If you haven’t been to Cooper-Young Gallery and Gifts you need to change that as soon as possible! Located at 889 South Cooper this little White House packs a big creative punch.
Shopkeepers Joel Rose and Jenean Morrison have been married for almost 12 years, but their individual creative pursuits began years earlier. Joel specializes in photography and film and is the author of the book Haunted City. Jenean’s passion falls more into the painting and design category with her business, Jenean Morrison Art and Design. Her designs can be found on canvas, textile, paper products and she even had an Amazon bestseller with an adult coloring book featuring her patterns and designs. In 2013 the couple hosted a pop-up shop in mid-town to test the waters of running a brick and mortar shop. They knew the interest was there, and the dream was definitely there within their own hearts, but the timing was just not right. As busy artist with full freelance schedules, they never seemed to have time free up in their schedules at the same time. They purchased the home in 2013 and continued dream of being shopkeepers one day as they pursued their individual careers. Fast forward to 2017. The business they had rented their property to decided to relocate and they found themselves faced with a choice, should they pursue a new tenant for the shop, or should they take the leap of combining their love of all things art and design and open the long dreamed about shop. “There is a saying, the net doesn’t appear until you take the jump,” Joel said laughingly. The time was finally right for the couple to take the leap of faith, and The Cooper-Young Gallery and Gift Shop was born.
The quaint little white house on South Cooper has a timeless Midtown ascetic and style, and the couple did not modify the structure. When Jenean was designing the logo that now hangs in the front yard of the home she envisioned a sign that would truly represent the welcoming feel of the neighborhood, an unofficial gateway into Cooper-Young. And if that isn’t enough to draw you into the space, the front window is a perfect marriage of art and design that changes to reflect the various holidays and seasons. It is a beautiful representation of what lies behind the bright blue front door. “We had a friend that lives in Cooper-Young tell us that our slogan needs to be that we sell happy,” Jenean recounts with a smile. And that statement is so true. From the bright wall colors to the whimsical designs of the products throughout, the store is a bright and cheery space. Joel readily admits that Jenean is responsible for the majority of the ordering of the inventory, “She is so good at not only creating the art, but she has met so many artists over the years nationally, internationally as well as locally, so she knows where to go to get the best items to go together with our aesthetic. Loosely we thought of it as something similar to a museum gift shop”. When sourcing products the couple tries to find a good mix of local artist and creators and items that people in the area haven’t been exposed to. And it is a formula that works. As you walk through the store, there is a seamless blend of styles, textures, and products, with each room telling a story with its content. The couple has truly put their heart and soul into space, and that is evident from the moment you walk through the door.
One of the dangers of putting your heart into something, whether it be something creative and artsy, a business or even a relationship is the fact that you are allowing yourself to become vulnerable in the process. All of life requires a combination of being genuine, authentic, and vulnerable to live it to the fullest. “Whether you are talking about a personal friendship or a business, people can detect phoninesses. If you don’t have something real in there you can’t connect with people through your products and art in business,” Joel stated emphatically. Opening a business requires a great amount of vulnerability. You are putting yourself out there to the community to be judged, whether good, bad or indifferent. And in turn, when the community responds to your ideas, your products, your dreams, they are being vulnerable in return. It is a beautiful, organic, and sometimes messy process but the only way to finding an authentic connection to your community. As Jenean so eloquently stated it, “I could spend years making the shop beautiful, doing everything I could to make it the best...and when we open the doors someone is still going to come in and not like it. So I just have to make it something I like and that I am happy with. It isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but it will be some people’s cup of tea. That is what gave me the courage to go forward.”
Many people in today’s fast-paced, online world feel that the brick and mortar store is dying, but after sitting and visiting with Jenean and Joel, I can absolutely say it isn’t. It is alive and well in the hearts of the shopkeepers who see the value in offering what they craft and create to the community they have grown to love. The community that they have taken the time to get to know and invest in. “Since opening the shop, we find ourselves much more thrust into the heart of the creative community in our city which is very large and diverse....vulnerability is really at the heart of it. The human interaction that you don’t really get when you are sitting at a computer sending your art into the world. It is really a different experience here....it is an intimate and vulnerable thing,” Joel said thoughtfully. And he is right. In the age of online shopping, where virtually anything is available, and right at your fingertips, the brick and mortar shops are continually being challenged to find ways to do it better, to offer something the online world can not. One way Joel and Jenean have found to do this is in reaching out to their community and offering their shop as a place to gather for book clubs, community meetings, and even classes to learn a new craft or hone an old one. This personal, face to face interaction is something the virtual world simply cannot offer, and something that we as a community desperately need more of. And this requires creativity and, once again, vulnerability to take the leap and try new and different things to keep your style fresh and people engaged. Being brave enough to be vulnerable in what you are passionate about, that is, in my opinion, the very essence of what style is.
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