Wells Avenue entrepreneurs

Kelly Ricciardi, 28, has been dreaming of opening her own home-and-garden shop for the last 10 years. Along with her boyfriend, Brigham Edwards, 30, she will be opening On the Terrace Aug. 1. The shop, 638 S. Wells Ave., has tons of unique iron furniture, décor, ceramic and terracotta pottery and the best-smelling candles around. These two have been busy painting and decorating, and they’ve personally collected each item for the store to prepare for the grand opening party Aug 7. Kelly and Brigham are very enthusiastic about their shop and can’t wait to share their passion with Reno.

Why did you decide to open this shop?

Brigham: We were tired of our other jobs. I’ve been the foreman of a landscaping company for seven years, and Kelly has had numerous jobs: florist, receptionist, hair dresser, secretary.

Kelly: I’ve had a business plan for about 10 years, but I didn’t let anybody in on it, only very few people. Everything I have been doing careerwise has led up to this. I have always wanted to have my own garden shop, not selling flowers necessarily or the plants but all the décor that goes along with it. I worked in Oregon in a lot of garden shops. I’ve done container gardening, landscaping and patio-scaping. Also I have been studying plants for many years. It is my favorite thing in the whole world, so I want to share the love. I was just waiting for the right day when I woke up and said “Today is the day I start my own business,” and that happened about three months ago.

Why did you pick this location on Wells Avenue?

Kelly: We were looking for something unique. We wanted a yard, and we wanted a patio, considering the stuff we are selling, and that is hard to find in Reno since all the cool house are taken by lawyers on California Street. When we found it, we knew it needed a lot of work, but we knew it had character. Plus they are re-vamping Wells Avenue right now, and there is such a mixture of stuff on this street: head shops, tattoo shops, piercing places, Mexican clothing stores, flower shops and skate shops. A couple years ago you would have cringed about Wells, but I think it is turning around.

What exactly are you selling?

Kelly: Home and garden décor, iron furniture.

Brigham: We just went down to Mexico for five days and brought back a huge truckful of stuff. We have stuff from little kids’ furniture all the way up to rocking chairs. A lot of trellises and archways. Really unique stuff that no one else has in town. Wine racks, beer racks, room dividers, bistro sets—it will always be changing. Whatever the artists feel like making. This is someplace where people can come shop once a month, and there will always be new stuff. We will also be doing deck, patio and interior plant-scaping for customers.

Where are all your products from?

Kelly: The pottery we got in California, and it comes from Vietnam and Malaysia, and the iron furniture is made in Mexico by different artists. We import our own stuff, so we get to meet some of the artists, which is awesome.

Is this a store for everyone?

Kelly: This is a store for everyone! Our most expensive pot right now is $150. That is not too bad for a big pot. A few benches for $200 and a couple archways for $500. Our prices range anywhere from $15 to $500. Anyone could come in here and pick out something pretty cool for their house. Other shops like ours are outrageous. We would rather sell a lot of stuff for cheaper than one thing a day. We also wanted to bring cool art to Reno. I want people to just enjoy stuff that is beautiful, not kill them with prices. That is not what we’re about.