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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Locals find vintage flair at Clementine

Clementine, located at 58 Main Street, resembles a European, dreamy, old-world artisanal shop. It is easy to get lost amidst the leather journals, antique spoons, peacock feathers and lavender sachets.
When designing the store, Emily Blistein, the storeowner, sought to evoke “an old haberdashery, full of ribbons and buttons and lace.”
“This store is a play on the fantastical, that let’s you escape just a little,” she said.
Specializing in a mix of vintage, new and handmade items for the home, Clementine opened in November 2010, when Blistein quit her job to start her own business. While lobbying for women’s health, she began sewing as a hobby, and fell in love with textiles.
“I had always felt like something was missing,” she said.
And now she has found this missing piece, reasoning,
“I believe you should really, really, really love what you do,” she said.
Emily sews small items for the store when she is not selecting and selling products from traditional vendors and the online craft community, Etsy. She also enjoys searching for antiques that match the store’s growing collection.
The shop is loosely divided into themes, including bath and beauty, rugs for all rooms of the house, kitchenware, baby and wedding. These last two categories in particular help shoppers find presents for pregnant friends and brides-to-be, a task Emily found frustrating herself as a young woman and a soon-to-be-mother.
In the back room, there are materials for sewing and crafting, including hard-to-find vintage European linens, so customers can select certain draperies, bedding or window curtains. This past winter, community members gathered at Clementine once a month for a craft night.
Although Ben Franklin offers basic materials for school projects, Clementine provides high-end goods that can be turned into long-lasting decorative housewares and accessories. Blistein hopes her vintage goods will attract a young crowd, too.
Women at the College, especially, may find certain items useful, such as woven rugs to liven up a dorm room, decals for wall decorations and silver enameled jewelry. But necessity is not the point at Clementine.
“I want it to be a place that inspires people, where someone will come here, maybe to take a break from writing, and get transported somewhere else through visuals and fragrances,” Blistein said. “Maybe they’ll bring home something small that will spark more ideas.”
Blistein hopes to draw the College’s students to Clementine, so she chose a youthful, vibrant name to replace the space that once was home to The Gilded Cage. When her husband sat down next to her at the beach, and called her ‘darling,’ she thought “That’s it!”
The old western tune recalled a different Clementine song by Sarah Jaffe. This is Blistein’s favorite song and it puts her in a good mood.
“It’s [Clementine is] where to go when you think, ‘I might not need this, but it makes me happy,”’ she said.
Clementine is open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Call the store at (802) 388-4442 or check out the website at http://www.clementinestore.com.

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