Hello Art Hatchery in Stoughton gives craft supplies a second life

Business and local economy reporter

Business and local economy reporter

Jenny Oppriecht, owner of Hello Art Hatchery in Stoughton, is pictured in her store.

Crafters and artists tend to spend lots of time and money stockpiling the supplies that fuel their creative endeavors. But what happens to the skeins of yarn, the still-fresh markers and the half-finished quilts when a hobby comes to an end?

In one Stoughton basement, those leftovers become food for other artistic endeavors.

"I like saving relics and bringing things back to life," said Jenny Oppriecht, owner of Hello Art Hatchery, which collects and resells used art and craft supplies.

Located at 524 E. Main St., beneath Abel Contemporary Gallery, the shop follows the model of the "creative reuse centers" that first emerged across the U.S. in the 1970s. That model has seen a resurgence in recent years, likely driven by GenZ's love for thrifting.

Oppriecht, a marketing director for a Madison property management company, began reselling pre-owned craft supplies online in February 2022 as a side gig. On her daily commute to and from Stoughton, she'd stop by local homes to drop off orders or pick up goods ready for rehoming. After a few months, she got tired of trying to squeeze her growing inventory into boxes.

She’d never pictured herself running a brick-and-mortar shop, but she started looking for a storage unit or a storefront on Stoughton's Main Street. By June, with few vacancies emerging on Main Street, she took over the former potter's studio in the gallery's basement. She opened the doors in July.

With stone walls and high windows sometimes covered by weeds, the cave-like space glows in the afternoon sun. The single long room is a treasure trove of items brimming with creative potential, many of them unopened by their prior owners.

Hello Art Hatchery, a resale craft and art supply store, opened at 524 E. Main St. in Stoughton in July.

There are packs of Prismacolor markers, a wealth of rubber stamps, scrapbooking supplies and bins of yarn. There are rolls of ribbon, tubes of colorful glass beads and stacks of sketch pads. For the fabric arts enthusiasts, there's a used sewing machine for $65 and a carefully stitched quilt just waiting for someone to sew on its backing and final stitching.

Scattered among the shelves are a collection of new items too, many of which Oppriecht orders wholesale from Japan. There's washi tape, cardstock available by the sheet and a variety of tiny kits for knitting 2-inch high gnomes or cross-stitching matchbox-sized tapestries.

A used sewing machine is for sale at Hello Art Hatchery in Stoughton.

"I think people like projects that they can finish," Oppriecht said of the kits, which take just a few hours to complete. Sometimes people donate supplies to the shop because they just didn't have the time for the ambitious project they planned. "You buy all the supplies but then you don't have the time."

The entire inventory is also available through the Hatchery's online store, even the smallest and cheapest items. She now ships across the country, but she still offers free delivery for Madisonians, making stops before and after work.

Donation station

Though the shop is full of pre-owned goods, it's not a consignment or buy-sell operation. Instead, the business depends on locals "donating" their things, even though it's not a nonprofit and can't offer tax write-offs.

And donate they do.

Many of those who donate are baby boomers who’ve built big stashes and are now ready to downsize, Oppriecht said. Those donations, which otherwise might end up in a landfill, can give others a more affordable way to keep up their hobby or try a new one.

"A lot of people just want their things to go to someone who will use them," Oppriecht said.

One woman donated around 120 uncut sew-your-own-clothes patterns from the 1960s through 1980s. Another donated a pair of tiny birds made from velvet pipe cleaners. In one donation, Oppriecht found what looked like an oddly shaped cutting board. Through research, she learned it was a tailor's board, made for precisely ironing dress shirts.

Birds made of vintage chenille pipe cleaners are displayed at Hello Art Hatchery in Stoughton.

"It's always fun to see what comes in and what you're gonna find, what treasures," Oppriecht said.

Oppriecht won't take just anything. She keeps a list of items she will and won't accept. Googly eyes, glitter, pottery wheels, felt and stencils? Yes. Fabric scraps, baking gear, knick knacks and anything in bad shape? No.

Still, she often ends up weeding through the boxes of donations herself. "I don't like to tell people that their things are dirty, torn or smelly, so I just take it and deal with it," Oppriecht said.

Yards and small pieces of fabric are sold at Hello Art Hatchery in Stoughton.

Sometimes, she’ll make a Herculean effort to make something usable again. One person donated 20 years of postmarked stamps, so Oppriecht soaked each one off its envelope, sorted them thematically and packed them into plastic baggies, though she knew it wouldn't pay off financially. Another time, she unwound skeins of specialty yarn to air out the stench of the prior owner's cigarettes.

Some donations find new life in local classrooms or nonprofits instead, especially when Oppriecht gets a lot of a single thing. Those that don't fit with the store's offerings get sent to Goodwill.

Oppriecht still works her full-time job; the business now makes enough to cover its costs, but "it's not gonna pay the bills," she said. "There's not a whole lot of margins on secondhand art and craft supplies."

For now, it's open Thursday through Sunday, mostly staffed by her husband, artist Ken Oppriecht. At 50, she's looking to make the shop her "encore career" when she retires from marketing.

Scrapbook materials, yarn, embroidery floss, craft kits and decorative paper are some of the many art and craft supplies sold new or used at Hello Art Hatchery.

When the right space opens, she’d still love to move the business to Main Street. She's toyed with the idea of getting a bigger, more industrial space where she could take in not just art supplies but raw materials like metal tubes or bins of buttons that could be recycled into art pieces or kids’ projects. With more space, too, she could add a community work space where people of all ages could take classes or turn the inventory into art on the spot.

"It just needs to sit until the right person comes along," Oppriecht said. "It's just kind of another level of creativity … like, ‘What's the potential for this item?’"

What are the most important values driving your work?

I do really like to give part of what we bring in back (to schools and nonprofits), especially when there's abundance. So this idea of paying it forward, and then the environmental responsibility of finding a way to reuse things that may not otherwise be reused.

How are you creating the kind of community that you want to live in?

Providing this for the community is something that really excites me. I like creating a creative space in Stoughton. We have the galleries, but I think this is a different approach to creativity that's accessible in a different way. Having a place where art and creative expression can be encouraged without feeling like you have to be performative about it, making it OK to mess around and play around, is important to me.

What advice do you have for other would-be entrepreneurs?

Just start. When I first envisioned this space, I did the business plan. I told myself I was waiting for COVID, I was waiting for the perfect spot. And at some point I was like, "Just start." And I did. I didn't know where I was headed. I had a roadmap, but I didn't know exactly the path to each step. But in this kind of business, it doesn't have to be perfect. Our customers are really responsive and appreciative. They don't care if you don't have a great brand or if you’re sick and can't come to the store or you check out for a month because you're overwhelmed. So I think it's good to just start.

Are you hiring?

I wish I was, but no. Our goal is to cover our expenses, and we do that, so that's all we need right now. But I hope to in the future.

As the Cap Times’ business and local economy reporter, Natalie Yahr writes about challenges and opportunities facing workers, entrepreneurs and job seekers. Before moving to Madison in 2018, she lived in New Orleans, where she trained as a Spanish-English interpreter and helped adult students earn high school equivalencies. Support journalism like this by becoming a Cap Times member. To comment on this story, submit a letter to the editor.

524 E. Main St., Studio 1, Stoughton

(608) 448-6994

helloarthatchery.com

HOURS

Thursday 12-6 p.m., Friday 12-5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

Autistic attorney Haley Moss told a crowd at MadREP Wednesday that ""if we actually get to show what we know, a lot of neurodivergent people thrive."

Autistic attorney Haley Moss told a crowd at MadREP Wednesday that ""if we actually get to show what we know, a lot of neurodivergent people thrive."

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