Local Business Owner Hopes to Woo Shoppers with Iowa City Valentine's Day Store

Want to check out Valentine, the new Valentine's Day themed craft and clothing store on the Pedestrian Mall that opened this week?

If so, you've got about two weeks.

For local business owner Catherine Champion, that's more than enough time before switching to the next idea.

Champion, 45, owns nearby , as well as Cheap and Chic, a retail space at 105 S. Dubuque that temporarily closed so the space could be used for Valentine. After Feb. 15 or 16, the shop will become a swimsuit related shop in anticipation of Spring Break. After that, in partnership with Revival, it will be converted into a high end consignment store called Merci.

Champion said the Cheap and Chic space allows her to jump from business idea to business idea, trying on store themes and merchandise like most people try on outfits.

She said the goal is to turn business owning into a creative joy rather than a dull exercise.

"It's all about bringing variety to life," Champion said. "When it doesn't work, it will go back to becoming Cheap and Chic, that's always the fallback.

"I either have adult ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) or I'm never satisfied. Maybe both."

In its current form, Cheap and Chic is Valentine, a Valentine's Day themed craft and clothing store that features merchandise mostly created by local artisans. To imagine it, picture someone's Etsy Store, multiplied by five, all in one retail space.

Plus, lots of red, purple, pink and white.

Champion said the holiday pop up store concept, which she used successfully with the holiday themed store "December," allows several items to be displayed using one central theme.

"It's like having a store where everything is white," Champion said. "It's about presenting things in new ways."

Items that can be found in the store include: underwear, rings, bracelets, t-shirts, skirts, fur-lined gift containers, homemade body scrub, fabric, Valentine's gift cards (including the staff favorite "Let's Make Out" cards), sachets, crafted candy treat cups, and a variety of different items to browse through.

If you would like to visit Valentine and browse for yourself, it is open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday and Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

You can find out more at the store at the Cheap and Chic Facebook page here.

Finally, if anyone out there has a business idea for the Cheap and Chic space, Champion said she is willing to consider it.

"If people have ideas they can approach me with them," she said. "Why not? Let's do it."