Green Acres Sew & Vac to Host Grand Opening of New Location
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The owners of Green Acres Sew & Vac are busy preparing to welcome customers to their new location.
The husband and wife team, Burnell Oberholtzer, 36, and Lacretia, 36, of Rutledge, are excited to invite the community in to see the new and improved shop.
The Oberholtzer’s took on the business from Burnell’s parents, Glen and Elaine, in 2018. At only 30-years-old, Burnell pivoted from a much different career path in custom farm operations, which kept him traveling, to selling sewing machines and vacuum cleaners.
Lacretia came in with a high interest in the field of sewing and her talent as an instructor has helped the business expand.
“It’s interesting seeing the growth from coming in and learning brand new. Seeing the business grow is rewarding,” said Burnell. “We hope with the bigger and better setup, we can operate more efficiently and provide more services.”
The new Green Acres store has more than doubled in size from the old location and in a newly constructed building neighboring the original location. The new location officially opened on June 1, and shares a building with the new computer technology business – Tech Support One.
The Oberholtzers are well equipped to operate every machine so they can show the customers how they work, and although Burnell’s busy schedule hasn’t allowed him the time and space to assemble his own quilts – he could.
“I’ve learned to sew to a certain degree,” laughed Burnell. “I know how all of the machines work. I want to be able to show the customers how to operate them. My wife has always liked sewing and she teaches a lot of classes.”
The new location has given the business even more opportunity to grow with more floor space to display an array of sewing machines, serging/ overlock machines, embroidery machines, the respective accessories and cabinets that house them, along with an assortment of vacuum cleaners, irons, and accessories for those.
“Our main business is serving the sewing industry and sewing notions, thread, patterns, embroidery supplies, sewing accessories, sergers, serving everyone and anyone with interest in sewing and crafting. We are really in a quilting area. Our biggest market share is quilting,” said Burnell. “Our sewing machines range from $179 to $22,999. We have something for everyone.”
The Green Acres team is composed of four employees including the Oberholtzers. The team keeps the showroom staffed and stocked, teaches and schedules many of the classes, and does repairs and demonstrations for the customers.
“We definitely have more room now, and more room for classes. It’s a much larger classroom with a better setup to accommodate more people, possibly up to 35 for lecture demonstration classes and 15 to 20 for hands-on classes and custom quilting classes. We have classes on how to run the machines, quilting, embroidery classes, and we have some outside educators come in that specialize in different fields,” said Burnell.
The Green Acres Sew & Vac new location grand opening will be held next week, Tuesday, August 6 through Saturday, August 11 during normal business hours. The Oberholtzers will be featuring a grand prize drawing, giving out door prizes, and hosting free and paid classes and demonstrations from outside industry professionals.
The new location is at 211 West Grand Avenue in Memphis. You can also find them online at greenacressewvac.com.
