01940 Summer 2021

SUMMER 2021 | 31
time finding places to put my work,’ so I
thought I’d look for a little (store) of my
own to have just for fun.”
She quickly set out to find a spot
to lease, and it wasn’t long before she
became acquainted with Jack Marino,
the property deacon for Lynnfield
Community Church.
“He showed me the little room (in
the church’s basement), and I said, ‘That’s
perfect,’” she said. “I invited 12 of my
artsy friends to join me, and we launched
our little shop on November 27, the day
after Thanksgiving.”
Within a week of the launch,
Richard-Saltman said she was inundated
with requests from other local artists and
crafters who wanted to know if there was
space at the shop to display their work
as well.
“Nobody had any place to go. Every
existing shop had waiting lists,” she said.
“People had no place to show anything. As
artists, we go crazy if we don’t know what
to do with our stuff. We have to create.”
Although the room she rented was too
small to fit the wave of artists looking to
showcase their work, the church’s larger
basement room was still available for rent.
“It was a lot more money than I
had planned — and a much bigger
commitment than I had planned — so I
went before Jack, the deacon,” Richard-
Saltman said. “They’re trying to do a
lot more with the church. They’re very
community-focused, and we wanted our
shop to be community-focused.
“Lynnfield didn’t have a shop like
this, and we wanted to provide that in a
neighborhood-type setting, in a building
that would evoke community, and what
better place to do that than a church?”
she added.
The church was open to Richard-
Saltman’s proposal, and she signed her
new lease that same week. Perfectly
Imperfect Gift Shoppe is now home
to almost 40 local artists, and Richard-
Saltman has since re-acquired the smaller
basement room to use as a classroom for
various arts and crafts workshops hosted
by her and other showcased artists.
Since vaccines have become more
widely available, the shop has hosted
two beading classes and a “Grow Your
Own Herb Garden” class. As a way to
give back to the church that has hosted
them, all proceeds from the shop’s fournight
calligraphy class — which takes
place every Tuesday in June — will go to
benefit Lynnfield Community Church’s
Capital Campaign fundraiser.
“We’ve partnered with the church for
a lot,” Richard-Saltman said. “Whatever
we can do to work with the church, we’re
doing, because they showed a lot of good
faith to get us in here, so we’re trying to
show as much good faith as we can to
give back to them.”
The Perfectly Imperfect Gift Shoppe
hosts “Artists Chats” live streams and
posts additional shop information on
its Facebook page. The shop’s hours of
operation are Sundays from 10 a.m. to
2 p.m., Tuesdays from noon to 6 p.m.,
Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.,
Thursdays from noon to 6 p.m., Fridays
from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturdays
from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The shop is closed
on Mondays.
While the shop’s future may be
unclear, Richard-Saltman said she has
high hopes for what’s to come.
“Everything has happened very
organically,” she said. “When I set out
to do this, I thought it was going to be
a fun little gig, but now I’ve decided to
take the year off to build the business and
make this my full-time gig.”
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