Meet The Owners: Earth & Tree Miniature Shop

The is a store that specializes in tiny products, but has a big heart.

Earth & Tree was started in 1986 by Kari Berkner and her husband Tom, who combined their talents into one business. It originally sold both pottery and dollhouses at its location within Salzburg Square.

The store was named after Kari’s pottery (earth) and Tom’s dollhouse construction (tree). The business moved to its current location in 1994, and changed its name to Earth & Tree Miniatures after they discontinued pottery products.

Her husband constructed dollhouses at Tom’s Mill before he passed away, and now Kari owns the entire operation. This family business is also managed by their daughter, JaNeen Lentsch.

Earth & Tree offers dollhouses, kits and hundreds of thousands of miniature items to decorate them with. The store has five employees and brings in teachers for workshops throughout the year.

Amherst Patch sat down with Kari and JaNeen to talk about their business.

Patch: What is your favorite part of running your business?

Kari: I think it is ringing up sales (laughs). Really, I like to finish projects and I work on them practically anywhere, even during car trips. I especially love taking something brand new and making it look old. I grew up in an impoverished area in Wisconsin and used to see old buildings that have stood for years and years. They are almost like a blank canvas that Mother Nature has worked on. It is all about the artistic creativity and it is really fun for me. I used to be a hairdresser and love having the freedom to be totally creative.

Patch: What are some of the more interesting miniatures you’ve seen?

JaNeen: I have definitely seen some strange ones. Like this miniature electric chair that even had the leather straps. It was so bizarre, I mean, who would want that? I really like the tiny light-up fish tanks, and we have one of those old-fashioned popcorn machines too. Someone made some of the most realistic miniature foods; you could take a picture of them and wonder if they are real or not. Oh, one of the weirdest situations was a man who posed insects as a hobby and bought tiny guitars to pose with his beatles.

Patch: What are the challenges of owning a miniature shop?

Kari: The most challenging thing is the financial part of the business. We have an ample amount of ideas and products, plus we make plenty of things ourselves. We ship our creations to customers across the world, but it is frustrating to compete with online shops. We own a store that is open seven days a week and are competing with web businesses with no overhead. There are way more of these businesses in our industry, but they don’t have the customer service we have. We answer so many questions each week and that is important to us.

Patch: What makes your shop special?

Kari: We do an awful lot ourselves here and some people travel for miles to get that special item. We are hands-on people and in my store I make sure that everybody is knowledgeable to assist customers. We have made all the mistakes possible in our field and can share our expertise with aspiring builders and collectors. Our store is also one of the five largest miniatures stores in the country; we are just a very unique place to come visit. We have something for everybody, from school projects to those looking for unique gifts. We don’t put anything behind glass like some stores; all of our displays are open and most everything is for sale.

Patch: What are the plans for the future?

JaNeen: We want to continue to find items that other stores don’t offer, and expand our inventory to accommodate that. I’m planning on designing more dollhouses too. I hope to one day have a newer building that is bigger and easier to navigate for customers. A bigger workshop would give us a chance for customers to actually see what we are doing. A lot of people don’t know that our products can be for people of all ages, and I would like to see us get the message out there.

Visit their website here.