A wall of stationery examples for weddings and parties offered by Bob Barker.Bliss Causby’s vintage furniture store Bob Barker may be relatively new to Riverview, but she said the community of shops and boutiques there has made her feel at home.
So at home, in fact, that when the Cynthia Howell Stationery shop next to her store was in the position of being sold or closed down, Causby decided to purchase it and fuse it with Bob Barker.
“It was a neighborhood shop, and everyone loved that it was a neighborhood store,” said Causby, who moved back to the Chattanooga area after running a furniture store in South Carolina for over 20 years. “No one wanted it to leave, so I bought it to keep it in the neighborhood.
“Everyone was really thankful that I picked up the stationery store. Longstanding businesses are always good for the community.”
She recalls coming to some of the boutiques and shops in Riverview while in high school, and said getting to return and run a store there has been a great experience.
As far as she knows, she’s currently the only joint furniture-stationery store in Chattanooga.
“It’s such a charming street,” Causby said, “and it’s amazing to get to have this business on it. Coming back, it’s really like I’ve come full circle.”
In addition to wanting to rescue the stationery shop from closure, she said she was looking for a new challenge. Running a successful furniture store for over two decades made it so she “could sell furniture all day long,” but taking over and growing a stationery shop posed something new.
“There’s definitely been a learning process,” she said. “I’m just happy to be doing something new. Changing it up for a bit keeps it interesting.”
Bob Barker still specializes in unique and vintage furniture, while the stationery half of the store has a focus on cards, labels and other paper goods for weddings and parties. Causby pointed out that many of the shops in the neighborhood complement one another, such as the wedding flower vendor adjacent to Bob Barker.
She and her standard poodle Bob Barker, for which the store is named, welcome visitors to her shop, located at 1310 Hanover St. Call 266-2667 to learn more.
Email Shane Foley at sfoley@timesfreepress.com.