Owner Janice Nastav and her son started out making birdhouses to sell at Vintage Market Days and loved working together in a creative way to showcase their skills. Eventually, Janice’s other son got involved and had quite a talent for making furniture. With her family of creatives behind her, Janice took the plunge into opening Marcella’s Furniture and Handcrafted Gifts to be a place where local artists and craftsmen could showcase their skills and sell their art.
Taking the Plunge
In the thick of COVID-19, Janice and her sons took a chance and purchased a rundown building to start creating a space to make their dreams come true. Throughout the remainder of 2019 and early 2020, they were hard at work renovating the space until they opened their doors in July 2020.
Now, Marcella’s brings together over 30 local vendors, including a few award-winning artists that are featured in the gallery. You can find sculptors, pottery, artists, furniture craftsmen, and a lot of other artisans with creative products. The renovated building is filled with art from all mediums! So much so, in fact, that just walking inside feels like walking into your own piece of art.
Feed Your Soul
If anything, Janice and her sons are an example of how pulling the thread of small interests can turn into something so much bigger. To help community members foster a love for art, Marcella’s Furniture and Handcrafted Gifts offers all types of art classes. They have a long-standing pottery class that happens on a monthly basis, so be sure to give that one a try. They have also had macrame classes, painting classes, and more. There are always exciting things happening at Marcella’s.
Using the upstairs gallery as a small event space, you can often find yoga classes on-site at Marcella’s, too! If you have a small private event that you’re trying to find the perfect space for, reach out to Janice about renting out the gallery space; it’s incredibly well decorated and will take all the stress out of your event.
Main Street Finds
If anything about Marcella’s caught your eye (and how could it not?!), head down to Main Street in Belton and meander around the store. It’s amazing to see what they have done with the building renovations as you admire all the pieces of art inside. They just celebrated the 1 year anniversary of opening the store and falling in love with this community even more. Being a small business owner in a town like Belton is magical, but you don’t really know that until you become one. It’s because of the wonderful community members that taking the risk to start a new business is worth it. Let’s not let Janice and her family forget how rewarding serving this community is – they can’t wait for you to visit!