Linnea Grantham dreamed of one day following in her father’s footsteps. “My father owned a European gift shop just outside of Boston and my sisters and I practically grew up in the shop,” re-calls Grantham. “I always wanted to have a gift shop of my own one day.”
Grantham’s opportunity came knocking in the fall of 2015. Capital Medical Center in Olympia was looking for a vendor to establish an independently owned gift shop at the hospital. Grantham, who also owns a successful promotional products company with her husband, enthusiastically answered. “It was one of the scariest and most exciting decisions I’ve made because it had always just been a dream,” she says. “But I knew I had to try.”
Linnea’s Unique Boutique, opened in December 2015, quickly garnered rave reviews from hospital staff and the general public. The shop’s 300-square-foot space is filled wall-to-wall with fun and eclectic gifts, a little sarcastic humor and plush animals. “I only stock things that I would personally buy,” the owner explains. “I love everything in here.”
About a year after opening, the shop’s popularity got the attention of Overlake Medical Center in Bellevue. Grantham was invited to open a second shop. “I’ve always said that Linnea’s is not your typical ‘hospital gift shop,’ but a gift shop that happens to be in a hospital.”
The Overlake space is more than twice the size of the Olympia location. Their distance apart of nearly 70 miles, with a lot of freeway traffic, makes running the two locations geographically challenging. But, says Grantham, “I have a wonderful, supportive staff at both shops, who I can’t say enough good about. They make it all possible.”
Linnea’s recently opened its third location, in the Lacey/Hawks Prairie area. Customers will be delighted at the new shop, says Grantham. They will find items that are offered only in the Lacey shop.
JULIE LEYDELMEYER
Linnea’s Unique Boutique Locations
3900 Capital Mall Dr SW, Olympia
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1035 116th Ave NE, Bellevue
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6715 Martin Way East, Lacey
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