THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 23, 1994 TAG: 9409210095
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 2B EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAM STARR, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
Santa Claus may not come to the Senior Crafter Christmas Shop this year.
There might not even be a Christmas Shop if Frances Murray doesn't find donated space pronto. As in yesterday.
``We're desperate,'' said Murray, who runs the popular seasonal store. ``I can understand the fact that Realtors want to rent buildings, but so many are still empty.''
The Christmas Shop, now in its 20th year, sells the handcrafted items of about 300 area crafters who are 55 and older for seven weeks each fall.
Lee Gifford of Haygood Management had donated space in an office building in Haygood for the last 16 years, but that space was rented, she said.
Gifford did offer Murray two other places, but they are not large enough.
``We need at least 7,000 square feet - we have thousands of items to display,'' she said. ``If we can get a building that already has electricity that would help.''
Chuck Nelson, a retired Navy chief who sold many of his cross-stitched items last year at the Christmas shop, is trying to help Murray find space but has come up with dead ends.
``It's amazing with the abundance of empty stores in the area,'' said Nelson. ``One of our problems is lack of money. If we had a lot of cash we could lease a building.''
Nelson said that since the shop draws several thousand customers, other stores will benefit.
``Our shop brings in a lot of traffic; some of them could be prospective leasers of the building,'' he added.
The shop is nonprofit, said Murray, and keeps 15 percent of the sales to pay for tables, tickets to tag the items, tables, insurance against injuries and utilities.
Twenty volunteers man the shop from Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 1 to 5 p.m - that is, when there is a shop.
The shop usually opens the first or second week of October and runs through the first weekend in December.
``I've had quite a few calls from crafters asking if we're having a shop this year,'' Murray said. ``They work on their crafts all year to sell them at the shop. The extra money they earn really helps them. All are on Social Security and retirement.''
Last year the crafters sold about $85,000 worth of handcrafted afghans, baby clothes, doll clothes, wood items, Christmas ornaments, ceramics, flower arrangements, crocheted items and much more. Murray said that their customers come back year after year, some from out of state.
``The stuff is top quality,'' she said. ``Most people do think our prices are good.''
A Realtor did offer Murray the IGA store in Roosevelt Shopping Center in Norfolk, but Murray wants to keep the shop in Virginia Beach because more than half of the crafters are from here. She would like the shop to be in the area of Haygood, Pembroke or Newtown Road, but will take the IGA store if she absolutely has to.
``I would prefer to stay in the Beach, but if we have to go into Norfolk we will,'' said Murray, a Norfolk resident. ``I'm sure people will follow us.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by PETER D. SUNDBERG
Chuck Nelson and Frances Murray are hunting for building space to be
donated from early October through early December for the non-profit
shop.
by CNB