Special Features / April 2008

Stepping Forward in Faith - Her Dream Came True

Mary Zigmond

January 19, 2008 will always be remembered by Mary Zigmond as her eight year old daughter, Amelya, pointed out to her “Look Mommy, your dream came true!”

            Mary had always dreamed of going to college and having her own shop and today she is the proud new owner of the C-Gallery in Hurricane, WV.  
           
            Using her bachelor degree in marketing from West Virginia University and her thirteen years of experience as a manufacturing sales representative for collectibles, Christmas items, home décor, and flowers, she has the background and the experience to make her shop very successful.   “I really liked my job as a sales representative and while my daughter was young I didn’t mind all the traveling.   My service area was all of West Virginia and parts of Virginia.  I was on the road three months out of the year.   But as my daughter got older, I didn’t want to be away from her, so I gave up my traveling sales position and became a realtor for Old Colony Realtors,” she explained.  “I love being a real estate agent with Old Colony Realtors,” she added.

            “I still enjoyed going to galleries and different types of markets.  Last year, my mom and I went to the Columbus, Ohio market’s sample sale.  While I was there, someone told me that they thought that the C-Gallery in Hurricane, WV was going to go out of business.   I remember telling my mom in the car on the way back home what I had heard.   I told her that before the C-Gallery closed that I really wanted to take her there,” she continued.

            “There was dead silence in the car.  Then my mom said that I needed to call about owning the gallery.  I dismissed her suggestion, but like all moms, she was quite persistent.   She would ask me day after day if I had called about the shop yet.  Then one day I took my mom to the shop.   She fell in love with the shop. I fell in love with the shop.  I casually left my name and telephone number at the shop and told them if they were ever interested in selling the store to give me a call.   They called that night!  Within approximately five weeks, the papers were all signed and my mom and I became business partners,” she added.

            The excitement in her voice showed when she talked about all the things she wants to do with the shop, but the most important thing that she mentioned was the she wanted each and every one of her customers to be greeted by a friendly face and the expectation that they would be treated royally.  “I want a place where you can really enjoy eating really good food -- a place where you can come and relax either with your girlfriends or your husband.  Then after eating, you can casually stroll through the store and do some shopping or pick up a beautiful gift.  I want the feeling of ‘service’ to be apparent in everything that we do at the shop,” she gleamed.

            The C-Gallery is open for lunch now, but Mary’s future plans are to be open for dinner also.  Mary will continue to make available new and unique items to the Teays Valley area. She will be decorating and catering for graduations, Mother’s Day, weddings, and birthdays.  Mary said that just within the last two months, she had birthday parties for age 4 up to age 80 people.  She will also continue to do decorating for both residential and commercial clients.   

            According to Mary, the business is a family affair with her mother as her silent partner, her husband as her helper and her daughter who is helping clean tables for $2 hour.  Mary is proud to be able to have her daughter see and believe that ‘dreams can really come true’.   Mary is a member of the Mt. Vernon Baptist Church and is the Director of the Children’s Department there.  “I believe and I know who really made this possible and I give thanks to God’s abundance every day.”

Mary Zigmond is the owner of the C-Gallery located at 3554 Teays Valley Road, Hurricane, WV  25526.  Telephone:  304 562 7686

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