By Josh Davis, Associate Editor

(Oct. 26, 2017) Shelly Bruder and Larnet St. Amant opened Bruder Home on 18 North Main Street in Berlin last Wednesday.

It was a soft opening with little fanfare after the friends worked feverishly for two days to get the space in order.

Bruder has operated the boutique Bruder Hill, just around the corner on 25 Commerce Street, for 15 years. St. Amant is also the executive director of the Berlin Chamber of Commerce.

The duo took over the space formerly occupied by Ta Da.

“[The move] went great. We opened at 10 o’clock [last Wednesday] like we said we were going to do,” Bruder said. “We think the store looks beautiful and we’ve had great customers and lots of compliments. We feel very, very blessed.”

St. Amant said plenty of friends stopped by on opening day, bringing gifts of food, coffee and flowers.

“It was a very special day for us,” she said. “The store is completely full and we have tons of great gifts for every occasion. We’re going to have our great customer service just like we had at Bruder Hill, and we’re here for all your needs and for any occasion.”

Both women said it was a “different vibe” on Main Street.

“People pop in for no reason – they just pop in,” St. Amant said with a laugh.

“It’s wonderful! We love it,” Bruder added.

Many of the items in the store are holdovers from Ta Da, including original art by former Ta Da owner Patty Falck.

“We’re excited to go forward and find great new things as well. We’re going to market in January in Atlanta, so we’ll have even more new things next year,” Bruder said.

While Bruder Hill is a boutique-clothing store, Bruder Home would focus more on gifts and items for the home.

“We do have a little Bruder Hill section – we will bringing some different things from Bruder Hill so we can entice people to go down there,” she said. “We still have people saying, ‘how long have you been here [in Berlin]?’ and we’ve been here for 15 years.”

In the future, they plan to expand the showroom by removing a back wall that separates it from a storage area.

“I would also like to see us do more furnishings and lightings – things like that,” Bruder said.

A ribbon cutting and grand opening is planned for next April.

“We’ll get all our new stuff in and we’ll get a vibe for a direction [before then],” St. Amant said. “We know what we like, but we need to get a direction from our customers.”

She added, “everybody in Berlin has been so welcoming, from merchants to locals, and it has been so exciting for us.”

For more information on Bruder Home, visit www.facebook.com/bruderhomeboutique or call 410-641-4430.