Sandi’s Creative Corner, a small crafts store in the strip outlet on East Main Street was officially honored by the Ravenna Area Chamber of Commerce by holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony last Wednesday afternoon.
“I love meeting people and love having them come and enjoy the shop,” owner Sandi Randulic told The Weekly Villager. “There are a lot of different people that come here and enjoy the shop.”
The crafts store opened its doors last September but was just recently welcomed to the neighborhood by the Ravenna Area Chamber of Commerce after finally installing a sign on the front of the building. According to Randulic, although the sign was just mounted a week-and-a-half ago, foot traffic has significantly increased.
A craftswoman herself since she was a child, Randulic created the business to recognize local artisan vendors. Randulic has supplied crocheted crowns, scarves, hats, gloves and even water balloons.
In addition to supplying her own handiwork, Randulic has already reached deals with 21 artisan vendors, and has a wide range of products that are available including honey from a vendor in Mantua, wood carvings, chippings and leatherwork that is the handiwork of an Aurora craftswoman. According to Randulic, about 60% of the inventory is courtesy of artisan vendors from Portage County.
“It is a nice little gift shop where you can actually get a variety of different handmade items which is amazing,” Ravenna Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Ryann Cline said. “It is not something that you can get from a big box store. This is something that is unique and there is something that is new.”
The remaining products are from artisans from neighboring communities including Chardon and Stow.
“My focus here — and I have told the artists this — is that I want them to succeed,” she noted. “If they succeed the shop succeeds. I work to try and promote them, so the majority of the work out there is their work, not mine.”
In addition to promoting the work of artisan vendors, Randulic said that the store also hosts weekly classes to teach craftsmanship such as jewelry design, wreath making and repurposing items.
“There are people that have come that want to learn more about that craft to be able to make it themselves on a regular basis or they just want to dabble; they just want to come in and have fun,” Randulic noted.
Although the store has been open for less than a year, Randulic said that the inventory has already grown tremendously as she has added three rows of new product and is also in contact with several other artisan vendors to get their products in the store.
For Randulic, being proficient at handiwork is something that runs in her blood, hailing from a family that has thrived on cutting their own wood, picking their own fruit, and managing their own farm while living in the Kent area.
Randulic’s craftsmanship came in handy when her unit in the Ohio National Guard was mobilized and deployed to Iraq in 2003. While stationed overseas, Randulic stayed busy by sewing old patches onto new uniforms for her fellow soldiers.
“At one point, one of our soldier’s wife was pregnant. I asked my Mom, for some new material and I made a baby quilt for him while I was there, so he had that,” she added.
Randulic spent over 30 years working at Kent State University in the administrative department, rising all the way to Assistant Dean of Advising for the College of Arts. Once her husband returned home from his tour of duty in 2012, they moved to Ravenna in search of an area that was more rural.
“We lived in a neighborhood where the houses were pretty close together and he said I need some space so we bought some property here in Ravenna Township where he is able to go walk in the woods and fish in our pond and things like that,” she said.
After she and her husband moved to Ravenna, she continued working at Kent State before retiring in 2022 and then spent a year working for the Portage County Family & Job Services Department.
Rather than just kick back and enjoy retirement, Randulic caught a second wind and decided to create her own small business. She had previously submitted her handiwork to some local stores in the Portage County area but was keen on taking the next step and so far, the store is very popular.
