SHOPPING: SILVER BARN

Silver Barn

CYNTHIA SUTTON-STOLLE TELLS STORY OF LOVE, ADVENTURE AND FINDING HER HOME

PHOTOGRAPHY BY LORI OLIVAREZ-LIGUES

It’s been many years since I first strolled into Silver Barn in Columbus. I was hooked from the first walk through the door. Cynthia Sutton-Stolle has always had an eye for selecting pieces that would turn out to be exactly what I was looking for … even if I didn’t know what exactly that was myself. Although the iconic Silver Barn now calls a new storefront home, the experience remains unchanged. I always leave with something very special in hand and a smile across my face. “We’ll be here 15 years in March,” Cynthia shared. “Originally, we were in the EhrenwerthRamsey-Untermeyer building and that was a great place to start. We started small and slowly expanded.” Cynthia found Columbus when she reconnected with a man from her college days. The conversations were easy but the distance between them was difficult. This local chap would soon convince her to make a move to country living. “I’m originally from Texas,” Cynthia shared. “We both went to Texas Lutheran. He was older and had long hair … I thought he was an obnoxious fraternity boy. We had a few English classes together and he would critique my writing all the time. We were both English majors but he was more English. My goal was to be a White House correspondent and he wanted to be a teacher. We sort of didn’t mesh.

“Fast forward years later and, while I was driving my daughter to college in Texas, I passed through Columbus and thought, ‘Hey, I used to know a guy that was here.’ We had a class reunion coming up and I decided to write to him and see how he was doing. At the time, I was traveling all over the country doing morning talk shows and things of that nature.”

Left, Cynthia Sutton-Stolle welcomes you to Silver Barn at 521 Walnut Street in downtown Columbus.

You’re going to find things “ that you won’t find anywhere else in town.

As fate would have it, Cynthia and her husband-to-be would find that it was easy to pick up just where they left off all those years prior.

“So, I came down and met Bill and it was different,” Cynthia said. “It was kind of nice. I don’t know how else to describe it. It was like putting a hand in a glove. We just matched. We started seeing each other and I came down whenever I could and, whenever he could, he came to see me in Chicago. We were married on March 27, 2004 and I moved to a country life here in Columbus.”

What followed was all a matter of the right pieces falling together at the right time.

“I’d been in retail and television all my life,” Cynthia added. “I’d always been on the marketing side, not the buying side. But when the Untermeyer building became available, I decided to open the store. Although my husband thought I was crazy at first, he could see that I had a real passion for it. I had always wanted to open a retail store. We named Silver Barn after a Quonset barn because I’d never seen one in my entire life until I came here. There was a Quonset barn on my husband’s place and it was the coolest thing I had ever seen … so neat, unique and clever. So that’s how Silver Barn got its name!”

Soon Cynthia’s passion for Silver Barn would prove contagious and she found her new husband was right by her side in this new venture.

“My husband was definitely along for the ride,” Cynthia shared. “We’ve done this together. He spends just as much time working at it. He’s gone to market a few times and come up with some of the best products for guys that we’ve had. He has a way of seeing things with a different eye.”

Today, as always, Silver Barn remains a rare find in a community the size of Columbus.

“You’re going to find things that you won’t find anywhere else in town,” Cynthia said. “I try to be trendy without being trendy-trendy. I pay attention to what’s happening in the marketplace. I strive to make Silver Barn a unique shopping experience. I try to have products that are broad scope and I handpick everything in the store. I want to know the story behind the merchandise and I want to know the person behind the story.”

Never forgetting the community she serves, Cynthia is big on giving back whenever she can.

“Columbus has been so very good to us,” Cynthia said. “We have to support each other … there’s no ifs, ands, or buts about it. It just makes this town even better. I think that’s why Columbus is so successful; everyone gets involved and does what they need to do.”

Silver Barn is located at 521 Walnut Street and online at www. thesilverbarn.com. Watch for events throughout the year, like the Silver Barn’s popular Witches Tea the first Saturday in October and plan to stop by during the annual Columbus Chamber of Commerce Ladies Night Out. Their 15th anniversary in March of 2023 will also prove to be an event you won’t want to miss.