Shawville’s Chateau Du Dollar Plus welcomed loyal customers Saturday morning at the store’s grand opening at its new location in the old Stedmans building on Shawville’s Main Street, two blocks west of its original location at the corner of Main and Victoria Street, where it lived since it opened over a decade ago.
Colette O’Malley, a frequent customer at the previous location, was among the shoppers browsing the freshly stocked aisles on Saturday morning, on a mission to find some plastic Easter eggs.
“She had tight quarters, but she knew where everything was,” O’Malley said of the previous location. “You just asked her and she’d tell you where to go get it.”
She said she was surprised to see just how full the new location was.
“I never expected she’d have it filled,” O’Malley said. “I thought she would use half and the other half for storage. But she’s really offering a lot of stuff here.”
Owner Amreen Akhtar said it was nice to finally reopen after closing the doors at her former location two months ago. She explained that the previous space had very narrow aisles that were overflowing with product making it harder for her customers to shop.
When former Stedmans owners announced they would be closing their store after 51 years, Akhtar knew the space would work for her. She said that the building’s large windows initially drew her to the store, and the shelving would work well for her products.
The new space, at 6,700 square feet, is more than four times the size of her previous store.
Akhtar purchased the building in January and has been moving her products over ever since. There’s still stock in the previous location, but Akhtar said that she hopes to eventually rent the building to a new business.
“[The move] was challenging but now I’m carrying on what I’ve been doing,” she said, emphasizing that her loyal customers over the years have made it possible for her to continue growing.
“I’ve been in Shawville for 12 years and I started my small business,” Akhtar said, explaining that she originally opened in June of 2013. “The community supports me really well, made me buy a bigger building.”
