Uniquely Handmade For You, one of the many small businesses in downtown Wadsworth, celebrated First Friday in its own unique ways this month.
The store opened in June of 2022 and is run by Dave and Daneen Kreuzer. They sell handmade products created by local artisans.
“There were numerous reasons for opening in Wadsworth,” Kreuzer said. “We were searching for a historic, walkable downtown. We needed at least 3500 square feet with an affordable rent and enough organic foot traffic to sustain steady sales year-round. Wadsworth met all our requirements. Main Street’s First Friday events were a bonus.”
Uniquely Handmade For You began to participate in First Fridays in June 2022. December First Friday has been a great success for the Kreuzers over the past two years. Although, sales dropped by a ⅓ decrease in profit between 2022 and 2023.
“For our first year of operation, First Friday was our busiest sales day nearly every month,” Kreuzer said. “Since then, First Friday hasn’t been driving foot traffic or sales significantly over standard Fridays. There haven’t been events or advertising that have driven the population to come downtown on these Fridays. We are hoping that, once Main Street Wadsworth’s administrators hire their full staff so that the first Friday events can match, or even surpass, what was previously done.”
While it is common for businesses downtown to decorate for First Friday, Uniquely Handmade For You does things differently.
“We decorate for Christmas during the first week of November,” Kreuzer said. “We are not doing anything extra for the December First Friday this year. We did donate approximately 100 items to the Chamber of Commerce, for their Shop Home for the Holidays promotion.”
Customers of Uniquely Handmade For You also loved the work that the Kreuzers put into setting up for First Friday.
“Uniquely Handmade For You was decorated really nicely for First Friday,” said Allison Schilling, a sophomore at WHS. “I liked looking at all of the festive candles, and it was fun to see everything that they did to set up for Christmas. The outside decorations were really pretty as well.”
The Kreuzers will continue to participate in the First Fridays to come, and so will the citizens of Wadsworth.
