Handmade silk florals arranged by Chris were offered at Story's along with delivery of those arrangements, gifts and wreaths. She made sure everything was stocked and tidy. Customers were checked out graciously, and gifts were displayed beautifully in cellophane. Along with maintaining tax/bookkeeping duties, and ordering merchandise from catalogs behind the scenes, she handle the day-to-day operation of the shop virtually on her own for 7 years. For a time, Debbie Russell offered print framing at the shop. Since Debbie also loved primitive decor, she and Chris enjoyed running the shop together.
In February, 2004, Chris sold the shop to her next door neighbors on Main, Byford and Diane Temple. By then, Chris had expanded the display area further into the main part of the house and had developed a huge customer base, of friends and family. Chris was known for her jolly nature, creativity and great service.
"So you can see that all the hard work was done by Chris. I stepped into the role of owner/manager pretty effortless," stated Diane. The physical appearance of the shop was then altered by a new porch, fresh paint, and landscaping. More lines of merchandising were added in order to offer a greater variety of gifts for birthdays, anniversaries, bridal/baby showers, and inspirational gifts for funeral services. Primitive merchandise was still a large part of the inventory so that the "Story's" customers would continue to enjoy shopping there.
Four years later, Sydney's Gifts, employs three ladies; Marla Tubbs, Cathy Daugherty, and Chris Story, who decided to return to work part-time.