Texas Retailer Puts Focus on Community Makers

Shawn Risinger, owner of Eagle Hardware Farm and Ranch in Royse City, Texas, has always been focused on serving and educating customers through unique events.

That focus was the inspiration for the store’s Shop the Barn event, a craft fair hosted in a barn space in the store’s parking lot. Over the last two years, Risinger’s daughter, store manager Bethany Guevara, has given the event a new focus: local, handmade goods.

“When I took over the event, I wanted to identify what the important parts were and really focus on what the community wanted to see,” Guevara says.

“My role here at the store is focused on bringing in families and having fun things for them to do, which is where the Shop the Barn event comes in.”

Guevara organizes the event twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall. She focuses on bringing in local makers, everyone from bakers and florists to people who create home decor items, baby clothes and more. Although there is revenue tied to the event, Guevara says that’s not the primary goal.

“The best part is that it’s all local families who are selling and buying,” she says. “We try hard to make the Shop the Barn event about the community we serve.”