixture in the window of Believe It Or Else for the past four months.
"She's a good P.R. [public relations] cat," Ryssel-Flynn said.
Two other dealers will share the new facilities, she said. Her operation will occupy the ground floor and specialty shops will be on the second floor.
Floyd County folk artist Annie Moon, who specializes in making nationally marketed dolls from all kinds of materials, will be one of the other occupants.
Downtown Pulaski is fast becoming known as a location for antique shops, and this store will offer them, too.
"But I don't want just antiques," said Ryssel-Flynn. Other items to be offered will be hand-made jewelry and unique clothing, she said.
Ryssel-Flynn completed the purchase of the building last week. Now work will start on renovating it and increasing its value. Signet Bank and the town of Pulaski are each lending $28,500 to the enterprise, and Ryssel-Flynn and her husband, Muriel Flynn, are investing in it.
For Tinkerbell, the gray and white cat adopted four months ago by Ryssel-Flynn, the move will mean a new home.
Tinkerbell is an indoor cat, usually seen either in the store window or snoozing in a baby bed on display inside.
The animal had been put out on Main Street as a kitten, Ryssel-Flynn said, and could often be seen playing along the sidewalk.
One day the cat was clipped by a car and nobody knew how badly she was hurt. Ryssel-Flynn said the whole neighborhood searched for her before she was found her.
She was not seriously injured and Ryssel-Flynn took her - just because, she said, "I like her."
Plans are to open the new store sometime this summer. And Ryssel-Flynn may not be leaving behind a vacant building when she moves; another potential antique dealer is considering buying the former store.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB