Main Street in New Egypt open for holiday shopping
Earth Angel Gift Shoppe expands and opens 'The North Pole'
BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP
Staff Writer

CHRIS KELLY staff Vicki Berlenbach, owner of the Earth Angel Home Decor and Gift Shoppe, recently moved her business to this storefront on Main Street in the New Egypt section of Plumsted.

Avoiding the hustle and bustle of holiday shopping this season may be as easy as rediscovering New Egypt.

New Egypt is the downtown section of Plumsted, located just off Route 527. Although the area's charming tree-lined streets are somewhat already filled with antique and gift shops, ice cream parlors, cafés, country markets and even hometown barbers, the community is expecting more stores to open before the holiday season.

The township of Plumsted recently received a $525,000 grant from the state Department of Community Affairs for the restoration, revitalization and preservation of its downtown neighborhood.

The beautification has led to the opening of new shops, the improvements to existing shop's exteriors and the addition of signs, benches, flower pots, banners and landscaping to the downtown area.

CHRIS KELLY staff Holiday figurines are all aglow in the North Pole, which is a Christmas shop on the top floor of the Earth Angel Home Decor and Gift Shoppe in the New Egypt section of Plumsted.

Vicki Berlenbach, owner of the Earth Angel Home Decor and Gift Shoppe and coordinator of the grant program for Plumsted, said, "It's going to be about customers' choice [in terms of] where to shop. They can go to a mall and get pushed around and rushed through, or they can choose to come somewhere where they will be catered to individually and where they can really appreciate the meaning of the holiday."

Berlenbach and her husband, John, of New Egypt, run the gift shop located at 1 Main St.

"This is a mom-and-pop operation," she said. "You can expect excellent customer service that you won't find at any mall or in any strip mall."

Berlenbach said customer service makes a huge difference in people's shopping experiences.

"Unlike in big-box stores," she said, "customers will leave our shop with their gifts wrapped. And the door will be held open for them when they leave."

Besides superior customer service, Berlenbach said her store also offers soothing music, lit candles and refreshments on the weekends. She also said it's in an area with less traffic and that it's closer than the malls, which could be between 15 and 35 minutes away.

Her family recently moved their store to a larger location on Main Street. The shop used to be in a three-room facility, but has now expanded into nine rooms in a 100-year-old building.

The added space allowed her to open a year-round Christmas section on the top floor called "The North Pole," as well as a design center for custom curtains/upholstery and a children's section. The new location also offers on-site parking with a 14-car parking lot.

Prior to opening Earth Angel, Berlenbach was a stay-at-home mom with three children, Nicholas, Peter and Laura. She had heard about the renovation of the downtown area of Plumsted and thought about how she always wanted to start her own business.

Earth Angel was named after Berlenbach's sister, Angel Ackley, 20, who was killed by a drunken driver in

Florida.

"With her passing, she left me enough money to start my own business," Berlenbach said. "I filled the store with all of the things she loved."

Two local seamstresses, Diane Robertson and Chris Pendle, both of New Egypt, make custom window treatments, which they sell through the shop.

The shop also offers a line of wedding items, baby items including hand-knitted blankets, handmade stained glass and a variety of other items such as holiday decorations and Red Hat Society apparel.

The whirligigs, or merry-go-rounds, outside on the lawn have been huge attention-getters, according to Berlenbach.

"I started selling them about a month ago," she said. "They're responsible for 80 percent of our foot traffic."

Although the whirligigs make it seem easy, Berlenbach said Plumsted officials are trying to find ways to promote New Egypt as a destination spot.

Berlenbach said the businesses established in the area already do a good job of bringing in visitors from all over the area.

Located just across the street from her shop is another gift shop called "The Broken Porch," which offers candles and country-type gifts. Other downtown shops Berlenbach said are worth stopping in when visiting New Egypt include the ice cream shop Tooties, Scott's Country Deli and the Laraita Winery.

The Dancer Farm Bed and Breakfast Inn "offers the perfect escape for any season," as it is located on a 250-acre working farm with rolling fields, wildflower meadows, vineyards and boarding facilities for standardbred racehorses, according to information provided by Berlenbach.

In the late fall, she said a New York-style deli and coffee shop called Taster's Canvass will open across the street from her.

Noting that there are still many storefront opportunities available, Berlenbach said Plumsted maintains a database of such opportunities on Main Street.

For more information, call (609) 758-6990 or visit www.mainstreetne.org.