While the sun beat down across much of the East Coast, residents of Bristol Borough and the surrounding area caught a break stepping inside the light and airy, Daydreams & Doodads shop on 204 Mill Street to celebrate the shops grand opening on June 1. They were greeted with smiles and hellos and stuck by for delicious treats and strawberry wine in order to catch a peek inside the newest shop on the famous strip, a strip nestled between a humble borough and the Delaware River.
Heather Davis, a quirky crafter from her core, a 6 year Navy veteran, and a previous guard at Guantanamo Bay is the proud shop owner. Davis and her dachshund Dash, as well as Davis’ fellow crafter mom are nestled in the back right hand corner of the store smiling ear to ear as a woman sits on a chair outside and sings, and a man with a cowboy hat plays the guitar beside her. Suddenly with each pluck of his guitar strings there is a breath of fresh air that blows into the newly painted white and teal store, which provides ‘booth’ like spaces for local artists to display their handmade items.
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Davis, as a veteran, takes great pride in the local artistry brought into the shop through her many vendors. “My mom is a crafter, and I have put on many craft shows and had so much fun,” Davis said with a reminiscing twinkle in her eye. “I have selected people from specific craft shows, and picked higher quality things to display in the store, everything is made in the USA.”
When the natural idea came to her to open a ‘consignment’ like shop in the end of March and beginning of April, there was not a more obvious place to bring the shop to. “I grew up in Bensalem and still live there now. I have always loved the Mill Street area. I love it here, it is like a little family, everyone here is so adorable, and so kind,” she said.
Just as she says this, two local shop owners from Mill Street come by to wish her good luck, and deliver a special treat to place on her counter. A counter which is now full of potted plants, cupcake displays, and assorted cheese baskets. As the Mill Street shop owners share hugs and kind words with Davis, there is a sprinkle of hope in their eyes, a hope that Davis and her unique shop may have what it takes to sweep back the cob webs on old Mill Street.
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“I feel like it’s going to be so hard to not shop in here for myself,” Davis says matter-of-factly as the shop grows quieter. Davis is not just the owner of the quaint Mill Street shop, she is also a vendor. “I make the dog accessories in the one corner, the heated rice packs, and the flower pens here on the counter, just a little of this, a little of that.”
‘A little of this, a little of that’ although a description for her dabbling in the crafting world is a proper description of the store collectively as well. “I went back and forth a lot with the name of the shop, I really liked ‘Doodads’ because everything in the store is like a modge-podge. And when I think of the creativity of the artists it is like a ‘Daydream’. I texted my mom every thing I thought of, every combination of words I could think of, and asked her does this sound right, does this sound dumb.”
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For Davis, this grand opening day has been a final sense of relief. “For a little while, I felt like Jekyll and Hyde, I was having a panic attack once a day. But I took one last look before leaving last night, and said to myself “It’s Ready” and since then, I have had no more stress.”
You can view more information by visiting the Daydreams & Doodads Facebook page here.
