Penn Hills will welcome a new gift shop just in time for holiday shopping.
Teresa Stitt of Oakmont is opening a second storefront for her gift shop Embroidery From the Heart. Stitt and her husband have lived in Oakmont for 38 years, and she has run her business there for the past 13.
Her shop started as a place for embroidery services with the promise of a two-week turnaround. Three years ago, she brought in a laser engraving machine that widened her product range and enhanced productivity, because most orders can be finished in 10 minutes or less.
Her husband began screen printing clothing for businesses and schools in the area. Over the years, her shop slowly evolved with more products, including Nora Fleming figurines, Willow Tree statuettes and Artlifting products. She relocated to a larger space in Oakmont about five years ago.
Stitt, 61, said she had never set out to begin a second location. After the Hallmark store in Oakmont closed, customers began asking Stitt to carry more products that aligned with a gift shop. She slowly began to stock more products, and, after a few years, she found that she needed more space.
“You can get everything from baby gifts to wedding gifts and housewarming gifts,” Stitt said. “We have soaps and lotions, decorative napkins and entertainment items.”
She and her husband began looking for a warehouse to rent for storage and production but weren’t able to find a rental within their price range.
“We needed more production space,” Stitt said. “We do all of the production in-house and we’re in a very small space in the back. It’s maybe 400 square feet. We’re always on top of each other, moving boxes to get to boxes.”
That’s when they found a vacant building that used to house The Double Tulip, a floral design studio on Saltsburg Road. About 14,000 cars pass the store each day. Stitt said despite the higher rent price, she hopes to bring in some income to help compensate for it.
“This was just a little bit more money than the warehouses we looked at,” Stitt said. “We thought that there aren’t a lot of gift shops available in Penn Hills, we both grew up here, we’re 10 minutes away, so we’re making this work.”
Stitt said the building had sat empty for about six years before she leased it. Since then, she has been working with her husband, their son and the landlord on the space to open by the end of November. To balance the work between shops, Stitt said the Penn Hills shop will be open from Wednesday to Saturday, and she’s hiring a few people to work part-time.
Screen printing services will move to the Penn Hills location while embroidery and engraving will stay in Oakmont. Orders for all services will be able to be taken from each location.
“The whole being able to touch something and feel something and talk to who you’re buying from is just a really cool thing,” Stitt said.
