Secrets on Main Street Thriving in New Spot

After opening above three years ago, it wasn't very long until owner Kristin Scanlon started itching for a bigger space to house her craft parties and unique retail items.

But less than two weeks ago, Scanlon was finally able to scratch that itch.

Along with business partner and co-owner Angela Walker, Scanlon relocated Secrets to the 3,000-square foot property formerly occupied by American Realty, which is walking distance from the former location on Main Street.

While the change in address is slight, the impact of a larger space is enormous.

With the extra space, Secrets boasts three separate activity rooms, one for workshops and two individual areas (including one black light room) for craft-themed birthday parties. At the old location, one room housed all the events, and that meant if there was a birthday party planned for the weekend, open workshops weren’t possible.

Secrets is also seeing the benefits of being on the ground level.

“We get more walk by traffic for the retail, which is really nice because the location, even though it’s walking distance [away from the old shop], being right here in the center of Main Street really makes a huge difference,” Scanlon said.

She hardly came across the new location by accident. Scanlon had been eyeballing the property ever since the realty company closed its doors around two years ago. However, she patiently had to wait for it to go on the market for rent.

When that “for rent” sign finally went up, Scanlon pounced.

“I called Angela immediately,” Scanlon said. “The first day that I saw it I emailed the realtor and she called me back within a minute.”  

It didn’t take very long for the new space to be put to use. This weekend alone, Secret’s is hosting seven birthday parties and a teen night, featuring black light painting, on Friday evening.

Because her old spot was, in a sense, tucked away atop Java Mammas, some customers assumed that was where the name ‘Secrets’ came from. However, that’s not the case at all.

“The secret is anybody can craft,” Scanlon said. “Not everybody is artistic, but anyone can craft. Anybody can do the stuff that we do. We’re not really artsy, we’re crafty.”