Beals Variety expands in new location

Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Elna Seabrooks
SWEET DREAMS — Dolly Sixberry and her husband, Pastor Vernon Ray Sixberry, center, purchased a daybed for visiting grandchildren. Michael Beals, right, recently expanded his line of merchandise at Beals Variety to include furniture.
Discount furniture now included line of products available
By Elna Seabrooks
Staff Writer
    HOULTON — Mattresses, chairs and tables, even a daybed have all found at least a temporary new home in a large front window store display in downtown Houlton. But, already some shoppers are scooping up bargains making way for more furniture to move in.
    After some 12-13 years of doing business in various Houlton locations, Beals Variety, known for competitively low prices, has settled into its new space allowing the owners to expand their familiar line of giftware and other merchandise with furniture.
    “We moved from 25 Market Sq. to 65 Main St. on Oct. 1 and this is bigger and cheaper,” said Michael Beals. The location, previously home to Netherland Office Products, allows Beals to include the kind of furniture his supplier had been urging him to offer customers over the last couple of years.
Furniture debut
    “I didn’t have room down there and here we do. So, I will have furniture in the front and back ends when we get it all straightened out. I have bedding, day beds, dinette sets, rocking recliners, night stands and dresser drawers. About the only thing I wont have are the sofas. I really don’t have room to deal with them right now. But, as I get going, I will probably have them, too,” Beals added.
    With other furniture stores in the area and a sluggish economy it may almost seem counter intuitive to expand into home furnishings. But, Beals said, thanks to considerable research, his supplier convinced him it was the right move. “We’re lower than the other stores. We even beat Marden’s,” explained Beals. After only two days he said it was the right move and he has requests for queen size beds as soon as they come in. “I’m willing to try anything.”
    As his faithful customers flock to the new space from as far away as Miramichi, N.B. and Millinocket,  or as close as Military St., they’re shopping for the familiar and the new.
Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Elna Seabrooks
WORDS OF WISDOM — Michael Beals rings up the “Live well, laugh often, love much” sign that Sandra Anderson purchased as a birthday gift for one of her daughters.
    Pastor Vernon Ray Sixberry and his wife, Dolly, purchased a daybed that had barely gotten comfortable in the display window. “It’s for the grandkids. When they come they will have a place to stay,” said Dolly Sixberry. Her husband added “the new location is very nice and the Beals are good people to do business with.”
    Although Beals and his wife Shelley will have to pay for heat in addition to the rent, they say they still come out ahead with the 5,700 sq. ft. that now allows them to offer more merchandise without cutting back on any of the items their customers like. Previously, when they were in Market Sq. they had about 3,200 in total square footage.
Customer favorites
    When Shelley Beals was running down a list of customer favorites last Wednesday, Barbara Swallow, a Houlton resident, said: “Don’t forget the wax melts. They just smell so nice. And, Beals has a lot of different fragrances.” That day Swallow held up one of her favorite wax melts — orange gingersnap — as she made her way to the cash register.
    Also moving toward the register with her purchases was Sandra Anderson of Oakfield who was shopping for birthday gifts for her daughters. “I’m a regular customer,” she said holding up a cranberry twig wreath and a sign. That sign, also cranberry colored, reads: “Live well, laugh often, love much.” As she paid for her purchases, Anderson said: “I love that sign.”
    The store has been a perennial favorite for giftware, craft and scrapbooking items, acrylic paints and paintbrushes, party supplies, country and Americana-style primitives, seasonal merchandise and decorations as well as gift wrapping and sewing supplies.
    Shelley Beals said “a lot of people say this is the only place they can find embroidery floss.” Then she told the Pioneer Times what really sells well. “Our greeting cards are our best selling items. They are two for one dollar.”
Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Elna Seabrooks
SEASONAL FAVORITES — Shelley Beals says glow-in-the-dark merchandise is always a popular favorite at Beals Variety for Halloween.
    Although both Beals said they haven’t unpacked a lot of their inventory, there is no shortage of giftware or seasonal merchandise. With Halloween only two weeks away, Shelley Beals said there is a lot of new merchandise. She predicted that the glow-in-the-dark skeletons, bats, spiders and other spooky goods in stock will remain very popular.
    Beals will still keep its regular hours during the week from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday. Holiday shopping hours on Sundays from 12-4 p.m. will begin with the annual citywide open house in November.