Carrying On The Family Business
In the very early 1970's my Mother and Grandmother started a clothing and gift shop and named it Oogie Originals. it was located on Livernois Blvd. in Detroit, Michigan. It carried clothing handmade by my mother and grandmother, who were excellent seamstresses, as well as a variety of imported gift items from places like India. I was a very small child at the time but I still have memories of spending time in that store.
In the mid 70's my Mom made her exit and my Grandmother and her sister, my Aunt Jennie, carried on the business renaming the store to Oogie's and moving it to Birmingham, Michigan. They stopped carrying the handmade clothing and focused more on traditional gift shop items such as greeting cards, candles, jewelry, crystal items, et cetera. Many years later the store closed when my Grandmother passed and my Aunt Jennie finally retired.
I have been shopping estate sales, auctions and thrift shops since the 1980's and have amassed a lot of stuff. In 2015 I decided it was time to start purging my collection and that is when I decided to open my Etsy shop. My first big decision was what to name it. After spending weeks thinking about it I thought it would be appropriate to continue on with the Oogie name, adding collection to make it my own.
Where did the name Oogie come from? As babies it was what my brother and I called our Grandmother because we could not pronounce Eugenie, her given name. She was our Grandma Oogie, the name sake of a family business with roots over 50 years old.