Health care business owner ventures into retail

A home health care industry veteran is expanding her professional interests into the retail world.

Susan Haralson, co-founder and co-owner of Premier Home Health Care Inc., opened Endless Treasures Gifts and Collectibles today at 1309 E. Republic Road, Ste. A. Haralson co-owns the shop with her husband, Shannon, via Endless Treasures LLC.

Haralson said she has no intention of leaving Premier Home Health Care but wanted to take advantage of her husband’s 20-plus years of picking collectibles. He’s sold items on eBay for years, but she saw this as a business opportunity for them to collaborate.

“I just wanted some kind of a fun place,” she said, noting the stresses of working in health care. “I needed something to lift me up and make people smile. I thought this would.”

Startup costs for Endless Treasures were around $25,000, Haralson said. The couple is on a five-year lease for an undisclosed rate with building owner Gary Elmer.

Products at the store include antiques, home decor, furniture, jewelry, candles, toys, clothing and food items, such as jams and jellies from Ozark-based Heather Hill Farms LLC. Haralson said her husband’s comic books and album collection, which includes roughly 300 Elvis Presley records, also are part of the inventory.

While some furniture is priced up to $800, most shop items generally are $10-$30, she said.

The two-employee shop fills about 1,500 square feet of a 3,300-square-foot space near Galloway Station Bar & Grill, Haralson said. Premier Home Health Care will occupy the remainder, she said, noting the business will move in January from its current space at 4145 S. McCann Court. The company offers a range of home health services, such as nursing, housekeeping and laundry, meal preparation and dietary assistance, live-in companions and personal care, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.

Haralson originally planned to open a coffee shop rather than a gift store in the building, but plumbing and sewer systems would need to be set up in the space to make it operational, she said.

“We were going to have to spend thousands and thousands of dollars just to get it to where we’d need it to start,” she said. “We just thought with COVID going on, it might not be a good idea at this point.”