Anyone driving down Galvin Road in Bellevue may notice a unique shop with a large glass window sporting colorfully painted letters that say “Artisan Commons.”
Artisan Commons store manager Charity Rotolo described the store as an eclectic retail shop that focuses a lot on restoration.
The store contains many furniture pieces, as well as art that includes ceramic flowers and unique jewelry.
“We do different craft projects,” Rotolo said. “And then we have some really cool vintage items.”
They operate solely off of donations. The shop typically gets furniture pieces that are damaged or broken, and they repair them to as close to their original state as possible.
Workers also come in and create their own pieces of art, ranging from paintings to furniture that are one of a kind.
Artisan Commons works under Duet, which is a developmental disability service provider local to Nebraska.
Duet’s mission is to uplift and support people to have full lives where they can continuously learn.
Artisan Commons helps to ensure this mission. Their workers are people who are supported by Duet.
Rotolo said Artisan Commons provides job skill support for those with disabilities.
“They learn how to cashier, and they learn how to use customer service skills, like how to greet someone, things to say, what not to say, that kind of stuff,” Rotolo said.
All of the earnings that the shop makes goes back into the Duet foundation. Most of it goes to their workers, which includes those at Artisan Commons.
The shop opened in 2020.
“We wanted to do something that would offer something not only to the community, but the people we support. And we wanted to do it in a different type of way,” Rotolo said.
Opening during the height of the coronavirus pandemic hindered the company’s ability to have people working, as it wasn’t safe for them.
But that didn’t stop Artisan Commons, and now they’re prospering.
“Once we got through that, it just kind of expanded from there,” Rotolo said.
