Blue Back Square's Lila Mae Offers American-Made, Environmentally Sound Gifts

Looking to shop small and local for someone who has everything?

Lila Mae, the new 1,000-square-foot store in Blue Back Square, just may be the answer to your holiday shopping woes.

Originally an on-line store, Lila Mae has opened a brick-and-mortar pop-up shop at 95 Memorial Drive. It opened Nov. 17 and features unique, eclectic, American-made, environmentally conscious gifts.

The store has a little bit of everything, from hand-crafted jewelry to candles to all-natural chocolate and syrup to furniture to children’s paint made from vegetable coloring to tumblers made from recycled glass.

Owner Heather French, a Farmington resident, had three things in mind when she opened the store: grow the economy, protect the environment and embrace health.

So everything in the store is “sophisticated and stylish, environmentally friendly and made [in the U.S],” French said.

“I think we’ve found some great things that dispel the notion that, if you surround yourself with environmentally friendly things, you have to sacrifice style,” French said.

French named the store after her grandmother, Lila Mae, who was an entrepreneur.

She said that entrepreneurs represent the “great spirit” of this country.

The store captures that spirit in its canvas bags that use leather from old gun slings for their handles and belts and men’s toiletry kits made from bicycle inner tubes.

Everything that adorns the store is repurposed. The barn wood comes from an 1819 barn and all of the tables are from different businesses that have gone out of business.

“We wanted to show that we could have a fun space and do it environmentally sound,” she said.

French said that her inspiration behind the store came from her work as a brain integration therapist. She said that she has seen clients with ADD or autism eat healthier foods so as to not exasperate their conditions. French said that, similarly, people need to surround themselves with healthy things to prevent worsening their symptoms.

She hopes that the store will continue through its short lease, which runs through Dec. 31.

Lila Mae is open seven days a week, Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.