The Trellis offers eclectic home decor

For some reason, I always think to stop in at The Trellis Marketplace , in Spokane Valley, on beautiful sunny days.

I’m sure the furniture/garden/kitchen/home decor shop is lovely even when the weather’s bad, but every time I go in there the sun gives the store a nice glow and I get to feeling all zen. Is it weird that looking at pretty pillows and kitchen whisks puts me in a happy place?

The Trellis is one of those shops where the way the products are displayed is as enticing as the goods themselves. You can’t help but walk away thinking of new ways to stack bars of soap or hang garden tools on the wall.

The Trellis is owned by five women, each specializing in a different genre of home decor, such as kitchen, garden, Tuscan inspired and primitive country. The partners each work one day a week in the shop, then spend their off days collecting and ordering goods to sell. Some of the merchandise is new, and some of it has been salvaged and either polished up or repurposed for a new life.

Because the owners are the only ones manning the store, they’re able to keep prices reasonable, says partner Sonia Combs. She credits that for the shop’s growth in spite of the economic recession.

“People still know they can come in here and find something special without it being outrageously priced,” Combs says.

The shop is also unique in that the total profits from the sales aren’t pooled together and divided among the women. Each owner earns money when items from her “department” sells, similar to how an antique mall operates.

One would think that the Trellis’ off-the-beaten-path location would hurt its sales, but Combs says it’s actually a plus.

“People said, ‘With this location, you’ll never make it,’” she says, “but it’s a destination spot.”

For the first time, The Trellis will hold a summer clearance sale on July 18. The store’s contents will spill over into an adjoining lot, and Combs says they hope to bring other vendors on board for the event, perhaps including nearby farmers and craftspeople.

She says the partners hope that by next summer, the clearance sale will grow and become a community affair for the surrounding Ponderosa neighborhoods with a similar feel of last month’s Latah Creek Variety Market on the southwest side of Spokane.

The Trellis Marketplace, at 4102 S. Bowdish, is open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (509) 928-6158.

For a slideshow of photos I took today at The Trellis, click here .