Merritt’s artisan and crafter co-op is celebrating its silver anniversary.

Creative Company started in 1989 as a year-round outlet for local crafters to sell their wares.

Stained glass artist Almerina Rizzardo was at that inaugural meeting and is still a member of the co-operative today.

Though much has changed over the years, the group still has the same mandate today that it did from the first meeting minutes Rizzardo has from 1990.

That mandate is in three parts: crafters share their arts and crafts with each other; with the community; and have an outlet for these locally handcrafted items.

The second part of the mandate, to share their crafts with the community, means crafters even produce their items at the store when it’s not too busy.

For local sewer Donna Caruso, that means lugging her sewing machine to the store to make the baby blankets and young children’s outfits she specializes in.

“Let me tell you, it’s heavy,” Caruso said with a laugh.

The store operates under the Coquihalla Arts and Crafts Society. As a co-operative, everybody who’s a member of the group gets a say as to what goes on in the store.

“No one is ‘the boss.’ We bring everything back to the group and decide whether something gets done or doesn’t get done,” Rizzardo said.

That can be tricky as there are 10 members currently in the co-op. Over the years, Creative Company has seen 136 members.

“We’ve gone through a lot of crafters,” Rizzardo said with a laugh.

The co-op model has also had to adapt to the changing landscape of business. As an example, it’s now mandatory for members to work at the store. Not only do they get direct interaction with their clients, they get direct feedback from the community, Rizzardo said.

Working in the store also helps take these crafters from hobbyists to salespeople — a transition Rizzardo said starts with walking through the door and expressing an interest in belonging to the co-op.

She described that initial commitment as the hardest part of joining, with the rest of the retail skills developed through training and support from the members.

Creative Company is always looking for new members, and the fees to belong to the co-op are nominal, Rizzardo said.

It’s more about inspiring one another and sharing their products with others.

“The idea is that Creative Company has enough money at the end of the month to pay the bills. It’s not in business to make money. It’s to give as much of that back to the crafter so that they, in turn, can go and do some more crafting,” Rizzardo said.

Members even jury one another’s new products if they are a little outside the range the others are used to. That helps ensure there’s not overlap in Creative Company’s offerings and that the other members are aware of what the store has to offer, Rizzardo said.

Caruso said Creative Company has seen customers from all over, including tourists from Europe, Australia and Asia, as well as closer to home from Logan Lake, Princeton and Kamloops.

One look around the Quilchena Avenue store, and it’s easy to see why people continue coming back.

The sales floor is laid out by each crafter. From Rizzardo’s colourful stained glass corner to Sylvia Boyd’s wool creations to Richard Tenisch’s sparkling silver jewelry and belt buckles to Carolyn Thompson’s hand-painted scarves, the store covers a variety of crafts — and they all come from right here in the Nicola Valley.

Rizzardo explained how she began making stained glass:

“I had this three-by-five window in my living room that stared out at an ugly driveway,” she said. “I wanted a piece of stained glass and I went to the glass place he quoted me an outrageous price for it, and I thought, ‘I could do it.’ Never did make glass for that particular window.”

She said she was hooked on the craft from her first lesson with an instructor in Burns Lake.

“I knew I’d love it from the minute I put my hands on that glass,” she said.

Fast forward 30 years, and she still loves it.

“I love doing my stained glass and I wanted to share it with everybody. My goal was to have a piece of stained glass in every household in Merritt. Almost there, eh?” she said with a laugh.

Prior to the store opening 25 years ago, local artisans would share their wares at various craft shows, sales and street malls in the area.

“You worked like heck all year long to go to three craft shows and maybe two street malls, and that was it,” Rizzardo said.

The 25-year celebration takes place at the store tomorrow, April 16, with a draw for a gift certificate at 4 p.m.