{"id":32299,"date":"2012-12-04T08:40:48","date_gmt":"2012-12-04T13:40:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/?p=32299"},"modified":"2012-12-05T08:30:02","modified_gmt":"2012-12-05T13:30:02","slug":"deshia-owners-turn-barn-into-25-year-success-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2012\/12\/04\/deshia-owners-turn-barn-into-25-year-success-story\/","title":{"rendered":"DeShia: A 25-year local success story"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The interior of DeShia is chock full of interesting collectibles, fashion accessories and one-of-a-kind craft items. (photos by Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One local business celebrating its 25th anniversary this coming year owes its existence to the fact that the owner\u2019s husband was a prolific woodworking enthusiast.<\/p>\n

Karen Miller, co-owner of DeShia, said the business she and husband Rob own was started basically as a way to sell off Rob\u2019s many woodworking projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cRob would never make one or two things, but five or six,\u201d Miller said, noting that the fact the couple was running out of space to store the projects was a big motivator in finding a way to market them.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, the couple had bought a house lot and a barn as mile south of Van Wert on U.S. 127 when Rob became superintendent of Ohio City-Liberty Schools. After Rob found a furnace for the barn, it became the perfect venue for the new business.<\/p>\n

At first, though, the business was more of a hobby for Karen, who opened at first only at Christmastime. That changed when Rob, who was thinking of selling the barn, gave her an ultimatum: Do something with the business or sell it.<\/p>\n

So, in 1988, she created DeShia — a unique business that now brings in thousands of people to the Van Wert area. \u201cThere are people who come here because we are here,\u201d Karen said with pride, adding that her weekly email list now has something like 4,000 addresses on it.<\/p>\n

Today, the store whose name is based on an Amish word for \u201cbarn,\u201d sells a plethora of collectibles, fashion accessories and one-of-a-kind handmade items created by area artisans and crafters.<\/p>\n

Collectibles include Boyd Bears, BearStones and FolkStones, Yankee Candles, Attic Babies, Pat Richter, Town House Square houses, Edith Ann Samplers, Wysocki prints and Lang and Thomas Kincaid calendars. Karen admits, though, that her store is only so big and she can\u2019t stock everything; however, she\u2019s happy to find and order something people like that she doesn\u2019t have.<\/p>\n

Locally-made items include lamps and lampshades, baskets made in Findlay, picture frames made by Rob Miller out of barn siding and pottery and paintings created by Karen Miller, as well as wreaths made from her own flowers.<\/p>\n

Karen also travels to trade shows all over the country looking for new and unique items, including jewelry and fashion handbags, that she feels her customers would like, while also providing free recipes and decorating and party tips to customers. \u201cWe provide party ideas and samples of beverages and party food items,\u201d she said, noting that she has displays during the holiday season showing various ways to decorate and entertain.<\/p>\n

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The tables are part of a cafe DeShia owner Karen Miller added to provide lunch three times a week in her shop.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Over the years, as their business grew, the Millers added a 1,000-square-foot addition to the barn to house more items, while a more recent addition inside is a caf\u00e9 that serves lunch from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Wednesday through Friday.<\/p>\n

DeShia is a testament to the small business tradition — something Karen Miller said she believes in. \u201cI support strongly the small business concept,\u201d she said, adding that she has taken a number of classes from Wright State University-Lake Campus\u2019 Small Business Development Center as a way to become a better small business owner.<\/p>\n

DeShia, which has earned accolades over the years, including several nominations for the Van Wert Area Chamber of Commerce\u2019s Small Business of the Year awards, also conducts a number of marketing promotions throughout the year, while Karen is also using social media Internet sites to promote her business. A good example is a current Facebook promotion she calls the \u201cParade of Sweaters.\u201d Customers bring in favorite sweaters and Karen takes photos of them and posts them to her Facebook site. Customers then get their friends to \u201clike\u201d the sweaters and the customer whose sweater gets the most \u201clikes\u201d wins a $25 gift certificate.<\/p>\n

Karen also believes in giving back to her community and DeShia supports a number of local projects, with the latest providing free cookies and hot chocolate for those who participated in the recent unveiling of the \u201cChristmas Garden\u201d at the Children\u2019s Garden in Smiley Park.<\/p>\n

In the final analysis, though, while DeShia has lots of unique and handmade items, Karen Miller feels it is the service the store provides that keeps customers coming back. \u201cWe give customers service that no \u2018big box\u2019 store can,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s also why DeShia has thrived in an old, out-of-the-way barn for nearly 25 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor One local business celebrating its 25th anniversary this coming year owes its existence to the fact that the owner\u2019s husband was a prolific woodworking enthusiast. Karen Miller, co-owner of DeShia, said the business she and husband Rob own was started basically as a way to sell off Rob\u2019s many woodworking projects. \u201cRob […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-04 07:15:19","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32299\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}