Jewel Box and Inspired By Oregon expect to make the move up Main Street by early November
By Holly Dillemuth, Ashland.news
Pam Hammond beamed earlier this week while talking about new plans in store for downtown Ashland’s Paddington Station sister stores, The Jewel Box and Inspired By Oregon, which are consolidating and moving into the prominent Fortmiller building across the street.
Pam Hammond, the co-owner of Paddington Station, along with co-owner and daughter Kelly Hammond and Joe Collins, are aiming to fill the Fortmiller building, owned by Allen Connolly and formerly housing The Haven, by early November in preparation for the upcoming holiday season open house scheduled for the weekend of Nov. 20-22. Pam said there is so much inventory inside Inspired By Oregon that it’s been almost “detrimental to sales.”
“(We) have outgrown our space at Inspired by Oregon and the Jewel Box and we’re kind of splattered around, so it’s often hard to bring everything together,” Hammond said, during a tour of the 10,000-square-foot space.
“We were thrilled when this came open,” she added.
The first two floors of the building at 142 E. Main St. became available after the owners of The Haven vacated the storefront in July when their lease expired.
The Paddington Jewel Box opened in 2012 and Inspired by Oregon followed in 2015.
Marshall, who will continue to manage The Jewel Box in the new space, said she remembers when the space held Earthly Goods, operated by Erik Connolly.
“It’s really fun to be a part of it moving and growing,” she said. “It’s a new creative opportunity.”
Harris remembers shopping in the space when it was the Fortmiller Department store.
“We’re very excited to blend our stores,” Harris said. “That’ll be an exciting change.”
The vision for utilizing the space is to divide the items down the middle, with the left side of the store planned for The Jewel Box and the right side of the store for Inspired By Oregon, with space also specifically for Pendleton products.
To celebrate 51 years of Paddington Station, Pam said plans are in the works for 51 items to be discounted 51% off at Inspired By Oregon.
“They’re both going to have more square footage than they had,” Pam said. “We’ve got this beautiful mezzanine up there,” she noted pointing, up the staircase. “We may bring together and do a Pendleton store,” she noted, pointing toward the mezzanine in the back of the store.
“It’ll be so nice to open it up and give Pendleton the space they deserve, such an iconic Oregon company,” Pam said.
The Hammonds are still brainstorming where everything will go once inside the new space, though.
“We just need to kind of get moved in and get the feel,” she said.
That move will start shortly after the Mystery Festival, with The Jewel Box inventory first, Pam said, and then Inspired By Oregon.
One thing Pam knows for sure is that the storefront display windows will be inviting, especially for the holidays. She’s excited also to bring singing groups into the space during the holiday open house.
“Hopefully we’ll be completely here by Nov. 1,” Pam said, “and that’s lofty and I will allow us grace if we’re a few days behind.”
Pam said she and her staff have had a warm reception by the building’s owner and Erik Connolly, who formerly operated Earthly Goods in the store, according to Pam.
Pam emphasized that the move is a consolidation and that it also opens up space for two growing businesses to fill the vacancies left by The Jewel Box, currently at 180 E. Main St., and Inspired By Oregon, currently at 131 E. Main St.
Email Ashland.news reporter Holly Dillemuth at [email protected].
