LYNNFIELD — When she was laid off from her 30-year job at a Fortune 500 company last June, Maureen Richard-Saltman promised herself she would try something completely different.
A longtime artist and craftswoman, she began selling her handmade jewelry and artwork under the name Perfectly Imperfect Jewelry at local shops and galleries, but because it was the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, she struggled to find vendors to take her art.
“I started to hear people say they couldn’t do craft fairs anymore because there was no place to do their work,” said Richard-Saltman. “I got to thinking ‘I’m paying to go into other shops to sell my work, and I’m having a harder time finding places to put my work,’ so I thought I’d look for a little (store) of my own to have just for fun.”
She quickly set out to find a spot to lease, and it wasn’t long before she became acquainted with Jack Marino, the property deacon for Lynnfield Community Church.
“He showed me the little room (in the church’s basement), and I said ‘that’s perfect,’” she said. “I invited 12 of my artsy friends to join me, and we launched our little shop on November 27, the day after Thanksgiving.”
Within a week of the launch, Richard-Saltman said she was inundated with requests from other local artists and crafters who wanted to know if there was space at the shop to display their own work as well.
“Nobody had any place to go. Every existing shop had waiting lists,” she said. “People had no place to show anything. As artists, we go crazy if we don’t know what to do with our stuff. We have to create.”
Although the room she rented was too small to fit the wave of artists looking to showcase their work, the church’s larger basement room was still available for rent.
“It was a lot more money than I had planned and a much bigger commitment than I had planned, so I went before Jack, the deacon,” Richard-Saltman said. “They’re trying to do a lot more with the church. They’re very community-focused, and we wanted our shop to be community-focused.
“Lynnfield didn’t have a shop like this, and we wanted to provide that in a neighborhood-type setting, in a building that would evoke community, and what better place to do that then a church?” she added.
The church was open to Richard-Saltman’s proposal, and she signed her new lease that same week.
Perfectly Imperfect Gift Shoppe is now home to almost 40 local artists, and Richard-Saltman has since re-acquired the smaller basement room to use as a classroom for various arts and crafts workshops hosted by her and other showcased artists.
Since vaccines have become more widely available, the shop has hosted two beading classes and a “Grow Your Own Herb Garden” class.
As a way to give back to the church that has hosted them, all proceeds from the shop’s upcoming four-night calligraphy class — which will take place every Tuesday in June — will go to benefit Lynnfield Community Church’s Capital Campaign fundraiser.
“We’ve partnered with the church for a lot,” Richard-Saltman said. “Whatever we can do to work with the church, we’re doing, because they showed a lot of good faith to get us in here, so we’re trying to show as much good faith as we can to give back to them.”
The Perfectly Imperfect Gift Shoppe hosts “Artists Chats” live streams and posts additional shop information on its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/theperfectlyimperfectgiftshoppe/.
The calligraphy class, to be hosted by Jack Marino, will take place June 8, 15, and 22 from 7 to 9 p.m.
An outdoor shop event is also planned for Saturday, June 5 and Sunday, June 6, with rain dates of June 12 and 13.
Beginning June 1, the shop’s hours of operation are Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Tuesdays from 12 to 6 p.m., Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursdays from 12 to 6 p.m., Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The shop is closed on Mondays.
While the shop’s future may be unclear, Richard-Saltman said she has high hopes for what’s to come.
“Everything has happened very organically,” she said. “When I set out to do this, I thought it was going to be a fun little gig, but now I’ve decided to take the year off to build the business and make this my full-time gig.”
