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Happy Yak: Carrying Clothes and Gifts You Won’t Find Elsewhere (Photo Gallery)

First Posted: 1/25/13 01:50 PM EDT Updated: 1/25/13 01:50 PM EDT
Originally published
Happy Yak

BY LEE ANN SANDWEISS Happy Yak—the catchy name of this tiny shop brings a smile. But just as arresting is the merchandise found within. Located in the Cultural Building at the Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center (TMBCC), 3655 S. Snoddy Rd., Happy Yak opened in 2007 and is stocked from floor to ceiling with traditional Tibetan and Mongolian wares, including scarves, incense, jewelry, clothing, books, and Buddhist ritual items such as statuary, singing bowls, bells, and prayer flags. Volunteer Lynn Svensson, who supervises the shop, says all of the stock has interesting and remote origins. “Our sources for merchandise include monk-to-monk contact, merchandise made by Tibetan refugees living in India, as well as a few other sources of fair-trade items. [...]

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A Student Trip to Ecuador To See ‘Fair Trade’ in Action

First Posted: 1/9/13 12:24 PM EDT Updated: 1/9/13 12:24 PM EDT
Originally published
Fair Trade

BY JANET MANDELSTAM Mary Embry has been a fair trade advocate “for more than a dozen years,” she says. She includes fair trade principles in the course on sustainability that she teaches at IU’s Department of Apparel Merchandising and Interior Design, and she serves on the board and volunteers at Global Gifts, Bloomington’s fair trade store located on the east side of the downtown Square. In June she led a small group of fellow advocates on a trip to Ecuador to see those principles in action. The principles include, she says, “empowering marginalized people, especially women, and paying a fair price to the producers, one that covers the cost of their materials and helps sustain their existence.” Fair trade also [...]

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Royale Hair Parlor: A New Business on the Square

First Posted: 12/19/12 02:47 PM EDT Updated: 12/19/12 02:47 PM EDT
Originally published
Royale Hair Parlor

BY BRIDGETT HENWOOD A new hair salon has opened that offers cuts, art, and a learning experience. “When I moved to Bloomington I had an idea that I wanted to open a salon,” says owner Bridgett Vohland. She soon realized that there were few such places in Bloomington that offered “really advanced education programs within their salons.” To bring Bloomington some of her experience gained from 15 years of styling in Cincinnati and Chicago, and to offer resources for local stylists who want to further their education, she opened Royale Hair Parlor in July in the Wicks Building on the north side of the downtown Square. The salon offers an intimate learning environment for stylists. Vohland trains an apprentice until [...]

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How Many Towns Have a Harp Store?

First Posted: 12/10/12 02:18 PM EDT Updated: 12/10/12 02:18 PM EDT
Originally published
Harp Store

BY PAMELA KEECH Bloomington continues to surprise. In an unremarkable building behind Mother Bear’s Pizza, a very famous harp player and her ex-husband operate an international harp business. Eleanor Fell is legendary for pioneering popular music on the harp. Lee Caulfield was an international sales manager for General Electric. Vanderbilt Music Company began in their apartment at 34th and Park Avenue in New York City—the old Vanderbilt Hotel. “We started the company in 1976 because there was a shortage of good gut strings,” says Caulfield. “Most strings on a large harp are natural gut, made from sheep or beef intestines, and were not then available in the U.S. so we imported them from England.” The business here sells harps, music, [...]

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For Sale: Life-Size Hippos, Gorillas, 
Giraffes, Etc.

First Posted: 12/4/12 03:44 PM EDT Updated: 12/5/12 03:16 PM EDT
Originally published
Ned Fleetwood

BY ERICA SAGON Ned Fleetwood has made hippopotamuses for day care centers, pigs for barbecue restaurants, and roosters for a fast-food chicken chain. He’s sold gorillas to a used-car lot and a horse and mule to a veterinarian’s office. Once, he drove to Arizona with an adult elephant, three baby elephants, and two hippos in tow for a homeowner’s jungle-themed backyard pool. Fleetwood makes life-size and larger-than-life fiberglass animals. It’s a niche business that’s kept the him busy since he retired from the concrete industry. Fleetwood figures he’s made over 400 statues, with giraffes and elephants being the bestsellers. “They’re the attention getters, because they’re so big,” he says. The hollow animal statues are produced in rural southern Indiana from [...]

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Giraffes, Etc."

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