Booming Blessings is your one stop shop for tea and affordable clothing. Owners Paula Alves and Gillian Anantharaman opened their business during May of 2021 and have been booming ever since.
Paula and Gillian say that it’s a real blessing that they meant. Gillian eventually retired from being a food scientist and wanted to start her own business. She found an affordable building located right here in Marion, Ohio. A couple of days after being given the keys, she stumbled upon a yard sale, she went in search of treasures to give new life. The yard sale was where Gillan ran into Paula, eventually having the great idea to team up and form an unstoppable business team.
Paula rents out the back space of the building and runs Paula’s Posh Picks, a second hand boutique with big brand names for lower prices. All the while, Gillian hosts tea parties throughout the building with a diverse but outstandingly affordable menu, while also selling antiques.
They’ve been working together since Covid hit, and through every problem they persevered together. They even have birthdays almost right next to each other! Gillans being February 16th and Paula’s being February 14th.
While Paula and Gillan meeting was a blessing, the name for the business actually comes from Gillan’s daily blog, called “Booming Banter” which was started after she retired. Every blog post is written by her dogs.
However, every business comes with its own struggles. Gillan says “in April we had a big storm and the majority of the roof came off, of course I have insurance, but given the age of the roof they only paid half the replacement cost, that’s my biggest challenge is maintaining this building… This building was built in 1865.” And Paula talks about her own struggles ``not making my month, if I don’t have the traffic. That’s probably one of my biggest ones, cause if I don’t have people coming in to buy I still have to pay my rent…”
Gillian, although starting a business here in Marion, Ohio, actually was born and raised in Ireland.
She then moved to Switzerland in 1984, then Connecticut, then China, then back to Switzerland for three years, then to Paris for another three years, and in 2010 eventually coming here. Gillan spoke about this experience, saying; “well it’s quite challenging moving continents … but it’s very insightful to see other parts of the world and get to know different cultures.” Just like most thrift stores, Booming Blessings obtains many of the things through donations and church sales. Gillan stated that “ I try very regularly to go to places that I know have quality things, you might have to dig for them but they’re there.” Paula also mentions she gets most of her clothing through cosigners.
Cosigners are clients that come in and bring in clothing for Paula’s Posh Picks. Paula has over one hundred thirty five cosigners over the range of six states. “People bring me enough items so that I don’t have to buy anything, not saying I haven’t, but there’s no need… I’m reliant on the people that cosign and I’ve had some of the same condsigners since I’ve opened now.”
Gillian and Paula also donate preloved items to charities. Paula donates to Turning Point, the domestic abuse center here in Marion. She sat on the board for six years and knows how important the cause is. Gillian focuses her donations on AcRoss prison ministry, however both donate to other places, they say “it’s good to have a focus.”
Booming Blessings also holds events! They sell tickets for each event to generate some stable flow of income. “We had a fall fashion show, then friends-giving, then a Victorian Christmas, then we had the Grinch come visit, then in January we had a murder mystery, we had our gal-intines, too.” said Gillian.
Paula also commented on this, saying “Gillian’s menu is, really outstandingly very affordable… but when we add in other things to events we have to factor those in so selling tickets just makes sure that those people are committed to the event.”
Booming blessings also allows others to hold private events, if you wish to do your own murder mystery, just stop on by!
Booming Blessing’s serving hours for tea are Wednesday through Saturday, from 12-3pm, unless by appointment. And Paula’s Posh Picks is open until 5 on the same day’s. They currently do not hire and are located on 288 East Church Street. Booming Blessing is a unique place to gather, so get down there and make this business booming!