The Making of Vintage Apothecary

Plants and healing have always been my passion. I spent much of my youth collecting and growing plants, studying them and preparing healing teas for people I love. As a child - my grandmother would take me on walks around her Kansas garden and point out the healing properties of the plants she cultivated. My father taught me to garden, he took me on hikes in the Connecticut forest, collecting mushrooms for dinner and discussing trees and plants. Our neighbors made Birch beer from Birch collected behind our home. As children, we built forts out of branches and vines and chewed on birch twigs, made tea of Sassafrass and sucked on Honeysuckle flowers.

I went on to get a degree in Horticulture from the University of Connecticut. I moved to Montana with a fellow plant lover and we spent every weekend hiking in the Beartooths and Pryors and learning about every plant we could find!

I had a successful career in Senior Healthcare Marketing in Montana, while building a small antique business (another of my passions). During that time, I developed a deep respect for customer service and the art of helping people.

In October, 2015, I began to feel an intense need to find my purpose in life, to move away from the corporate world, to connecting with people and to pursuing my passion. After several sessions with an amazing Psychic and Spiritual Counselor (I highly recommend her!), I started dreaming about an herb shop in downtown Billings, Montana. Once I asked the Universe for what I wanted, opportunities flooded to my door!

I worked hard, but I had so much help! I had a wonderful friend group that supported me with everything from a shoulder to cry on, to painting the shop, to writing beautiful blessings on my floor along with the best advice I could ask for! I have a life partner that typed labels and filled jars and held my hand when I was scared of the future. I had a business counselor from the Small Business Development Center that helped get my financials ready so I could procure a Bank Loan. I was flooded with help from the Billings Downtown Business Association who helped me get a grant to upgrade the store flooring, lighting and signage.

Just over one year from that first Psychic appointment, I opened my store on November 8, 2016.

Vintage Apothecary is a comprehensive wellness shopping experience - nourishing the mind, body and soul. I expanded my model of an Herb Shop to include other things that I know and love - antiques and fragrances, essential oils, all natural products like goats milk soaps, skin care products, all natural candles, and of course, over 150 dried herbs for teas and other uses (tinctures, skin balms, bathing).

I have two practitioner spaces for Reiki and Reflexology, herbal consulting and other healing arts - and of course Psychic and Spiritual readings. My goal with these practitioner rooms is to give people a chance to use their talents who are just getting started - people that can't afford to rent a store! What a wonderful way to be able to help other healers provide their service to Billings!

The waiting room soon became an Art Gallery featuring Rebecca Douglas Photography - and Vintage Apothecary was born! A shopping experience that feeds the body, mind and spirit. I even have a healing library that people are free to explore and a piano that people come in a play. Beautiful original oil paintings by Danielle Egnew hang in the main part of the shop.

I focus on all natural, sustainable harvested, and locally made products. This includes honey from Columbus MT, soaps from Worden, MT, Myrtle Leaf Skin Care made right here in Billings, art from local artists on the walls and Montana sourced vintage items.

I love my location in Downtown Billings, MT. Vintage Apothecary is an immersive shopping experience that is in tandem with the ambience of downtown Billings. Our Downtown is a strolling experience and shoppers rely on the consistent charm of a small town that it embodies. I wanted to be part of the downtown community, to appeal to foot traffic, to be located in a vintage building, on a vintage street. My shop is about building relationships - with other business owners as well as clients. Vintage Apothecary is located at 2818 3rd Avenue North in an expanding neighborhood of wellness-based businesses that include Limber Tree Yoga and Barjon’s Books as well as the offices of counselors and healers. Come in and experience a relaxing shopping experience - a place where people like to gather.