(bright upbeat music) - Will you consider this?

You have managed that, with this wild hair that happened 55 years ago, kind of a wild hair, and you've kept your business going for 55 years.

It's made all kinds of iterations.

But it is a fun place.

It's called the Hayloft Shops area.

And this is Becky Schotthofer, one of the founders.

Yeah.

You and your mom did it.

- Right.

- So, okay.

And it's on 29.

- Mm-hmm.

- And you pass it and a lot of times people go, you know, "So what's that?"

There's a barn and there's a little shop area.

So first of all, tell me how did it very first come about?

- Well, my mom started it with a friend of hers that was an art major.

And they started with, she was in an automobile accident.

- Your mom was?

- Yes.

And they had her do therapy and the therapy was ceramics.

So they did hand painted ceramics, did custom work for people.

And that's how it all started.

And then her partner went through a divorce and moved to Florida.

So I was in college still.

And then when I came out, I joined her.

- Okay.

All right.

So you weren't exactly a co-founder, but you've been in it really- - Right.

- In some way for all 55 years.

- [Becky] Yeah.

I used to have that summer job there.

- Okay.

Well that's good, that counts.

And you, let's hear about, so Becky Schotthofer is, you're an artist.

You went to school to study art, right?

- Yes, yes.

I was an art major in St. Louis at Lindenwood.

Well, Saint Charles, Missouri, yeah.

And I've been able to use it so much throughout my whole career.

Between that and the people that owning the companies, they just nurtured you along the way.

- Okay.

Yeah.

So, okay, but now the Hayloft started out specifically only as like a gift shop area.

- It was just a gift shop.

- So this is, you had a barn on the property where you lived.

- Right.

But that's not it.

- This isn't it.

But this is the- - No, we had a zoning battle.

- Okay.

- That it was on our family farm.

And we had neighbors move in that decided they didn't like, my brother had an equitation, was teaching for Bradley, and we had horses and this was in the upstairs of the horse barn.

- Okay.

- Was where the little shop was.

- All right.

- And so anyway, through all of that, we had to find another location and we were temporarily downtown Peoria in what was called The House.

And we had the shop there.

And then we decided to move everything and we had a contest and we had people guess where we were moving and what barn.

And because of all the zoning thing, we had lots of people donating barns.

And my father was in the construction.

- Construction business.

Right.

- So that helped a lot.

So we had Balagna Movers and they moved the hayloft of the barn, and it was part of the Johnson Farm, which is now Nassau Estates.

- Oh, interesting.

- And the day that they moved it down, it was Easter weekend, and we had all these storm warnings and tornado warnings.

And I can still hear my dad saying at the dinner table, "I hope a tornado just doesn't pick up that barn," 'cause it was on stilts.

They had to build the sides up.

- Okay.

- And move it into the center of 29.

- Oh yeah.

- So anyway, lo and behold, we did put the, on it, and we started out with the gift shop.

- So the hayloft is on the top, and then you built the bottom to match everything.

- Everything on the bottom is new, yes.

- Okay.

Well, newer.

- Right.

- 50, how many years ago?

- Well 55 years.

Right.

But the upstairs is over 100 years, and it was the original Roszell dairy barn that was located on Sheridan and, it's a subdivision now, but anyway, it had been moved to the Johnson Farm before that.

- Okay.

- So it's a very historic barn and we had a lot of the different Roszell's, one, he flew in from New York, he wanted to see it.

He heard about it.

So it was quite an accomplishment.

- Yeah.

An adventure in itself.

- Yes.

- So you started out as a gift shop, but then you kind of, you had a tea room there also.

- Yes.

And that was Dorothy Cannell, who is the writer.

- Right.

She's an author.

- She and her friend did a set up tea.

- Mm-hmm.

- And you would make reservations and she would come in, set the tables up, and then they would do the tea and then take it down.

And that happened until she had some difficulties in her family and she was gonna go more into her writing.

- Okay.

- So then we decided to take it over and do the tea room.

- Mm-hmm.

- And then we needed more room.

- Right.

So then you built on another little L shape.

- Exactly.

- Yeah.

Okay.

- Across the way, and we had the tea room.

It was a country French tea room.

And we had it for, I'd say another 20 years, 15 to 20 years.

I don't have all the dates.

It kind of goes, you know, it all blends.

- It just happened.

Yeah, exactly.

- Yeah.

And then we needed more space for retail.

We wanted to expand the dress shop.

So that is when we decided to close the tea room and opened the dress shop.

And so now we have the antique shop, the dress shop, the gift shop.

And then in the gift shop, we have the gourmet shop.

- Right.

- So it keeps me busy.

- You kind of do it all.

Yeah.

- Yeah.

- When do you have time to shop yourself?

Shop for supplies?

- Okay, well, I've done a lot of overseas trips.

In fact, I did the Christmas markets year before last and brought back, and what was interesting, the things that I brought back were handmade and they were less expensive than what I would've brought in from the China companies, as I say.

- Of course.

Yeah.

- Yeah.

So, and then we do a lot with the Dallas marketplace.

I've done California, New York, you know, there's the different one.

And they're all noted for different things.

- Right, well, you usually don't buy any antiques on those things.

You pick up antiques around here, right, at estate sales and things?

- Well, we did an overseas trip once the year, and then when I was in Austria, the last two times I brought stuff back.

They were more small things.

- Right.

- But not furniture.

- Yeah.

- We did furniture from England, that was a fun trip.

That was when my dad was involved in everything.

- [Christine] Okay, well then he knew how to, in construction, he knew how to get the stuff back.

- Oh yeah.

- Good.

- Yeah.

- Well, okay, so the tea room made you put together this nice little cookbook with a lot of your mom's recipes in it and everything.

- [Becky] Right, she developed them all.

- I have a few favorites in here myself.

- Do you?

- Yeah.

Yeah.

I love the, I don't remember what it's called, the cauliflower broccoli salad with or without mushrooms.

- Oh yes.

That was our house salad.

- Yeah.

It's the best and I make it quite a bit.

But some people don't like mushrooms, so it's like, I can do it without the mushrooms, I'm fine.

- Right.

- And then, okay, so, you did that.

So that's for your gourmet shop.

Now you have it there.

- [Becky] Right, right.

- And you also have, like, pewter.

- The Armetale.

- Armetale.

Yeah.

- Yes.

That's been our mainstay for like 50 years.

- Really?

- It carried it.

Yes.

- [Christine] And how did that come about?

- Well, when I joined my mom, she took me up to the gift show and I was so impressed.

It was a brand new metal out on the market and you could put it in the oven, on the burner.

You never polished it.

It was like the answer to our lifestyles today.

- Right.

- And so anyway, we invested in quite a lot.

They had 1,200 different pieces and we were one of the largest as far as showing the whole thing.

And then Mr. Wilton used to come to the shop for our art fair.

- [Christine] Right, now this is Wilton Armetale.

- Wilton Armetale.

Yeah.

- Specifically.

Yeah.

- And the company was a 100 year old black iron company before they discovered this.

But the father, Mr. Wilton, he had restaurants and he wanted something developed that looked like pewter that he could use in his restaurants that they could cook with and they didn't have to polish.

- Mm-hmm.

- So that's what brought it all about.

- Wow.

Okay.

- And my mom was the very first customer with their first wholesale show.

So that kind of.

- That was a nice arrangement.

And what attracted your mom to it?

Did she ever really say?

Just 'cause it was so versatile?

- It was more me than my mom that was so- - Oh.

- And then the more she used, 'cause she was always into antique silver and things like that.

But I said- - But then you have to polish it, yeah.

- Exactly.

Exactly.

So then we, the one, the vice president's son, knew that I had the art background.

So he wanted me to design plates and ornaments.

- [Christine] And we have one of those here.

Hand it to me.

I'll hold it up for this.

- Okay.

That's retired.

Yes.

- This was retired.

This was 1989.

When did you start doing the plates?

- 1977.

- Okay.

- And then we retired them in 2011.

And I would do, and it's totally different when you design in metal, because you have to think the cutouts, you don't just draw and shade, you have to think where the cutouts are.

Because when they do sand casting, which each piece of Armetale is, they make a sand mold, they have a dye cast, and it's molded and then the mold is destroyed and a new one made up for each piece.

- Oh wow.

- So they're, and then they go into a whole polishing technique on it and everything, so it was, and we have them, I mean they went all over the country and- - [Christine] Really, kinda all over the world.

- It was kind of a neat thing 'cause I could put my art into it.

- Right, exactly.

And you still do.

Well you had some key rings too.

- Ornaments.

Yeah.

- Ornaments.

Yeah.

- And people did use them.

And we did, it was called Christmas Across America, and they were all different places.

And then we did the Peoria ornament and we gave to whatever place was needing funding, we would give part of the sales to that.

So that was like, I think we did that for like 12 years.

And then what came along, the company, which was a sad day, Mr. Wilton, the oldest son, he had been not in the best health conditions at the time and his brothers didn't wanna go in and take over.

So they sold it to a housewares company.

- Hmm.

- Who bought Pfaltzgraff, who bought Wallace Silver.

They all, what they wanted was the name.

So it took the manufacturing out of the United States.

- Okay.

- And it was either made in Mexico or made in China.

And I would not carry the China.

- Right.

- Because it wasn't the same quality.

- Quality.

Right.

- No.

But the Mexico is excellent.

And now the company has developed, just towards the end, Wilton started in it grillware.

And you put it all on the grill.

It's fabulous.

- [Christine] It is fun.

Yeah.

Throw the stuff in and.

- Yeah, and it's easy to clean up and everything else.

- You gotta love that.

- So that's kind of why the plates had to stop and the ornaments, because I wasn't gonna have it made in Mexico or China.

- Right.

You were- - Anyway, so that was another phase of the Hayloft.

(Becky and Christine laugh) - Well, so, okay, how did the, we know about the tea room, then we know about the dress shop and everything.

How did the antique business start then?

- That my father's.

- Okay.

- And because he was a home builder and he had his own cabinet shop, he loved antiques and redoing them.

So that's how we got, and I've kept it, it's, I would say it's a minor end of the shops.

- Okay.

- But we do a lot of vintage things right now.

- Right.

Well there was a tack shop also.

- That was my brother - And your sister-in-law.

- And sister-in-law.

And because of his, right.

Yeah.

They sold all kinds of tack and everything.

And the tack shop and the dress shop started together in the same building.

- Okay.

(laughs) - And then we moved, he moved the tack shop onto his premises and we took over the whole thing as a dress shop.

But it still was, and then we had another building we bought on the backside of the barn that we moved the dress shop in.

- Okay.

- But then when we left the tea room, we moved the dress shop- - There.

Okay.

- Right.

Yeah.

And it's doing very, very well.

We specialize in special occasion, mothers of the wedding, plus- - And to be honest, now I've done some modeling for Becky.

- Yeah.

She has.

- And so I've done the mother of the whatever, 'cause I didn't have any girls, but I was the mother of the groom a couple of times.

I got this little dress 'cause I couldn't dare wear anything that I hadn't gotten from Becky.

But yeah, you do have a lot of fun, really different things.

- Yeah.

We try to.

And I'm very particular when I go to market at the quality and you know, the way it's at.

And most of our things today, I am looking at, that they're washable, 'cause I get that ask a lot.

- Yeah, I bet.

- And then- - So what have you seen evolve?

Other than, well probably that, that people wash and wear.

- Exactly.

Right.

Right.

- Okay.

- The organic fabrics didn't, they kind of took off, but they didn't, it never, people didn't, I don't sell linen very much.

I love it.

- Mm-hmm.

- But people don't like the wrinkling of it.

- No 'cause you iron it and then you go out- - And it's wrinkled.

- And you look like you slept in it.

- Right.

- Right.

Exactly.

- And then we designed a jewelry line for maybe about five years, my mom and I.

And anyway, we go into, now I go into Dallas, and some of the jewelry companies, they make their own and you can require things.

And then we carry a handbag line called Vendula from London.

- Okay.

- That is absolutely most fun.

- A lot of fun.

- Uh huh, but everything's now, you know, you're dealing with tariffs and right now everything in the store, there's no tariffs.

- Well, that's good.

So what's been the most fun for you in doing all this?

I mean, 'cause you have gone from this to that to another thing and back around again and you're doing it all.

- I think probably, I love the customers.

You make so many wonderful friends.

You really do.

And special people.

I miss my mom terribly.

I'll be in the middle of a thing and I go, "What am I supposed to do?"

Because- - Right.

- We were partners.

We really became, and one of the best things- - [Christine] She's been gone for how long now?

- Six years.

- Six years.

- Yeah.

- Here's a picture of Becky and her mom getting the Gold Crystal award.

Now tell me about that.

- Okay.

That was our gift association award.

And it was the top award in the country for department stores, gift shops, whatever.

And it was for display and promotion.

So we're very proud of that.

- But you miss her.

Does she get back to you in any way?

Does she- - Oh, I'll come- - Do you hear from her?

(Christine and Becky laugh) - And she'll say, now, I think about that a little bit 'cause I'd be the one, "Let's go full for it," and I was the one that wanted the dress shop.

- Okay.

- And my mom loved the gift shop, but guess what?

She was working in the dress shop a lot more when we got into the special occasion.

And people still come in and they'll say, "Your mom sold me my dress for this.

Now I need a grandmother's dress."

- Right, exactly.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So you enjoy it.

And then we had this pandemic a couple of years ago.

- Yeah.

Oh my gosh.

- How did you keep things going during that?

I mean a small retail.

- Yes.

Any retail, it was tough.

- Right.

- But I didn't lay anybody off and the girls said, "You know what, why don't we do painting?

We can all get together and we can paint outside the buildings."

- Oh, all right.

- Because we're coming in, it was our 50th anniversary.

We had everything laid out.

And in the middle of our Geiger of Austria Trunk Show, we had to close down.

And then when we reopened, if you came in and tried on clothes, I would either have to have 'em steamed before they went anywhere else, or we would have to hang them back for 24 hours.

Now a lot of stores didn't do that, but that was what was recommended.

- Right.

- So that was a tough thing after you could reopen.

And then we would meet people, like I can remember the day I had to meet you for the baby gifts.

- Right, exactly.

- But you know, we managed through it and I think it definitely took a toll on all small business to try to get back on their feet again.

And then that's what happened with online business.

People couldn't go out, they couldn't do this.

And I'm gonna say it, but Amazon is hurting so many small businesses and it doesn't matter what kind of a business you are, it doesn't have to be my type.

- Right.

- And it was because people got used to it.

It was convenient.

And that's another trend with society that is going.

- Right, right.

- That I see.

- Well it's interesting 'cause my one grandson, they were just in a wedding and they had to go to try on their little tuxedos and stuff.

And his mom said he was just proud as a peacock.

She realized it was, he's six years old, first time he ever went any place and tried on clothes because, I mean, 'cause you just don't do that anymore.

Or moms go out and buy it and then you throw it.

- That's right.

- But it is interesting 'cause that is the trend.

But I'm one of those, I like to try it on and see how it looks.

- I do too.

- And then you don't have to go through the hassle of- - Right, and I- - Sending it back.

- They come in and they'll say, I just had this Friday, lady said, "I ordered these dresses online."

And she said, "They weren't what I ordered."

I said, "No."

And I said, "They're probably being shipped from the Orient."

- Right.

- And she said, "They're not the size, they're not the shape, they're not the length."

And I said, "No."

- Yeah.

- I said, "It's not gonna be."

And then they've got the frustration of trying to return 'em, so.

- Right.

So what do you think, you think the tariffs are gonna cause big, big problems or you're gonna be able to deal with it?

- I think right now, only 'cause I know the business so well and I've been in it long enough, I wouldn't wanna be new in the business.

- Okay.

- But no, I think I'm gonna work through it.

And I do feel that there has to be some checks put on China, you know, with the tariffs.

And that hurts me.

I mean, I can see that.

But at the same time, there's other places to go, sources.

And I'm thinking I might, I have thought about, 'cause I have relatives in Vienna, do I go over there, do the market early November to bring the Christmas back?

- Right.

- Not sure yet.

- So 55 years, what's the big celebration?

- Getting through the year.

(laughs) - Okay.

That's, there's one.

Okay.

Got that.

- You know, after you had all the things for 50 years and then you had to, and 55, but we've got our big art fair.

That's the biggest thing we do.

- [Christine] And that's usually Labor Day weekend.

- Weekend after.

- Oh, weekend after Labor Day.

- Weekend after Labor Day.

And we've got that all in place.

And then we'll do our Christmas show, which is in October.

And people say, "Why do you do it in October?"

Well, when we had the ceramics, it was called a show, a Christmas show, because they would come out and they would order it, done the colors or the design or whatever they wanted.

- [Christine] So they could give for Christmas gifts.

- And then they would get it for Christmas.

- All right.

- So, and today, you need to be out there early to be able to get the merchandise.

So it's just stayed as always the third weekend in October.

(Becky laughs) - Okay, so, so you don't have any, you don't think you have any more surprises in this business that you got going?

- Oh, I don't know.

- That you've devoted your life to.

- I don't know.

I have no idea, Chris.

You never know what's around the corner.

- Right.

Exactly.

- Right.

- So what do you look forward to most then, like your bucket list?

What's happening with the shops and how long are you gonna stick with it?

I mean.

- I don't know.

You know, as I said, I enjoy the customers and I love to do the buying and the designing of displays and stuff.

So that's an outlet.

But then again, down the road, you know, there may be something else.

- Right.

- Yeah.

- Right, and you get to use your artistic background in order to do your displays and stuff.

And you have a good time with that.

- Mm-hmm.

- Is it ever a challenge or you just always know what you wanna do?

- You know, not really.

I'll just start on it and then the ideas will come.

- Okay, did you have Barbie dolls when you were growing up so that you knew how- - Oh yeah.

- To mix and match?

- Oh yeah.

- Because some people just, they go in and they buy an outfit.

- Yeah.

- You know, and it's like, "No, you really should figure out if this goes with this."

- Right.

Right.

And we do that a lot with our, and that's been another challenge.

Our Geiger of Austria.

We've carried that probably 35 years.

- Mm-hmm.

- And they moved out of the United States.

They had a place they imported to and then shipped from there.

So everything, the last six years has been shipped directly- - From Austria.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

And that is just a challenge in itself because we had somebody out on the east coast to work with, and this time, we have to do everything.

And Mr. Geiger, I talk to him probably at least once a week.

And his product is still the quality.

It's still made in Austria.

- Good.

- So, and he's gotten a lot more casual with his designing.

His daughter's gotten involved and his son and they're doing, and he's getting up there in age.

- Right, well, you know, I mean, you gotta play to your audience, right?

- That's right.

That's right.

- That's right.

Good, good.

Well you and your mom just made it work for so very long and you've picked up the baton and carried it well.

- Yes.

- And so no nieces and nephews that wanna take over?

- Not at this point.

I wish I did.

They don't live here.

Most of 'em, one's in upper state New York, one's in Wisconsin, one's in Missouri, and then the other two are nurses.

So, you know, they've got their- - Their careers already.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- [Christine] Well that would be a sad day.

- What?

- If if they didn't take over.

If it- - Oh, yeah.

- If it didn't carry on, if it didn't continue.

I mean, it's a staple item when you're going up and down 29.

- Yeah, yeah.

And it's been a staple item for a lot.

We have customers that go all the way back.

I mean, and then their daughters come in and then the daughter's daughters, now we're getting to, it's getting that way.

(laughs) - Okay.

Well, you know, and that's what you want.

- Yeah.

- And you wanna establish a relationship and guarantee quality.

- Right, and I have to say, my other big asset is I have absolutely outstanding employees and they were former customers.

- Okay.

- Years, years ago.

But they're just wonderful.

And that's a real positive.

- So you have three or four?

- I have three, well I really have five different ones that come in for events, but regularly, three of them.

- Okay.

Yeah.

- Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

- And they are nice.

Yeah.

- And they're all part-time 'cause they don't wanna work full time.

- Right, right.

But you work, what are your hours?

- Every day.

Mostly.

- You're full time.

Exactly.

- Except we're gonna close now the last two weeks of July.

So I'm going on this big family vacation.

- Okay.

- I mean, we usually do close in July, we always did.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

And that's good.

- Yeah.

- So your hours are, and where can people find you online?

- I'm on Facebook.

- Okay.

And the hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10:30 to 3:30.

- Okay.

- Or by appointment.

- Okay.

- 'Cause I had some ladies who are coming in tomorrow and they're from El Paso and they made an appointment, so.

- [Christine] So you make sure that you're open for them.

- Yeah.

Oh yeah.

- Good.

- And if they wanted to come earlier or later, you know.

- All right, so it's- - That's not a problem.

- [Christine] The Hayloft Shops online, on Facebook?

- Uh-huh.

Uh-huh, yeah.

- Okay.

All right.

Well thank you, ma'am, for being here and we- - Oh this has been fun.

- I forgot to pull out the salt, this is, I mean, I am, I'm just really, this is really good salt.

It's your garlic and herb sea salt and it goes with everything.

And it's great in macaroni salad, it's great in potato salad, it's great- - And that out sells everything in every store and has for 27 years.

- Well I have given it as gifts to my crew here, so.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- So they can attest.

But anyway, thanks for being here my friend.

- And thank you.

- And happy 55th birthday.

- Yes, and we'll be starting bigger celebration come the art fair.

Yeah.

Okay.

- All right.

Sounds great.

And thank you for joining us.

Hope you enjoyed Becky's story.

And in the meantime, stay safe and be well.

Yeah, I didn't know you did a 55th anniversary, so.

- Yeah, that just came out too.

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