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History
of
Waterbury
and Friends
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| Waterbury
& Friends had its humble beginnings at C&J Crafts in
1990. It started as a mother and daughter doing crafts as a hobby
and selling them at local craft shows in gymnasiums, shopping malls and
schools. The daughter and current owner of Waterbury &
Friends, Carla, became much more involved in the hobby and involved her
husband, Terry. The name changed to Waterbury Country
Creations. The name Waterbury was the housing development where
Carla and Terry lived in the country. The two of them spent the
next several years building and selling crafts together. The
number of craft shows they attended. After 3 years of operating a
retail store, Carla had a desire to add a tea increased and it became
“almost” a business. During this period of time Carla and Terry’s
family grew to three small children. They called upon their
parents to care for the kids while they spent weekends at craft
shows. Both sets of parents are engaged in farming and the most
successful craft shows are during the heart of harvest in the
fall. It was becoming difficult for all of them to juggle the
craft shows and farming activities. Carla and Terry decided to
“come off the craft show road” and open up a full time retail outlet in
Charles City in 1994. They located a small house on a main
highway for their store. They invited several of the crafters
that they had become friends with to consign their crafts at the new
retail store. The name was changed to “Waterbury & Friends”
to reflect the crafting friend’s contributions room to her
offerings. An in-depth research was conducted with adding on to
the existing location and relocating. A Main Street location was
eventually decided and a major renovation was undertaken in 1997 at the
current location at 103 N. Main Street. Ashby’s Tea Room was
added that year. The Ashby’s name was derived from a combination
of their two daughters, Ashley and Brittany. They operated the
tea room for 5 years. During those years, Terry decided to also
start a business and Main St. Soda Fountain was founded. The soda
fountain was operated for 3 years. After the tearoom and soda
fountain businesses, a made from scratch bakery occupied the building. |
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