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Michelle Boyer, Perennial Trends
You look back over your life and realize – God laid out all these stepping stones, all these moments, to lead you exactly where you are. And for me, that path led here.
I was born and raised in Lebanon, and I never left. Some people might see that as a failure, but I don’t. I see a life of connection.
Every job I’ve ever had, every place I’ve ever worked, has been about people. I made cakes because I wanted to be a part of their celebrations. I made jewelry because I wanted to create something meaningful for them. And now, with Perennial, I get to help people celebrate every single day. Whether they walk in needing a gift, an outfit, or just a moment of kindness, I want them to leave feeling lighter, like they found exactly what they needed – even if they didn’t know they needed it.
People tell me, “This is my happy place.” They come in just to be here, to soak in the music, the smiles, the warmth. And I think that’s God. That’s His presence. It’s bigger than me. I just get to be a part of it.
I didn’t go to college right out of high school. I went straight to work. I did office jobs, then started working at Head Start, and something in me said, Keep going. Keep building. So I took night classes – first at the fort, surrounded by military men and women who taught me what resilience looks like. Then at Drury, still working full-time, still raising my kids. And then, my master’s at SBU. I eventually taught kindergarten here in town at Esther.
I worked. I studied. I raised my family. I never had a season where I wasn’t juggling everything at once.
And somehow, through all of that, I still found time to create. I made cakes. I made jewelry. I worked with my hands because it made people happy. Because it made me happy.
Then Perennial came along. Laurie Bennett had started it, and she was looking for the right person to take it over. One day, while teaching summer school, I texted Brad and said, “What if it was me?” He didn’t even hesitate. “Buy it.”
So we did.
At first, I was just here after school and on weekends. My daughter, Abbi, ran the store. But as it grew, I knew I had to choose – teaching or this dream I never even realized I had.
And you know what pushed me to take the leap? Springfield.
A developer asked if I wanted to open a second store there, and I thought, Why not? So I tried it. We did it for a year, and I learned something important – I didn’t want to be split between two places. Lebanon was home. This town, these people, this community – they are my heart.
So I stayed.
I knew early on that if the Dryers building ever became available, I wanted it. I told Mr. Dryer for years, Let me know when you’re ready. And when the time came, I was.
And now, here I am. In a building where my grandmother once bought me shoes, in a downtown I walked through as a little girl, holding her hand.
Full circle.
But for me, this was never just about business. It’s about service.
There’s a reason people walk through these doors when they’re grieving. When they’ve lost a child and don’t know how to take the next step, when they need a black dress for a funeral and can barely say the words. They come here because they know I will take care of them. And I do. I just need them to know that someone sees them. That someone cares.
Because I do. More than anything.
People think retail is just selling things, but it’s not. It’s relationships. It’s knowing that someone’s mom just went into the hospital, that someone’s daughter just had a baby, that the woman who comes in every December lost her husband three years ago, and Christmas is still hard for her. It’s remembering the details. It’s making people feel like they matter.
And they do.
Downtown is where I belong. It’s where Perennial belongs. Downtown is the heartbeat of this town, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
I’m here almost every day, sometimes late into the night, but when you love what you do, when you feel like you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be, it doesn’t feel like work. It feels like home.
Michelle Boyer, Perennial Trends
