Right Frame of Mind’s retail store will be closing by the end of July. Sherry Brayton, owner of the business, said she will maintain her framing business by appointment and maintain space for her business with the new business that is taking over the space this fall.
Brayton said that she had read a magazine article years ago about owning a framing shop.
“At the time, Bill was an electric line man, and so he was routinely away during the week and only home during the weekends,” Brayton said. “It was a business I couldn’t do with our young children at the time, but it was always in the back of my mind.”
Brayton said she saw a few spaces in uptown that would have worked to house the business over the years, but at the time she was enjoying her flexible schedule job with Benjamin Franklin Crafts. When her kids were school age and needed her attention less, a co-worker broached the subject of opening a business in uptown.
Brayton, Mary Noeller and Ann Kern opened Right Frame of Mind roughly 32 years ago. The business has had three different locations in uptown Mount Vernon – the first in the space now occupied by Lee’s Town and Country Realty, the second in the current Plantiful Pantry location and now in it’s current location.
The biggest satisfaction in the job came from the wow factor when she’d look at a completed framing project which was even better when the customer appeared to feel the same way.
“What I have enjoyed the most is just the customers I’ve had for my business over the years,” Brayton said. “Watching uptown Mount Vernon and how it has changed has been a lot of fun.” That change has been visually, as some of those 1970s facades have been removed and the historic downtown was restored or the businesses opening in uptown.
Brayton also remembers her time serving on the Chamber of Commerce board and helping with some of the early activities in the uptown.
“Back then, it was just a handful of people who were doing those activities, including employees at other uptown businesses,” Brayton said.
Brayton said she’s looking at retiring now from the retail portion of the business and stepping her hours down.
“It’s something I’ve been saying I’ve wanted to do for the past decade, and even when Bill retired five years ago,” Brayton said. “We just finished the renovations to the apartment above our business, which was one of the last things I wanted to see accomplished.”
She said she wants to spend more time traveling, especially to visit grandchildren in Massachusetts area.
“I have a bucket list of things I want to accomplish,” Brayton said.
She has been operating Right Frame of Mind on her own since the 1999/2000 area.
“It’s been fun to be a business owner in uptown Mount Vernon,” Brayton said. “I recall in the early 1990s, the falls in uptown Mount Vernon, it was like every weekend was a Fourth of July holiday with swarms of people in the uptown. That was a fun experience. It’s been very fun to watch this community grow.”
That, and the interactions she has had with many other business owners in the uptown has been things she is going to miss.
Brayton said she loves seeing the uptown full and flourishing and is excited about the business that will be taking over the majority of the retail space this fall.
“That was my biggest fear, that the business would sit empty when I was stepping down, and I’m thankful that isn’t the case,” Brayton said. “They’ve been getting ready sooner than I was anticipating at times.”
Items in the retail portion of the store are selling at reduced prices now through the end of July.
Brayton has valued the friendships she’s made over the years and appreciates the love and support she’s received along the way.
“I can’t think of a better community to have done this in,” Brayton said.