For those who wondered what happened to the clothing and apparel that used to be in the back of Rochester Wholesale Fruit, wonder no more.
It now has its own shop.
In what used to be Restored Blessings — in the building next to Rochester Wholesale Fruit — is now a discounted clothing, apparel and gift shop called RWF Closet. It’s owned by Rochester Wholesale Fruit, hence the acronym RWF, and has a variety of sports jerseys, athletic wear, Carhartt hats and clothes, sweatshirts, dresses, shawls, green camouflage studded purses and more.
“Over the years we brought clothes in through the back,” owner Nikki Stanton said. “It didn’t correlate real well (with the rest of the store), but it always sold real good.”
The business, located at 350 W. Second St., had a soft opening in October and since then has gotten a lot of good feedback, Stanton said.
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“We didn’t advertise at all besides Facebook,” she said, adding with a laugh that she was surprised by the immediate sales. “It was almost overwhelming. I even thought at one point, what did I do to myself?”
But the store sells more than clothing. It also sells essential oils and hand designed coffee cups and wine glasses. That’s because Stanton’s daughter, Kayla, jumped on board with her mom and is selling the items she’s passionately sold through her own individual business for quite a while. Between the two Stantons, the store has an interesting mix for many different tastes.
On a number of shelves behind the counter — and next to it — were lines of custom made cups with phrases like, “My husband is hotter than my coffee,” or “Hot mess mama,” among many other witty or pun-filled sayings. Next to one of the cups was a random camera lens that looked like it was there by mistake — it’s actually a coffee cup.
“I was doing a lot of home decor and then I went more toward drink-wear,” Kayla said.
Anyone can come in and order a custom coffee mug or wine glass with a funny individual saying, Kayla said. Cups are $8, she said, and wine glasses are $7.
“Most people will bring me pictures from Pinterest and I’ll redesign them,” she said.
It was a great opportunity to build on the clothing sales, to have a brick and mortar place for Kayla’s business, and to fill an empty space that was vacant since Restored Blessings moved to the Winona Mall. And now with the space in back of Wholesale Fruit opened up, Nikki said they’ve added a dollar section in the store.
“It’s great clothing and apparel and better prices than you can find anywhere else,” Nikki said. “I look forward to what more can come in.”