For more than three decades, the Columbus Day weekend tent sale at Baked Beads was a fixture of the Mad River Valley — a regional shopping event that drew longtime customers, families and curious browsers looking for jewelry, accessories and deals while raising money for local schools and community organizations.
Next weekend marks the end of that tradition.
Robin and David Cohen, who founded Baked Beads and have operated the business in Waitsfield for 35 years, will hold their final tent sale Friday through Sunday, Oct. 9-11, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at their shop in Waitsfield. The sale will feature overstock and one-of-a-kind pieces, along with merchandise the Cohens had previously expected to sell through their wholesale business.
“This is the last one, so we're just letting it rip,” David said. “We're bringing all kinds of stuff out there that we wouldn't normally put up for a regular sale.”
RETAIL CHANGED
The sale is the public face of a much larger transition. Baked Beads will end its wholesale operation in November, with its final shipping day scheduled for Nov. 5. The Cohens plan to be out of their 4,000-square-foot building by Nov. 30.
The building, which the Cohens sold Aug. 31, has been purchased by Bruno Grimaldi and Sharon Dube. The Cohens are renting it back through November while they wind down the business.
For Robin and David, closing Baked Beads is both an emotional and practical decision.
They began considering the possibility about two years ago as the retail landscape changed. David said the number of stores buying from Baked Beads had fallen dramatically since the company's peak in 2009, when it sold to about eight times as many stores as it does today. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the loss of brick-and-mortar customers and eliminated trade shows that had been an important part of the business.
Rising costs, inflation, tariffs and labor expenses added to the pressure.
“We thought we would work into our 70s,” David said. “And now it's just — it was a financial decision. We can't cover the overhead if we stay open.”
A LIFESTYLE
“I've loved my job,” she said. “I don't think of it as a job. It's just a lifestyle, and we have had a great lifestyle.”
That lifestyle began in an unlikely way.
David came to Vermont after spending three years backpacking around the world. He came to visit friends in the Mad River Valley and, after attending a Fourth of July parade, decided to stay. Not long after that David and Robin met in 1991 through mutual friends.
At the time, Robin was living in New York and working in advertising and marketing. David had studied hotel management and worked as a financial consultant doing feasibility studies for hotel developers and banks.
Neither had planned on becoming a jewelry entrepreneur.
MAKING JEWELRY
David had started making beaded jewelry and selling it to stores around New England, initially driving around with pieces in his car. Robin eventually moved to Vermont and brought her own creative and marketing background to the fledgling business.
They married in 1993, and their twin daughters Marley and Thea, were born in 1995.
In the early years, Baked Beads operated out of the couple's home before moving into space on Bridge Street in Waitsfield. At its peak there, the business employed about 20 people, many of them local high school students.
“So many kids got off the bus and worked with us,” Robin said.
The business grew rapidly. David handled operations, finances and the business side, while Robin developed designs and worked on marketing and sales. Their differences became part of the formula.
“We're so different,” David said. “It was obvious how to split up the domains.”
The arrangement allowed them to build a business together without it consuming their family life. They rarely discussed business at home, instead scheduling meetings when necessary.
FLOOD OF 1998
Then came the flood of 1998. Baked Beads was forced out of its Bridge Street location, and the Cohens temporarily moved their operation to the third floor of the the same building, which had not been affected by the flood. But they decided they needed a permanent location outside the floodplain.
Getting there took ttime. Permitting was complicated, and the Cohens ultimately bought additional land to satisfy Act 250 requirements. They designed their new building and moved into the facility in December 2002.
The Cohens' memories of the business are inseparable from the community that surrounded it — particularly the people who helped them through the flood and supported the tent sales year after year.
“When we got flooded out in '98, people we didn't even know were coming down and helping us dig through the mud,” David said.
MULTIGENERATIONAL
The tent sales became a multigenerational tradition. David said he now sees people who attended the sales as children returning with children of their own.
That history is part of what makes closing difficult.
“We honestly thought we were just going to slip away, just quietly go,” Robin said. Instead, after the Cohens announced the closing in July, customers responded with personal messages and calls expressing their appreciation.
As Baked Beads winds down, the Cohens are looking ahead.
Robin has already expanded her volunteer work, spending Mondays at the Waitsfield and Warren libraries and continuing as a mentor. She hopes to have more flexibility in the future, including time with her mother.
FORTUNATE
Both want to travel more and spend more time visiting their daughters, who live in New York City. David also hopes to devote more time to volunteering and fitness.
After 35 years of building a business, raising their family and becoming part of the fabric of the Mad River Valley, the Cohens said they feel fortunate.
“I don't know if we would be here after 35 years if we hadn't moved into this community,” David said. “The support we got from day one was amazing.”
Robin agreed.
They have had the opportunity, she said, to live in a beautiful place, build a successful business and raise their children there.
“We both feel profoundly fortunate in all those ways,” she said.
