A pioneering Sisters businesswoman

"'Are you an antique, Mom?'" Chelsie Hoyt-Gloeckner said, laughing, during a conversation at Suttle Tea. "That is what my young girls, Lola and Hadley asked me recently. 'Were there cars when you were little?' Nothing like being an antique!"

Raised in Sisters, Chelsie, the owner of Heritage USA, an antique store located at 253 Hood Ave., is among the town's creative business women who juggle being a wife, raising children, managing a store and watching over a ranch. She doesn't sit still much.

Her father, Chuck, started Hoyts Hardware & Building Supply in 1976. As a little girl, Chelsie would go to work with him.

"Dad would give me 'jobs,' counting nails, nuts and bolts and such. Sometimes I would sit on the counter and draw pictures of the 'old men' who came into the store. Then I would sell the pictures to them for a quarter. Looking back, I can only imagine what a headache I must have been. When I take my kids to Heritage, it can be total chaos!"

"The funny part about that story is that, when I was 16 working at Black Butte Ranch, the golf marshall asked me, 'What is your last name?'

"'Hoyt,' I answered."

"'I have been looking for you for 15 years!' And, out of his wallet, he pulled out a child's drawing. Big nose and glasses included! Down at the bottom was scribbled, 25 cents. I guess I was born to be a peddler."

Chelsie's first business in Sisters (started at age 19) was Dusty Trails, a cowboy hat and music store. After getting her art degree in college, while working full-time at Hoyt's, Chelsie ran her own portrait photography business for about ten years, using antiques as props, and processing the film and prints herself in her own darkroom.

Chelsie's love and use of antiques led her to renting a booth at Heritage USA, then owned by Wanda and Craig Waters.

"When I was little, my grandmother would take me hunting for antiques," she said. "Heritage was her favorite store."

In 2015, the Waters, deciding to retire, sold the business to Chelsie.

"I have such huge shoes to fill," Chelsie reminisces about her love for and friendship with Wanda. "Anyone who knew Wanda was blown away by her high-energy, 'go get 'em' persona. Knowing her taught me about so much about cherishing life, especially your work. And so, now, that is what I seek to do."

As with Wanda, other businesswomen in Sisters have had a huge impact.

"Some might not realize this but Sisters has a tremendous legacy of women who have created businesses that have remained successful over the long haul," Hoyt-Gloeckner said. "Women such as Barbara Turner (Sisters Cascade of Gifts), Kiki Dolson (The Nugget), Jean Wells (Stitchin' Post), Pat Molesworth (Village Interiors) Jeri and Kara Peterson (The Paper Place), Janet Brockway (Bedouin), and Rosie Horton (Common Threads) have inspired me because they know their hometown and that is why they have been successful for so many years."

With Wanda's passing in 2017 along with the tragic loss of Chelsie's mother followed by her stepfather, what helped Chelsie was the life and spirit of her predecessor.

"I don't allow myself to wallow. I can't. I am a mom. A wife. I have a business to run. I keep my chin up and remain grateful. Sure - the smoke this summer was bad. Folk Festival being cancelled was huge. But again, after being through the things I have been through, I take things in stride. If I stress out, what's the point? No. I choose instead to enjoy my life and work."

During January and February, Heritage closes mid-week to allow for counting inventory, revamping spaces and painting - tasks not easily done during its normal schedule. The store will return to its seven-day-a-week schedule - "with a bang" Chelsie said - in March.

With children to pick up from school, it was time for Chelsie to run.

"I am so thankful for my life here in Sisters. I have such huge support from my husband, John, my employees, not to mention our vendors. And my girls. Hadley has a love and knack for this store while my brother, Tyler Hoyt, and I hope that perhaps Lola and her cousins, Willa and West, will take over the lumber yard! Who

knows?!"