PEORIA MAGAZINE April 2022

Kris Hasten with daughters Lauren Joop and Katelyn Arnold outside their store on Washington’s Square.

she said. Changes included adding specialty lines such as Vera Bradley, a luggage and handbag design company, Alex and Ani jewelry, home décor and a spiritual section featuring gifts for baptisms, confirmations and other religious ceremonies. “That really changed our customer demographic, bringing in people that had never been here before,” Hasten noted. Hasten’s daughters began working at the store during high school and college, and both still work there. Her husband, Tim, retired and took over payroll and bookkeeping. When COVID-19 hit, Hasten said she had a “come to Jesus” meeting with her daughters. “I told themI couldwalk away and be done. Have a big sale and be done. It was up to the girls.” “We didn’t believe her for one second,” Arnold said. “She is like the Energizer Bunny,” Joop added. Her daughters set up a website and expanded the store’s social media reach. “They took it to a whole new level,” Hasten said. Meanwhile, “the relationship my daughters have is like the one I have with my sister,” her “best friend” who continues to help out, when needed.

THEIR SUCCESS IS THE RESULT OF HARD WORK, CLOSE FAMILY TIES AND A COMMITMENT TO COMMUNITY.

Hasten also is a leader among the specialty shop owners on the Square, who are working collaboratively to make it a regional destination. That effort got a big boost recently with the announcement that Ottawa based Tangled Roots will soon be breaking ground on a new brewery and restaurant there. Withher daughters onboard andother community activities to keep her busy – she served on the board of FivePoints Washington and volunteers with the Washington Food Pantry garden and her church –Hasten is pulling back from the store somewhat. Still, it remains “my happy place,” she said. Indeed, the store is much more than a job for family members, who shared some of their favorite memories. Katelyn Arnold recalledwatching the Beanie Baby craze through a kid’s eyes. “We were one of the retailers that had them. People would track the trucks and camp outside our stores,” she said. “It was a thrill to have something the masses wanted. It was a wild time.” Lauren Joop always loved the annual candlelight stroll around the Square at

Christmastime. “My grandfather started the tradition in 1984,” she recalled. “It was like a Hallmark movie. The whole town was here.” The annual event continues and now the daughters take their own children on the carriage rides. Shelly remembers going to market with Kris, the lake house the two families shared, the six kids the sisters had between them all growing up together. “There are too many memories to count.” And now Hasten is eying a potential fourth generation for the family business. “We got a shipment in and my granddaughters, ages 5 and 3, began unpacking it and lining items up,” she said. “They could not read the labels so they went by the colors. They love to play store and pile items on the counter.” From sisters to sisters to sisters, it has been a long and sentimental journey, indeed.

Sally McKee is a journalist and former managing editor of the Journal Star.

APRIL 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE 23