Marge never knew her retirement would consist of running two small shops. After working at an airline for 38 years, she was ready to become a “snowbird” and live her best life, not being tied down to any particular thing. That was until she got a very strong feeling that she should open up a boutique in Connecticut.
“Two years after my retirement, I got this very strong and definite feeling telling me to open up a Native American store on Main Street in Ridgefield, CT. I thought to myself, ‘this is weird!’ And now here I am, 22 years later,” Margaret Courtney (Marge) said.
At 83, Marge is now the proud owner of Touch of Sedona, a Native American store filled with pizzazz, dream catchers, crystals, and other spiritual items that beg to touch the hearts of customers everywhere. Last year she opened her second location in Bethel, CT, over two decades after starting her Ridgefield shop.
The spiritual boutique started off with mostly Native American merchandise, but since that wasn’t enough to keep the store up and running, Marge decided to bring in items that she personally loved as well. These items included stones, crystals, candles, incense and oils, and other odds and ends. The Native American jewelry seems to be their best seller.
On describing some of the unique treasures that are in both stores, Marge said, “On a rare occasion somebody will come in and say, ‘This is going to be a stupid question, but do you have a porcupine?’ And I’ll open up a drawer somewhere and sure enough I have a porcupine in it!”
Besides all the cool things you can find at Touch of Sedona, they also have events and happenings at both locations. On the second Friday of every month, the Bethel location hosts a drum circle from 7-8:30pm, where anyone can bring their own drum or borrow one of the store’s drums and jam out. Beginners are welcome and a small $10 donation is required.
In celebration of Earth Day, back in April the Bethel location hosted an event and kids got to create a little fairy garden outside of the store. The brightly decorated spot is filled with shiny things and windmills that would make any fairy feel at home. Both locations also have readings, from Thursday to Sunday at Ridgefield and Saturdays at Bethel.
Marge says she does think about opening up other locations for her spiritual boutique. She opened another store in New York along the way, but the place got too expensive to run and the drive was getting too far. So she happily closed the New York store and brought all of her inventory into her boutique in about two hours.
“I found the right people to help me do what I wanted to do,” Marge said about her store. “Before I took the space I said to myself, ‘but I don’t want to be tied down and not have any stress.’ After the store opened, everything still seemed fine. “If I have stress, it’s not about the store. It’s not even about the second store! Maybe I am a little tied down, but I don’t want to go anywhere anymore. I don’t mind.”