BizBeat: Southbank opens 'occasional shop' in downtown Jefferson City

Le Bee Merche Southbank's Occasional Shop located at 108 E. High St.  (Ken Barnes / News Tribune)
Le Bee Merche Southbank's Occasional Shop located at 108 E. High St. (Ken Barnes / News Tribune)

Sometimes when customers enter Southbank Gift Company, they see owner Jill Bednar repurposing a piece of furniture, but oftentimes, there isn't room in the store to display the finished piece.

With the opening of Southbank's "occasional shop," Le Bee Marche, customers can now look at more repurposed furniture and home decor from the popular downtown Jefferson City business.

Le Bee Marche opened Saturday at 108 E. High St., next door to Southbank.

Customers will find repurposed home decor and furniture that has more of a "European flair" at Southbank's occasional shop, Bednar said.

"It's a space where we hope to inspire people to redo pieces that they already have in creative ways," Bednar said.

She added customers who want to do their own repurposing projects can buy tools - waxes, stencils, transfers, molds, etc. - at Southbank.

Le Bee Marche is open today from noon-4 p.m.

January through October, Le Bee Marche will be open the fourth weekend of every month. There will be special holiday hours during November and December.

Bednar has been using British artist Annie Sloan's decorative methods to restore and repurpose furniture for the last six years. She was hardly able to display those repurposed pieces at Southbank, though.

"It was difficult to have a piece over there because we don't have any room to show people what you can do," she said. "Le Bee Marche will give us the opportunity to showcase the wide variety of finishes that can be achieved with our Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, as well as other decorative finishing products."

Bednar began leasing the space - which previously housed Divinity Religious Gift Shop - a year ago, with plans to open the occasional shop in the spring. The coronavirus pandemic changed those plans, pushing off the opening date to late October.

Bednar said she is excited to finally display multiple repurposed pieces of furniture and help customers do their own projects.

"It's an awkward time to be opening a new business, but it's also a good time because everybody is at home looking for things to do and how they could improve their house because they've been looking at it a lot more," she said.

Know of any business happenings around Jefferson City? Let us know at [email protected].