By Kylie Balk-Yaatenen - January 9th 2024
JANESVILLE
Janesvilles’s newest downtown business, Mood at 19 N. Main St., is sure to put you in the “mood” to find some unique and meaningful greeting cards, home decor or stationary.
Becka Freed, the owner, said that she started as a pop-up shop in 2020. She did another pop-up in the summer of 2021, in the alley just off the farmers market. She said that out of that Alicia Reed, owner of Raven’s Wish, came up to her and offered her some space in the front corner of the store.
She said she has been there for two years before she decided that she wanted to have a store in downtown Janesville. She opened the store Oct. 15 during the Wine Walk.
“This is something I’ve been wanting to do for 30-plus years, so I got that retail bug and it took off from there.”
Freed said that this is something she has always wanted to do.
“This is a dream that I have had since I was 15,” she said. “I want a shop where someone can come in and whether they have $5 or $500 they can find something unique and meaningful”.
She said that greeting cards were her “first love.” She worked at a souvenir shop in Boulder, Colorado and that is where she fell in love with greeting cards. She was able to talk to sales reps about cards and pick out the funny ones or the beautiful ones and that is where the greeting card “itch” came from.
“I really wanted to provide some of these small, women-owned letterpress brands, because I know they’re nowhere in Janesville,” she said.
What you can find
Freed said that her full-time job for many years was as an interior designer and she wanted to bring items and brands that aren’t normally found in Janesville.
“You’ll see some stationary shops or gift shops in big cities and little boutiques like that, but you haven’t seen it in Janesville,” she said.
She has small gifts like stickers, soy and beeswax candles, greeting cards, pens, neon signs and so much more.
She said that she is into the feel of items like blankets and paper so she offers a variety of different pens and blankets.
“I think that there’s something so nice about the feel of a good thick paper,” she said. “Beyond that, people love a sparkle pen or some kind of different that can be used that just brings a little joy to our hard lives.”
She said that it’s not just one thing, it’s kind of a mixture of gifts, stationary and other crafted items.
The space
When she was looking for a space she was looking for something smaller than Ravens Wish, but still located in the downtown area.
She was looking all over the place but nothing really felt right, until one day she was at the Looking Glass, when she saw the “Space Available” sign and she is grateful for the space.
“It’s a good distance from the other great shops downtown and it’s in this kind of trifecta of restaurants,” she said. “After people have had a couple glasses of wine or beer people like to come in here and laugh at the cards.”