By SASHA JOHNS / Community Columnist

After three decades on Columbiana’s charming Main Street, Linda Cook, owner of Busy Hands Framing and Gifts, is making a move into a new location.
Cook has seen many changes over the years on Columbiana’s Main Street.

She even relocated once herself back in the earlier days.

When Cook moved to town in the late ’80s, her store then sold primarily cross stitch and needlepoint patterns and supplies in what is now the Morrison and Spann law offices on the corner of College and Main streets.

In 1997, she took over a portion of what had been known for more than 50 years as the Columbiana Leader Department Store, where her sales floor inventory became more of a gift shop and her main focus for the business turned to framing the memories and art of her Shelby County customer base.

She’s one of the few small business framers in the county.

Time changes things, however, and with the sale of the building she had rented for nearly 30 years came the need to find a new home for her business.

“The timing has actually been beneficial for me,” Cook said. “I’m at a stage in life, being a caregiver for my husband, where I needed to downsize some in order to take care of things at home, but still have an outlet that keeps me busy.”

She didn’t have to move far. Her new spot is right next door inside the Shops of Columbiana, where she’ll continue to sell gifts and take orders for her framing business.

The Shops of Columbiana is a large storefront that has been converted into a sort of charming mini-mall for small retail businesses.

Cook will be among other retailers like Farm Charm and Tee’s Bakery, to name a few.

The inside of the Shops of Columbiana has been renovated to look like a small town itself, with small retail spaces that have storefront facades that look like a miniature Main Street indoors.

“It’s going to be a fun change,” Cook said. “I’ll have other retailers to network with inside the building and I think the potential to refer customers to each other throughout the business day is going to help us all, especially during the coming holiday season.”
Cook and the other store owners are looking forward to a great holiday shopping season. They have already made plans to host a collective Christmas Open House on Nov. 15 and 16 that they hope the community will attend.
To keep up with the latest events and fun that Cook has going on at her store, follow her Facebook page, Busy Hands Framing and Gifts.