News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
It takes know-how, perseverance, optimism, a good staff and faithful customers to succeed over 20 years in retail in Sisters.
Rosie Horton, who managed (and now owns) Common Threads for most of those 20 years, has all those elements working for her.
Horton and her staff are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the opening of the clothing store all this summer with sales and special events to mark the milestone.
Cathi Howell opened Common Threads in the location it still occupies in the summer of 1985.
Howell established the template for the business: intensively customer-service oriented and dedicated to creating a warm and welcoming atmosphere. Staff was expected to really know the product and how to serve the clientele with professionalism.
When Horton started as a part-timer in 1988, she was so scared that she couldn’t rise to those expectations that she wanted to quit after her first day.
“I was petrified after my first day that I was not going to have the knowledge to do the job properly,” Rosie said. “It was a professional job. We weren’t clerks and we weren’t cashiers; we were there to help the customers.”
She got over those jitters quickly and Phyllis Johnson, a friend of Howell’s (and many other local merchants) saw potential in Horton that she wasn’t aware of in herself.
Johnson urged the owner to make Horton the store’s manager.
Soon, Rosie was managing the store, going on buying trips and helping to build and refine the store’s focus. Common Threads added gifts and shoes to the retail mix and modified clothing lines.
Then, in 2001, came another big move. Rosie and her husband Tim decided to buy the business when Howell wanted to retire.
“We made the decision to buy the store because we wanted the store to continue,” Horton said. “We were all like family and the customers were like family.”
Tim Horton noted that the idea went “against the advice of our accountant/financial guru” who thought the operation “didn’t pencil.”
However, Tim said, “we knew there was something about it.”
For both Tim and Rosie, the “something about” Common Threads is interesting merchandise presented in a fun atmosphere where each customer’s needs and interests are known and catered to with personal care that isn’t available at more impersonal stores.
“It’s always been about trying to do our best to create an atmosphere that’s friendly, warm and inviting for people to come here,” Rosie said. “I think that’s one reason we’ve been here for 20 years.”
Common Threads is located at 161 E. Cascade Ave. in Town Square.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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