New Stores!

Fontaine, a new design firm and home furnishing studio is opening on Saturday, September 22. I’m eagerly awaiting what this store will look like as the concept sounds interesting. According to the press release, the store will carry home décor accessories, like vintage Christmas ornaments up to a new chandelier. Ooh la la! The store will also do fresh floral arrangements. The store’s owner Barry Avery says the store was named after his maternal grandmother, Ione Fontaine Wiltgen.

Speaking of stores named after a grandmother (what a weird coincidence!), Dottie Rose, a vintage furniture and clothing store, is also named after owner Melissa Ernst’s grandmother(s). Ernst, a whippersnapper at nineteen years old, is a Middleton resident and opened the store recently.

Just down the street from previously mentioned Fontaine is Forza Gallery, a gallery dedicated to “servicing the needs of the local creative talent.” Forza was opened in early September by FoRCE, or the Foundation of Retaining Creative Energy. This local arts group puts on fun events like Arts Crawls, which happen the first Friday of each month.
Artists interested in displaying work at Forza need to go through an application process; twelve artists will be chosen every year by the FoRCE’s board of directors.

Say ‘bonjour’ to L’Occitane en Provence, opened September 20 at Hilldale Shopping Center. This upscale French bath and body brand has an air of luxury with its elegant store layouts and beautiful orange and brown packaging (it doesn’t sound pretty but it is ☺). Scents will remind shoppers of European countries, like a lavender face moisturizer and olive scented face scrub.

Fontaine, 811 E. Johnson St. 310-8004.
Dottie Rose, 1835 Parmenter St., Middleton. 831-9099.
Forza Gallery, 825 E. Johnson St. madisonforce.org
L’Occitane, 638 N. Midvale Blvd. 233-1646.loccitane.com