'A Cat and the Fiddle a Fair': Unique Shops Draw in Customers Aplenty

One long weekend a month, big red flags billow outside of the charming house on the edge of downtown Rosemount, beckoning passersby to stop in and explore another unique collection of antique treasures and assorted vintage finds at A Cat and the Fiddle a Fair.

Heading into their fourth year of business, A Cat and the Fiddle a Fair has been doing very well in the midst of a challenging economy and the late 2000’s recession, according to Cathy Snyder, A Cat and the Fiddle a Fair owner. 

“We are an economy business,” said Snyder. “Everything we have is recycled, repurposed or up-cycled. People want to decorate their homes without killing their budget. A young couple can furnish their own house for under $1,000.” 

A Cat and the Fiddle a Fair boasts 11,000 square feet of an extensive collection of unique merchandise. “We sell everything from furniture, wall décor, jewelry – it all depends on what you’re looking for,” said Snyder. “We are an antique store, a gift shop, and a furniture shop, all thrown into one.”

Becky Schuster and Judie Juhl, two vendors who help run the store, said they just started in January. They are looking forward to experiencing the busy holiday season for the first time with A Cat and the Fiddle a Fair, when there will be more items on display and the shop will be open for more days.

“With more people doing staycations, they’re going to be doing a lot more home-decorating – and this is the place to find unique things,” said Schuster. “We have All-American made products here. We were ‘green’ before ‘green’ was fashionable. There’s something you can do with anything – the majority is recycled, repurposed. We paint them, update them and make them functional.” 

Schuster described some items found in the store, including a stove pipe that was turned into a unique frame for a mirror, and a table from an old science lab at the University of Minnesota that was turned into a kitchen table.

“It would have been lost,” she said.

In 2008, the shops began with just five vendors. Now a co-op of 24, they grew exponentially as more vendors discovered them, adding colorful, artistic contributions to the shops’ pleasant atmosphere.

“Everyone here has their own creativity and own unique talent. You bring one rusty piece in, and five or six people come up with ideas [for it] – we play off each other, and give each other ideas to make things better," Schuster said. “We all make each other better. We have talented ladies here.”

Snyder added, “We take pride in what we do. We take something that nobody wants – and we make it into something that everyone fights over.”

They also go out of their way, enthusiastically scouring everywhere for those one-of-a-kind finds.

“We are not afraid to be dumpster divers,” Schuster said with a smile. “We knock on doors…we are real-life pickers. We were them, before they were them.”

“Everybody [among the vendors] goes looking for everything,” agreed Snyder. “Sometimes, we go together. It’s a lot of fun.”

Occasional sales is a format that has been popular and working very well for A Cat and the Fiddle a Fair’s customers and vendors alike. With open store hours offered just four days per month, shoppers often plan ahead for the sales and can make a weekend of it.

“You never see the same thing twice, and people get excited seeing new things,” said Snyder. “It’s either [you] buy it now, or miss out. It may not be here a month, or six months, or a year from now. Generally, when you go to a furniture store, you see the same thing.”

In addition, most of the merchandise changes every month – as do some of the wall colors – and items get replaced with something different each day so that the displays are always full, she said, although “people like to save for the furniture, so that tends to stay longer.”

Word of mouth is their best advertising, Snyder said, and A Cat and the Fiddle a Fair appeals to customers as eclectic as its own collection of displays.

“[Our customer demographic] runs the gamut from teens to middle-aged folks to older people who like the nostalgia to newlyweds. We don’t have that normal demographic [that] an antique store would have,” said Snyder. “We also have a lot of dog visitors here – we love it when they come.”

A Cat and the Fiddle a Fair is usually open just four days a month, from Thursday through Saturday. The shops welcomed customers on Sept. 8 through Sept. 11, and will hold an extra fair this Thursday, Sept. 22 to Sunday, Sept. 25. Wine tastings are provided this Thursday evening from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.