Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05
February 8, 2007 issue
Feather Your Nest—Casual Mountain Elegance Spreads Its Wings
Story by Sam Calhoun
Feather Your Nest—which Dennis Burgette opened in October 2006—is the High Country’s headquarters for the casual mountain lifestyle.
The concept makes sense. It’s only natural that in a region where nature is in the forefront of almost everyone’s mind, a store would open to serve the lifestyle of the mountain-loving resident.
And Burgette has done just that.
From floor to ceiling, Burgette’s store, located in the Winkler’s Creek Crossing shopping center, is filled with more than 100 styles of lamps, 60 styles of mirrors, artwork, pottery, mantel clocks, greenery and unique accessories you can’t find anywhere else, all reflecting one distinct style.
“It’s casual mountain elegance,” said Burgette. “We don’t try to be everything for everybody. Casual mountain elegance is appropriate for this area—for people who enjoy this lifestyle.”
Burgette selects every product in the store to fit his mountain lifestyle vision and travels to buying markets, such as the High Point Furniture Market and the Atlanta Gift and Accessories Market, four times each year—or every 90 days—to select new merchandise.
“I buy everything you need to furnish a home,” said Burgette. “It’s all practical, functional and decorative—the things that make your home livable.”
Yes, Feather Your Nest has everything—except furniture. The products appeal to customers looking for something unique, yet practical, that defines their lifestyle with good design.
“When you buy a new home, you have to have these practical things,” said Burgette. “But everything I carry is done with style and design.”
Every product in Feather Your Nest could be selected to go into a single house because all the merchandise works together. But the products aren’t just for one type of mountain home. Products in the store fit a broad style range of mountain homes, from rustic mountain log cabins to elegant lodge estates.
Burgette’s specific expertise isn’t a fluke—he has a long history in the home furnishings market.
Burgette spent 30 years in the furniture business, including work in both retail and manufacturing. He spent 20 years with Furniture Brands International, wand for 7 of those years was president and CEO of Broyhill Furniture Industries.
Burgette holds a degree from Indiana University in marketing, and did marketing work for both retail and manufacturing outlets, assisting in product development and conceptualization.
In 2005—seven years after moving to the High Country—Burgette decided to retire. His wife of 35 years, Wendy, had acquired a business in Blowing Rock five years earlier that was called Feather Your Nest and, around the time Burgette retired, she changed the name to Monkees and began selling ladies shoes and accessories.
Feeling the itch to get back to work, Burgette identified an unfulfilled niche and jumped on it. For years, people of the High Country had to travel to large metropolitan areas to find the merchandise offered in Burgette’s store and visit multiple stores to find just the right items to fit the theme of casual mountain elegance.
“What we’re offering here are products that in the past have not been readily available. No other store in the High Country does what we do,” said Burgette. “It fulfills a need here in the High Country. I could see there was a need for something like this. We have great retail outlets [in the High Country] but we still needed something like this.”
Living with Wendy in their Blowing Rock Adirondack-style home, helped Burgette formulate the theme for his store.
“It’s easy to conceptualize a store from a lifestyle you live yourself,” said Burgette.
So how does it feel to own a store in the same region as your wife?
“It’s fun,” said Burgette. “When the kids were growing up, we never could have done this.”
The Burgettes have three grown children—Matthew, 29, Jacob, 26, and Melissa, 24. Matthew graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design with a degree in film and video and now does sound production for movies in Los Angeles, Calif. Jacob earned a degree in natural resources from the University of the South, has gone back to school for historic restoration and is married to Laura, who is training to become a veterinarian. Melissa graduated from ASU with a degree in marketing, helps her mother at Monkees and is married to Marc, a REALTOR in the High Country.
Burgette runs the store with the help of one other employee, Aaron Daniel, and believes that the store has survived on two secrets to success—the customers always come first and always listen to the customer.
And it’s working. In the short time since the store opened, Burgette has gained a strong customer base. Interior designers and homeowners who own homes of all shapes and sizes frequent his store. One of his biggest compliments is that some local interior designers bring their customers to the store with them to select merchandise.
Burgette hopes that in the years to come, he’ll become so popular that he can expand—finding room for all the things that he wants to buy during his trips to the markets.
“We’ll see how it goes,” said Burgette. “I already wish the store was bigger than it is.”
Feather Your Nest is located at 246-F Wilson Drive at the Winkler’s Creek Crossing shopping center in Boone. The store is open from Monday to Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. For more information, call 828-262-0895.