You’ll want to catch this bus — a vintage mobile boutique comes to Beaufort County in April

If you see a white 1985 Chevrolet mini bus with dark wood paneling on the side and a gray farm door driving around Beaufort County this spring, don’t worry; it’s not a replacement for one of the aging Beaufort County school buses.

Local jewelry company circa1910 will debut as a mobile boutique, according to owner Kayla Derrick of Beaufort. The grand opening for the board-and-shop bus will be from noon to 5 p.m. April 2 at 913 Boundary St. in Beaufort and will feature giveaways, contests, finger foods, drinks and music.

Derrick launched circa1910 in 2013 as a wholesale provider for retail stores around the country. She said it wasn’t until last year that she started attending local festivals and fell in love with talking to customers in person, so much so that she and her fiance chose to restore a bus as a drive-around shop.

“With the mobile store, we can kind of pick and choose days we’re open,” she said. “And have days off for making jewelry.”

While Airstream trailers and pull-behind campers have been used around Beaufort County to sell artisan crafts and other local products, Derrick said her bus is the first mobile boutique in the area that customers will be able to board and browse the products. She and her fiance both enjoy restoring old vehicles, she said, and thought making a one-of-a-kind mobile boutique would be a different and convenient way for people to shop.

“It doesn’t look anything like a bus, and that was kind of my goal,” she said. “So people are blown away when they come inside.”

A brick-and-mortar store might be a future venture for Derrick, she said, but for now, circa1910’s bus will make stops in Beaufort, Bluffton and on Hilton Head Island before branching out to neighboring cities such as Savannah and Charleston. She’s had requests from customers to visit states as far as Texas, she said.

“I don’t know about that, but hopefully one day we’ll go all the way around the Southeast,” she said.

Products for sale on the bus will include Derrick’s handcrafted jewelry made from reclaimed vintage materials, local artwork, handmade macrame, custom signs and other knick-knacks. Prices for paintings range from $4 to $150 and jewelry is anywhere from $20 to $120 depending on what vintage elements were used, Derrick said.

The decor of the bus reflects the style of her merchandise, she said. Hardwood floors, built in cabinets, concrete-style counter tops and reinvented vintage furniture pieces as displays are just some of the elements found in the circa1910 boutique, according to a news release. About 70 percent of the bus was created with materials that were once considered trash, including parts of a driftwood tree that came ashore during Hurricane Matthew and antique porch posts from a home in Beaufort built in the 1870s.

“I’m sure people thought I was crazy whenever I first bought (the bus),” she said. “The displays on the inside, a lot of them are repurposed. That’s kind of how the jewelry is, too.”

Though the mobile boutique will be able to stop and set up shop practically anywhere, Derrick said she wants to focus on the community aspect of her store. She said she hopes to partner with local coffee shops and hair salons in solidarity with small businesses, while also giving back with opportunities for charitable discounts, such as offering jewelry-making kits for purchase to be sent to a children’s hospital in Hershey, Pa.

“We have a loyal following — a real big local following — (which is) really good for us because we can partner with other local businesses as well ... build up our market with locals, not just tourists,” she said.

This story was originally published March 7, 2017 at 8:20 AM with the headline "You’ll want to catch this bus — a vintage mobile boutique comes to Beaufort County in April."