BENNET, Neb. (KMTV) – As 3 News Now continues to highlight woman-owned businesses in the Heartland, 3 News Now reporter and anchor Arianna Martinez takes you into Bennet, Nebraska where one woman switched careers after an injury and is now following her passion for finding special things to fill your home with.
"The uptown is new and fancy and pretty, and the down home can be rustic and vintage and antique,” said Uptown & Down Home Mercantile owner Wendi Raetz.
The pandemic got in the way of being able to go "treasure hunting," as Raetz calls it, but now she is back at it.
"That's one of my passions about this too, is finding them and curating it and then displaying it in a beautiful place and showing people how to use them,” she said.
What sets the store apart from a big box decor store is every item has been hand-selected by Raetz. Some things are even antiques from around the area.
"Sometimes people come to me with things,” she said. “They have interesting things that are in their family or their home or their barn or their library and they come to offer them to me too."
The main store is located in Bennet but customers will soon be able to order items off of their website.
"One of the really unique things about Uptown & Down Home here in Bennet is the building that we are in has three women-owned businesses in it,” Raetz said. “We have a long-time hair salon and a massage therapist and Uptown Down Home. It's really fun to be all in one place with women supporting each other."
Products from her store can now be found in Omaha.
"I'm also moving into the retail space in the Brownie Bar in the Old Market in Omaha,” Raetz said. “Then we will progress as other locations open and other opportunities open to having retail space."
Uptown & Down Home Mercantile
625 Madison Street
Bennet, Nebraska 68317
402-890-6562
uptowndownhome@gmail.com
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