Several new shops are open in Jim Thorpe.

“A good day is when you get to meet people from all over who come to Jim Thorpe and want to know about the town,” said Sue Gialloreto, owner of The Vintagerie, during the recent Earth Day celebration.“I was daydreaming for a year or two what I’d call the store. I based it on the word menagerie. It felt really good in my gut.”For Gialloreto, customer conversation is key. “I may have just what you’re looking for stashed in a corner somewhere,” she said.The 3-year-old vintage-goods shop took over the former Chatelaine's location this past year.“It’s my dream location,” she said.The merchandise ranges from old-time toys to housewares. “It’s everything retro you could want.”But it’s the clothing that draws most of the sales.“It’s top-notch vintage, just grab and wear. All of it is washed and has all the buttons.”Gialloreto hopes to keep the store in the jewelry tradition by selling pieces she has created herself using retro finds and repurposing them in a one-of-a-kind way.“We’ve worked very hard to raise Jim Thorpe’s profile,” said Jim Thorpe Tourism Agency President Randall Sellers.“It’s helped bring a fresh influx of investment to the area in the last year or two.”A fresh brewAlong with fresh business, fresh coffee has been brewing in the new Muggle’s Mug found on Broadway’s coffee corner. Owner Kacie Klotz spent three months completing structural work to the 1929 building.The well-known hand-painted musician mural was kept intact, with a fresh coat of paint brightening the rest of the space. Klotz wants the shop to serve as a “communal watering hole. For people to come and socialize or just read a book.”Klotz was trained by Philadelphia’s Green Street Coffee to be a professional barista. While traveling through France, Netherlands and Italy, she learned the ins and outs of the complicated machinery required to make specialty drinks like the Phoenix, a sweet concoction of espresso and ghost pepper.“It’s always been a dream of mine to open a coffee shop,” she said.“I love that some of our new business owners are local born and raised in the county while some come out of state to open shops on Broadway,” Sellers said.For former Las Vegas residents, Amy Pienta and Mitch Hanson, owners of Somersault Letterpress and Creative, Jim Thorpe is the place to be.The new print shop has been delighting the town with colorfully detailed window displays for months before the official opening.With Pienta as the designer and Hanson as the muscle behind the retro presses, the duo work to create everything from wedding invitations to greeting cards.“If someone has a project like business cards or baby announcements, that is our serious side. The cards are our fun side,” she said. The newly printed cards include clever slogans and adult themes.“It’s different than a Hallmark store. We are a vintage letterpress shop for modern times.”Though the company was started in 2010, Pienta has been graphic designing for years.Somersault shipped its vintage presses from the West Coast late this fall.“It was quite a process getting them in here,” she said.The front plate-glass window of the hundred-year-old building was removed on a rainy night to get the large 1957 Heidelberg Windmill hand press into the space.Along with her main machine, two more vintage presses from California are used to create the customized prints.“I’m thrilled to see these great new businesses opening in Jim Thorpe. Bringing visitors to our area who fall in love with the town, buy homes and open businesses here, to us that is always an end goal of tourism,” Sellers said.First-time shop owner and six-year area resident Marianne Rustad, began renting a small shop in the large Douglas House early this spring.Her shop, Conjured, sells local art work and handmade specialty skin care.“I stared making it for myself because store-bought didn’t work,” she said.Due to her own sensitive skin, Rustad knows the importance of using natural ingredients in her creations.“All the ingredients are written on the labels,” she said.Rustad can also be found selling her wares at craft and trade shows. Her parents fill in for her at the counter while she travels.“I couldn’t do this with out my parents,” she said.Natural beeswax skin cream and rosemary and spearmint soaps have been her largest sellers so far.According to Sellers, Jim Thorpe is “a dynamic community. Our new business owners and neighbors bring great new energy to our area.”Big Creek Winery’s Manager, Chantelle Gendron, said the winery’s shop’s new location has changed the game for the family owned business.“We can offer a glass on the porch during the summer, we’ve added small cheese platers and live music.”Community plays a major role in the new space with local artists’ works decorating the walls and area musicians entertaining crowds in the 1885 built Hooven building.The Strohlein family owned vineyard grows and presses its grapes in Kresgeville before selling the bottles in the Carbon County store front.“It’s an extension of the family owned vineyard. We are making it a welcoming experience every time you come in the door. You can grab a bottle and sit and enjoy.”“It’s become so hard for entrepreneurs in overpriced major cities, but Jim Thorpe and Carbon County are still a land of opportunity where everyone has a chance to succeed,” Sellers said.