139 Years of Success in Maplewood

Running a small business has never been easy, and local mom-and-pop shops can be especially vulnerable to economic ups and downs.  So it is nothing short of remarkable that three beloved Maplewood Village institutions – all still run by their original owners – have survived and thrived in town for around forty years.      

Bee & Thistle Antique Shop opened its doors in 1973, the year the Vietnam War ended and the Watergate scandal broke.  stationery store followed shortly after.  But they’re both practically whippersnappers next to , which has occupied its spot on Maplewood Avenue since 1968.

None of the three rely much on advertising, let alone Facebook or Twitter.  Many of their competitors have bitten the dust in recent decades.  So, what is the secret to their success?

“Service is the name of the game,” said Truly Yours owner Jean Zucker.  “We really cater to the customer.”  The shop specializes in custom invitations, but also carries a vast selection of writing paper and note cards, scrapbooks and photo albums. 

“Jean is constantly creating new things, to keep the products fresh and innovative,” said longtime employee Linda Anderson. 

Zucker will imprint stationery or produce custom invitations within a day, regularly calls customers to alert them to new merchandise, and will come in after hours to accommodate an urgent invitation request.  “We have customers from all over the area,” she said.  “We even have one in California and a few in Florida.”

“Jean remembers everything about her customers,” said Anderson.  “You can’t get that off a computer.” 

Born and raised in Maplewood, Zucker started the store on a whim.  “I always liked stationery and paper goods.  I felt welcome in town right away.”  She loves what she does so much that she doesn’t even like to be away for a day.  “After a while, I’m glad to get back to the routine.”

Right across the street at Bee & Thistle, husband-and-wife proprietors John and Eileen Dilley are cut from a similar cloth as Zucker.  “Retail gets in your blood,” said Eileen. “We’re not the kind of people to sit in rockers on the front porch.”  (Even though their front porch is just up the street, attached to the house they have lived in for nearly four decades.) 

Eileen recalled the day in 1973 when she was on her way home from and saw a “For Rent” sign in the window of a storefront on Highland Place.  “I said, ‘that’s it’.”  Later that day she informed husband John, “Well, we have a shop!”  In 1981, they moved the store to its current Baker Street location.

The Dilleys haunt antique markets and shops in New York State, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, and always have specific customers in mind as they search for the perfect piece. 

 A similar dedication to the customer is evident at Beacon Jewelers.  “We started out in East Orange in 1947, next to the Beacon Theater,” explained Tony Giasullo, who owns the store with his wife, Johanna.  In 1956, they moved the business to the Vailsburg section of Newark and then after the 1968 riots, they settled in Maplewood.

“You have peaks and valleys in retail, but we are captain of our own ship,” said Giasullo.  “Some of our customers have been with us for forty years.”

He recalled one who brought in a treasured vintage stick pin she wanted to transform into a necklace.  Giasullo worked with her on the design for several months and she recently picked up the finished product.  “She walked out of here six feet off the ground,” he said.  “I got three or four hugs!” 

The customer told Giasullo that no one else would have had the patience to spend so much time with her.  “That’s just good business,” he said with a shrug.  “You can spend all you want on advertising, but in the end it’s the customer service.  Our reputation is everything, if you lose people’s trust you’re out of business.”

Hometown girl Janet Crane remembers getting her ears pierced at Beacon when she was in 6^th grade.  “It was a rite of passage,” she said.  Beacon was also where Crane’s daughter got her first set of pearls as a Sweet 16 present.

Crane and husband Steve, owner of on Maplewood Avenue, treasure Maplewood’s tight-knit community feel.  “It really does take a village to raise a child, and we have that here in town,” said Janet.  “Many merchants live here or have been in town for a long time, and it makes parents feel that their kids are safe here.”

A Maplewood resident for most of his life, Deputy Mayor Fred Profeta has been a customer of all three stores over the years.  “In fact, right now I’m wearing the watch my wife bought me at Beacon Jewelers,” he said. 

“It means a lot to the town to have these stores here,” said Profeta.  “They are the face of Maplewood.”

Fortunately for Maplewoodians, none of these long-timers has any thoughts of retirement.  Said Eileen Dilley, “We like it here, and we’re not going anywhere.”