DIXON, CA (MPG) - Two business women. One pandemic. Abundance of flexibility. Heart to help.

The soft opening today of a new store in downtown Dixon called 'Uptown Collective' is the story of how to be entrepreneurial--and innovative--in these times.

It started with women doing what they do well; visiting. When Rebecca Robinson was visiting with friend Vicki Ruiz at The Printing Shop, Ruiz was empathetic sharing about how her sister, Becky Jacobs, who owns B's Gallery Salon around the corner, was experiencing financial devastation due to not being able to open her doors for business or to serve her clients.

The three of them soon began to brainstorm about other possibilities to make ends meet during the pandemic shutdown. All of them have lived here long enough to know the history of how that space had worked before for part retail and part salon so Robinson, a former Downtown Dixon Business Association President and long-time downtown building owner, went home with the wheels inside her head turning over ideas.

"I felt sorry for her. She's been in business all this time." said Robinson who had sold her home in Nevada City recently and moved back to Dixon. After purchasing the older building years ago, though, she had opened the 'Curiosity Shop.' Plus, Nevada City had lots of retail shops and she enjoyed shopping at all of them, she said.

"I know how to fix this," she thought. She'd open up a women's clothing boutique in the front part of Jacob's salon just like the earlier times.

"Our downtown restaurants are excellent--superb! But after you eat, you want to go somewhere. It would be great for increasing the walkability of downtown by having great retail," she said. She commissioned an artist to render a logo using a woman's face but then realized after weeks of forced isolation, women were not going to buy clothes if they stayed at home.

"I've always loved these little stores and there is a Winters Collective [in Winters] and that's where I got the idea [for a collective.] I was in the middle of landscaping in the backyard but knew I had to stop and do this," she said with enthusiasm. "The idea is to bring people together whether it's refinishing furniture, designing an art piece, or selling mohair baby booties, it's a great opportunity for local artists. There are five vendor spaces and it will be a fun shopping experience." 

Robinson is also planning a youth corner for young people who have developed or refined artistic skills while being shut down for so long and is hopeful it can add to their mental health.

"Think of the mental health benefits to the children and youth who can see their work on display and then have someone buy their creations," she said.

B's Gallery Salon will continue to be run by Jacobs but has been moved toward the back of the building and thus the women can share customer's interests.

"My clients can shop in the store while they're processing," Jacobs said adding that she can also still sell the salon's inventory of unique purses, jewelry, and scarves in the new collective space. Two innovative business owners coming together to help other women and our downtown. It's definitely a win-win equation.

The store is located at 130 North First Street. Call (707) 676-5377 for more info or check out their Facebook page. Due to the Governor's continued COVID-19 restrictions on salons, B's Gallery Salon will open as soon as they are allowed and one can enter through the back of the building. That phone number is (707) 678-5560.