CENTERBURG – Katie Hux didn’t want to stop working after she retired from the Knox County Parks District.
Hux wanted to start her own business — a business that stems from her childhood and surroundings of growing up on a dairy farm. It’s a store she believes was missing in her village.
Thus More Space at Your Place was born, a self-titled flip, ship and shop store at 28 E. Main St. in Centerburg.
The shop is filled with goods such as clothing, snacks and home decor items. The flip and ship is based on Hux’s eBay store page, where she’ll sell customer’s items for a commission.
While setting up shop before her opening date March 2, Hux points to a room, noting it’s going to be parks and recreation theme.
“I want to focus my business around the Heart of Ohio Trail,” Hux said. “So I suggested that our vendors focus on those types of individuals, recreation cyclists, geo catchers.
“These people come into our area and why not accommodate them when they’re here? So I feel like if I’m a shop that offers a lot of variety, then people will stop.”
Along with shirts and candles, More Space will also have snacks, with Hux partnering with Mount Vernon’s Almost Famous Sweet and Soda Shop, and much more.
Flip and Ship
For the eBay side of the business, Hux plans on meeting with clients, listing their items on her eBay page and packaging them away to their new home.
“I’ll research the current market value online and then tell them what that is and if they’re OK with what it’s going for then we go from there,” Hux said.
“I help people downsize their home,” she said. “Let’s say they have a collection of things that if they put it in an auction or a garage sale it might not bring anything in and they know it has value. If they come in here we’ll evaluate it and see what the current market price is.
“Then from there, if they’re happy with the price, then I’m going to try and sell it for them.”
Hux has been a seller on eBay since 2000, selling over $4,800 worth of knick knacks to people across the globe.
“I sold something in Australia and it was something that she (customer) had looked for several years and just could never find it,” Hux said. “It wasn’t available to them there and she saw it and she paid a pretty good price for it.”
The item was a Christmas-themed wood carving made by artist Jim Shore. It sold for $300.
“This has been a dream of mine to open up a store and do eBay on a full-time basis,” Hux said. “I have that opportunity so I need to take it and I have a passion for the parks and the multi-use trails, the Heart of Ohio Trail.”
