Tom Henihan
Express Staff
The “Spring it on mini-market” at the Elks Hall on April 23 was organized by Amy Dubrule, consultant for Origami Owl custom jewelry.
The mini-market, conceived as an opportunity for a few “direct sales representatives” in the area also had the Smoky River Regional Golf Club operating the food booth.
As so many large enterprises now use the business model of having independent agents sell their products, there are an increasing number of small, independent businesses setting up in the Smoky River region.
A relatively new direct sales representative in the area is Sherry Dechesneau who is a consultant for Epicure, a clean food company started in 1997.
Epicure is a Canadian company that aspires to having no added MSG, no added sodium and is working towards getting away from GMO products.
“It is all about healthy eating,” says Dechesneau. “I started doing this in January so I am very new to it and still learning about the products.
While Epicure also sells a variety of kitchenware, Duchesneau says she finds the most popular products are the spices and dips.
The mini-market presented itself as an excellent venue to pick up a unique or particularly thoughtful gift that would suit any occasion and for a small market it certainly presented a wide variety of options.
Along with Origami Owl and Epicure were Arbonne, Scentsy, Thirty-One, Steeped Tea, FERI Designs, Handmade Soaps and Younique.
There were nine vendors at the Spring-it-on market but Dubrule said there could have been a lot more as there are so many small businesses in the area.
“But I decided to keep it simple and to see how it went,” she said. “And I was really pleased considering the weather and other events going on that day. I was really quiet happy.”