Mix Design Store: MIXing it Up on the Guilford Green

by RONA MANN / Photos by Kerry Schutz Photography

The lyrics say it all: “Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match, find me a find….” Yes, that could very well be where M aggie Moffett, the owner of MIX in Guilford, got her inspiration.

“Some people have just five minutes when they come in, others have time to spare. Everyone has some kind of a budget. Some need a wedding gift, or a little hostess something or other, or just want to treat themselves or their grandchildren to a goodie t hat’s unique and fun. Whatever their reason for coming into MIX, we like to serve as matchmakers, helping them find exactly the right thing for the right occasion at the right price for them.”

The prior owners named this delightful place on the Guilford Green MIX Design Store, but Moffett admits, “That confuses people. We are not interior designers, we don’t sell paint or wallpaper. We sell fun!”

Yes indeed, MIX is a fun store, but they also have an inventory that comes with a great sense of purpose, common sense, and practicality as well. Moffett has scoured the major gift shows in the United States t o bring customers items they just won’t see anywhere else. Some are imported from Italy or France or Greece; much comes from right here in the USA, but all of it is finely crafted with an eye to design and a well placed nod to practicality.

When you visit MIX –and you should quite often, as Maggie keeps much of her inventory rotating with what customers clamor for and what’s new in the gift world – you will instantly be taken by the way each of the three rooms of goodies is designed.

You are literally able to stand in the doorway and view an entire colorful panorama of choices before you. But get out of that doorway! Don’t just stand there, see what’s at MIX today.

It may be photo mobiles hanging from the ceiling that you personalize with your own images, soaps and hand creams, wine glasses, socks, scarves, fantastic lightweight gel bangle bracelets, colorful beads, wallets, card holders, key chains, and bags of all kinds. Yes, at MIX you will find tote bags and hobo bags, clutches, wallets, and Italian flapover purses in every color and style.

Since taking over, Maggie has expanded the children’s section much to the delight of parents, grandparents, and the kiddos themselves by adding items you will never find in a toy store. There are Magna Mark placemats to color and write on, then wipe off for another day. What a great idea to bring along to keep little hands busy when traveling or out at a restaurant. There are books, fabric maracas for babies, educational toys.

How about the most unique and affordable piece of jewelry out there today? It’s a piano wire necklace or bracelet...stylish, lightweight, interchangeable, and just plain fun. Maybe you’re hankering for a novelty lamp made in Greece, magnetic bike lights and bells, or a beautifully crafted ceramic bowl or vase as a wedding, engagement, or hostess gift.

Got a man to gift and absolutely no idea of what would strike his fickle fancy? How about headphones, the world’s tiniest mini speakers, a poker chip set, trivia games, or let him wile away the hours he should be working with desktop bowling and croquet games.

Maggie Moffett says, “The number one item in the store, above everything else, is our line of Izipizi glasses.” This talented Parisian company has provided MIX with a wide variety of colorful and funky readers in every magnification. You can even put your own prescription in the frames, so you can wear and enjoy them all the time. Sunglasses? MIX has Izipizis to provide the most stylish shades on the beach or on the avenue.

“Our products speak for themselves,” Moffett offers, holding up a rechargeable reading light, “so practical on an airplane, or when you want to read without disturbing your partner’s sleep.”

No matter the size of your purchase, Maggie is quick to inquire, “May I wrap it for you,?” bringing back yet another lost art in the old school kind of service so very much appreciated.

This energetic powerhouse of a woman who makes the act of balancing business, family, getting kids to the bus, and giving back to her community look easy, was Connecticut born and raised. Originally from Stony Creek, she grew up in a family that was politically involved. After her father was unsuccessful in one of his races, they moved to Washington, D.C., and it was here that Maggie met and married her husband. While he is involved in commercial real estate, Moffett amassed a background in both political and non-profit consulting, but nothing in her “past life” could prepare her for the joy she would feel when the then three owners of MIX decided to sell the business, and chose Maggie to be their successor.

In 2018 when she bought MIX, Moffett wrote on Facebook, “I am so excited and so incredibly grateful to be taking the reigns of this beautiful shop and legacy and cannot give enough credit where credit is due to the three founders that have made this chapter – with many more to come – possible and worthwhile.”

The three women who had made MIX into the must-stop shop in Guilford it remains today are Jennifer Cowie, Betsy Gribble, and Wendy Walden. They wanted their successor to this toy store for grownups t o share their vision and love being in busin ess on the Guilford Green as much as they did. They found that M aggie Moffett was that special individual and continues to embrace their legacy while adding many t ouches of her own creativity, whimsy, and personal design.

Moffett used her own experience as a former and frequent MIX customer, coupled with her love of the people and businesses that make up the Guilford community, to add this as well to her Facebook post: “Over the years, I’ve had some of the best interactions in MIX, (both) with the three pioneers, as well as with the community that MIX fosters – neighbors, friends, warm strangers – while making the most thoughtful purchases that leave me not only smiling, but always returning with energy, excitement, and hope.”

We asked Moffett, the now keeper of the keys, tradition, and legacy of all that is MIX, if there were anything else she wanted to say in this editorial piece. Without missing a beat she quickly added, “I love Guilford, it’s a great place to raise kids. I’m active in the schools, in the Women and Family Life

Center, and in the heartbeat and pulse of this area. This community enriches us, the merchants so supportive of one another, so I look at this business as a way to give back for all we’ve been given. When you don’t have roots, you make your own, and this is most definitely the place to do it.”

Stop in, meet Maggie the Matchmaker, and see what’s in the MIX at 29 Whitfield Street, right on the Guilford town green.www.mixdesignstore.com

(203) 453-0202