Like many people during the pandemic, Conchi Perez of Saugerties picked up a hobby.
For Perez, a native of Mexico, that hobby was backyard gardening. She started with vegetables. Then she discovered dahlias.
“I fell in love with dahlias,” she said.
The hobby also gave Perez something else: confidence.
She set up a flower stand at the end of her driveway, with a sign made by her husband, Ivan Blas. Sales were strong, and so was the feedback from customers.
The response pushed Perez to think bigger about starting a business of her own.
Now she is the owner of Buzzing Bee Market on Route 212 in Saugerties, a new shop she leases that opened on March 19 and sells locally and regionally sourced goods. Among the items for sale are flowers, maple syrup, jam, specialty sodas, honey, greeting cards, beeswax products, and gardening supplies.
Perez’s new store adds retail variety to a stretch of Route 212 between Woodstock and Saugerties that has relatively few shopping options. The shop is about five miles from each town center, next to Rothe Lumber.
“I have to try this,” said Perez, 45.
Perez said she was not deterred by the challenges of opening a small business at a moment of economic uncertainty tied to global conflict. Instead, she said she has faith in her customers and in herself.
“I believe we will be OK,” she said.
Corinna Geib of Boiceville said Perez had picked a strong location.
Geib operated Tea Haus on Route 212 in Saugerties for five years, selling loose-leaf teas, specialty foods, gift items and her ImmuneSchein Ginger Elixirs. She closed on the building on Valentine’s Day 2020.
She said the Route 212 location worked well because it was close to her home and near the New York State Thruway, making it accessible to customers coming from farther away. She said she had not counted on foot traffic to drive sales, though traffic along the corridor was often heavy and business stayed steady. She also said she loved the building.
For about the past year, Geib has operated SONDERBAR at 54 Tinker St. in Woodstock.
She said she still thought highly of her former Route 212 space, but decided to move because she wanted to downsize, shifting from a 3,500-square-foot location to one about 300 square feet.
Asked what advice she had for Perez, Geib said: “Stick to it.”
Perez said support from her family gave her the confidence to turn Buzzing Bee Market from an idea into a reality. Now, Geib and another neighbor are rooting for her success as well.
“We wish Ivan and Conchi luck in their new establishment,” said Dottie Fauci, general manager of Rothe Welding, an adjacent business. “We’re excited to stop by and check out their products.”
Her husband works in construction, her daughter lives in Albany and works in finance, and her son studies finance at Marist College in Poughkeepsie.
Before the pandemic, Perez worked as a nail technician at the Cheri Voss Salon, which had been located at the intersection of Route 212 and Glasco Turnpike, but is now closed. She later rented a booth at nearby Sublime Hair Design Studio, an experience she said helped prepare her to run her own store.
“That helped me develop strong client relationships and a deep appreciation for customer service,” Perez said.
The shop’s name also reflects another interest Perez developed during the pandemic: bees.
As she expanded her gardening, Perez said she wanted to keep bees in her yard because of their importance to the environment.
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, bees produce goods including honey, royal jelly, pollen, beeswax and honey bee venom. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has said that a third of the world’s food production depends on bees.
Perez joined the Catskill Mountain Beekeepers Club, but soon concluded that beekeeping was too time-consuming to take on while working full time.
Even so, bees remained meaningful to her, inspiring the name of the shop.
And while there are no bees at Buzzing Bee Market, Perez said, “I have learned a great deal and developed a deep admiration for them.”
John W. Barry is a reporter for The Overlook. Reach him at john@theoverlooknews.com.