Petersburg Biz Buzz: Best friends open second boutique, coffee shop, gift shop relocate

PETERSBURG — What happened to Sweet Dixie? It relocated, but it did not go far. The gift shop shared retail space in Old Towne until Abigail's Antiques and Other Diversions closed in November last year.

"We really liked our old location on Sycamore Street. When Frannie Rawlings and I went into business together, our first location was on Bank Street right behind the Dixie Restaurant," BG Brinkley, Sweet Dixie co-owner, said. "We opened up in December of 2013 and stayed at that location until we moved in with Abigail’s Antiques in 2016. The sandwich board out front promoted antiques and sweets. We got a lot of curious shoppers to see the unique combination."

Sweet dixie had to be out of the old shop by Thanksgiving. Brinkley's family and friends helped make the move into The Retreat Salon & Spa possible. The gift shop opened on December 1.

"I admire and respect the outstanding reputation that The Retreat has in the community, and the support that I have received from their loyal client base as well as Sweet Dixie’s fantastic customers that followed me down the street," Brinkley said. "Melinda’s employees have been wonderful at promoting Sweet Dixie."

Petersburg: Sweet Dixie gift shop

"Although we do not have the bakery cases anymore, we still offer a wide variety of Virginia-made food products," Brinkley said. "Shoppers may purchase Plantation Peanuts out of Wakefield, chutney and pepper jelly from Flint Hill and apple cider mustard and popular bird seed wreaths from Winchester."

"In our back yard, we carry local honey from Chestnut Ridge, Wicks candles from Colonial Heights and our beautiful collection of homemade soaps from the Daily Scrub as well as Rachel's handmade earrings," Brinkley shared. "We were excited to add Spiro’s dressings and seasonings to our inventory last year. Everyone was excited to get a taste of Alexander’s again."

I had to ask... Yes, Chef Marla Cohen's "Super Shit" premium spices are still available. Brinkley has ordered and reordered the comically named spices on a regular basis since 2014.

"The hours at The Retreat give our shoppers more time to stop by after work if they need to pick up a gift or need some Rooster Bark to make it through the night," Brinkley quipped. Sweet Dixie's Rooster Bark aka Old Towne Crack is made with graham crackers, pecans, sugar, butter and other mystery ingredients.

Sweet Dixie is to the left when you walk into The Retreat Salon & Spa located at 12 W. Old St. It is open Tuesday and Thursday 10 a.m. - 8 p.m., Wednesday 10 a.m. 6 p.m., Friday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Follow Sweet Dixie on Facebook.

Petersburg: The Elephant's Trunk

Lani Triggs and Jennifer McCray, owners of The Elephant's Trunk, will open a second location in Petersburg. After immeasurable support from the community and customers, their boutique in Chester has grown to home 70 vendors since it opened in October 2022.

"We are beyond thrilled to have found a space in Old Towne. We have always loved the charm, architecture and history of the buildings, and we have so much appreciation for the strong sense of community," McCray said. "We wanted to open a second location a bit further south to better accommodate our loyal customers who travel up to an hour to come see us. We feel that our brand and the variety of items we offer, will serve the community in a new way while still adding to the existing charms. It is our hope to grow our reach to gain new customers who will love both of our locations."

The Elephant’s Trunk offers a retail experience for shoppers that is eclectic and ever-changing. It allows local artisans an opportunity to showcase items that they have poured their love and care into. From furniture, home décor, jewelry, gifts, snacks, treats and more. The Elephant’s Trunk is filled with something for everyone.

Are you a vendor looking for space? The Elephant’s Trunk strives to home an array of local vendors. Triggs and McCray seek vendors who are passionate about their craft and can provide handmade, vintage, antique, refurbished, curated and one-of-a kind items.

"In our Petersburg location, we are excited to offer four different options for what we will call 'floating vendors.' They don’t have an assigned space in the store, but we carry their items and display them throughout the store where they can best be featured," Triggs said. "We hope to grow to have at least 50 floating vendors but will have room for more if we are fortunate enough to have more interest."

The events held at The Elephant's Trunk in Chester have become quite popular and well attended. The business partners plan to hold events at their newest location also.

"Our Trunk family loves coming up with unique ideas to get members of our community together," McCray said. "We encourage everyone to follow our social media pages and to be on the lookout for details about future events at both locations."

The Elephant's Trunk co-owner Jennifer McCray

In addition to being a proud co-owner of The Elephant’s Trunk, McCray is also the owner of Front Door Realty Group in Chester. Before opening The Elephant’s Trunk, she also had a side hustle on and off for the past 10 years running a small boutique located in vendor booths in larger stores.

"In my space, I refinished and repurposed furniture and home décor and sold it. This has always been one of my favorite hobbies," McCray said. "I enjoy blending my businesses together. I can help a buyer find their home sweet home, and then, I can help them furnish and decorate it."

McCray met Triggs when she became McCray's office manager at Front Door Realty Group. As they worked together, they became close friends.

"We found that we had a mutual interested in refinishing and repurposing furniture and home decor. In 2022, we decided that, together, we could turn our hobbies into a bigger business. Within a few short months, we opened The Elephant’s Trunk, and just 15 months later, we are opening our second location," McCray shared. "One thing we figured out right away is that there is nothing we can’t do together."

In addition to being a business owner, McCray is honored to be a wife, a mother of a 21-year-old daughter who owns Evolution Dance Center in Chester, and "Nana" to a 6-month-old who she calls her “little big man.”

The Elephant's Trunk co-owner: Lani Triggs

Besides being co-owner of The Elephant’s Trunk, Triggs is also a wife, a mom and a stepmom.

"The Elephant’s Trunk is truly a dream come true. I have always enjoyed thrifting and picking since I was a child with my mom and grandma," Triggs said. "Part of the reason for the name The Elephant’s Trunk in part for me is in honor of my grandma. She rented a spot in a store, selling and doing some of the same things that you can find at The Elephant’s Trunk. She named her spot Lani’s Place. My grandma’s favorite animal was an elephant and she had collected hundreds."

In 2021, Triggs lost her middle son Gavin. Her world was torn completely upside down. She decided that life was too short to not "make dreams come true and find happy." Her husband inquired what would make her happy if she could do anything.

"Without hesitation, I told him my dream. Within a few days, I shared it with my friend Jennifer. I did not know at the time, she was wanting to do the same thing," Triggs said. "Having The Elephant’s Trunk has been such a blessing and being able to do this with my best friend is better than I could have ever dreamed."

Being business partners allows Triggs and McCray to spend time together, a favorite pastime of theirs.

"Some days, we are in our workshop sanding, stripping, fixing, building and painting, and other days, we are out in our big moving van picking up items people are so generous to donate to us, or we are out scouting for projects," McCray said.

"Our favorite days are when we decide we want to reset the entire store, and we will stay in the shop all night so our customers can have something brand new to see in the morning," Triggs added. "One thing is for sure, we could not have done any of this without the incredible amount of support from our families nor without our outstanding staff members and our talented vendors. We love and appreciate our Trunk family."

The community is invited to attend The Elephant's Trunk ribbon cutting on March 2 at 9:45 a.m. as well as the Grand Opening from 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. at 246 N. Sycamore St. which was previously occupied by Abigail's Antiques and Sweet Dixie. For vendor information, send an email to Info@ShopTheTrunk.com.

Petersburg: Restored Cup coffee shop

The Restored Cup coffee shop in Old Towne previously located at 105 W. Bank St. relocated to 408 N. Sycamore St. Owned and operated by Hanna Jones, it reopened last December in the bay which will also serve as a lobby for the apartments currently under construction above it.

The "grab a book, leave a book" is still available on a shelf in the back for bookworms.

Are you are an artist looking for a place to display your art? Jones showcases local art in her coffee shop. The pieces will be on display and/or for sale for three months until another artist is featured. Interested artists may send a message to Jones via the Restored Cup Facebook.

Hours are subject to change, but typically Restored Cup will be open Tuesday - Friday from 7:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. and 8 a.m. - 3 p.m. on Saturday. Follow them on Facebook for more information.

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Kristi K. Higgins aka The Social Butterfly, an award-winning columnist, is the trending topics and food Q&A reporter at The Progress-Index voted the 2022 Tri-Cities Best of the Best Social Media Personality. Have a news tip on local trends or businesses? Contact Kristi (she, her) at khiggins@progress-index.com, follow @KHiggins_PI on X and @socialbutterflykristi on Instagram.

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This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Petersburg businesses relocate: Best friends open second boutique