Kristine Harder aims to have Buckshot & Bobby Pins open at 221 Main St. in time for the mid-November Alaska Bald Eagle Festival.
“I have a boutique, which has many, many different things,” Harder said. “I have clothing, baby clothes, children’s clothes, fragrances.”
She had resided in Juneau for more than three decades and previously was in Kodiak. Harder said her life has featured “an eclectic work background.”
Harder eventually settled into the wholesale business, with Northwest Pewter.
“It was a great job, because I can do it from my home, but I’m really a people person, and it’s kind of boring,” she said. “All you do is you’re in your warehouse space, packing up pewter and putting it in boxes and going to the post office and mailing your pewter, except for the twice a year when you might be in Vancouver, Seattle or Anchorage for whichever trade shows I go to.”
Harder looked to move to Haines, as she “thought I’d never seen a place as beautiful in my life.” A space at the former Helen’s Shop opened up, and Harder now will bring Buckshot & Bobby Pins downtown, with a much wider selection than Northwest Pewter.
“Not everybody needs to buy pewter every day, and the store has to be a store for the whole community,” she said.
Harder said the boutique has a bit of a Western theme, with dolls and jewelry, plus belts and wallets for men. She said the offerings will be quite diverse, so even gourmet skincare lines for dogs would be available to shoppers.
Buckshot & Bobby Pins also is slated to sell products from Afghanistan and Uganda to promote economic development efforts in those countries.
“These things come from so far away, and they’re going to be in Haines, on the shelf,” Harder said.
Once ready for business, the store’s phone number will be 766-2450.