Tumbleweeds
Run out of a red barn on the Susquehanna Trail, Tumbleweeds aims to give customers that piece that wows everyone who comes into their homes. Lori Starz refuses to accept the title of “owner,” since it is not a one-woman operation. Tumbleweeds is the product of everyone involved, not just a single owner.
Seventeen vendors call Tumbleweeds their home, each blending with the others to create a repurposed industrial vibe. Each vendor stages their space in a realistic way to show customers how they could use the items within their own homes. Customers can meander through the various floors of the barn or even explore outside in the garden section. Starz strongly believes in the importance of giving a home a personality without breaking the bank.
Tumbleweeds is open every weekend, drawing about 500 people each week. While many locals enjoy visiting the barn, many people travel from Maryland to peruse the wares offered by the various vendors. During the week while the barn isn’t open, Starz and other vendors go on “picks” to local barns and homes to salvage items that they can repurpose into something new. Tumbleweeds has a constant flow of new things coming in and then going right back out with a new owner. This process of things blowing in and out of the store is what inspired Starz to name the business “Tumbleweeds.”
Starz chose the barn for a venue since she loved the style and its location along the heavily traveled Susquehanna Trail. Starz is so grateful for the “awesome little community” that has welcomed Tumbleweeds and helped it grow into something great.
Gray Apple Market
Although it is outside the cluster of the previous shops, Gray Apple Market is worth the trip up the Susquehanna Trail. Located in a repurposed icehouse from the 1800’s, the market radiates the farmhouse style that owner Sarah Inch loves. She started an interior design company a couple of years ago by the similar name of Gray Apple Design. Many of Inch’s clients would ask where to find similar items, which inspired her to open a shop where people could easily find farmhouse décor. A lot of the items she sells in her market are sourced from online vendors, and some are handmade.
In addition to the market, Inch still runs Gray Apple Design and offers renovation services with her husband, Jeffrey Inch of Inch’s Landscape. Her husband was her biggest supporter in opening the shop, and they enjoy working as a team through the design and renovation business.
While trying to come up with a name for the business, the couple’s young daughter, Jozlyn, suggested Gray Apple because of her mother’s love of neutral colors and the fact that she was eating an apple.
“That was her piece in the business,” says Inch.
Gray Apple Market is a very new addition to the Susquehanna Trail, having just opened in April of this year. Inch uses Instagram frequently to expand her new business’ reach and give people inspiration for redecorating in her farmhouse aesthetic.
Despite the short amount of time the store has been open, Gray Apple is already making a footprint in the area, attracting people from nearby regions including Hanover and Lancaster. Inch has big plans for the future of her shop. In the coming months, she hopes to host flea markets and workshops for flower and terrarium arranging, embroidery, and sign painting. Her hope is that the shop becomes a place where people gather to connect.