Candy Tallant Operates Main Street Mainstay For 14 Years

Candy Tallant Operates Main Street Mainstay For 14 Years

In recent years, downtown Water Valley has experienced a great deal of change, but one constant is Mrs. Candy Tallant and her store, the Velvet Glove.

THE OUTSIDER

By Justin Geurin

A new Water Vallian sits down with the people that make this town special. Geurin and his wife, Robin, and twin daughters moved to town last July.

 Tallant was born here in Water Valley and graduated from Coffeeville High School. After getting married, she moved back to Water Valley in 1988 and in 2002, after working as a legal secretary for 14 years, she opened the Velvet Glove with her sister, Karen Hancock. 

Tallant had never envisioned opening a store, but one day she was having lunch downtown and noticed there were no gift shops in Water Valley. 

“My sister always wanted a Christmas shop,” she says, so between the two of them, they decided to give it a try. According to Tallant, the store began very small, but now stretches the length of the building at the Main Street location. 

Though the Velvet Glove has been in business for 14 years, the location itself has been in business for much longer. As Tallant says, the location was previously a five and ten cent store for more than 60 years. “Mrs. Rusk ran the store selling everything like candy, comic books, and records, and her husband built all of the cabinets.” The cabinets and shelving are still in use today and some even bare the marks of a long and interesting history. 

When Tallant opened the Velvet Glove, her goal was to meet a need she felt existed in Water Valley. “We wanted to offer reasonably priced gifts,” she says. Now, the Velvet Glove offers a wide range of items, including gift baskets for weddings, graduations, birthdays, or baby showers. Some of Tallant’s favorite items are the different jewelry pieces, and she sells a good number of t-shirts and candles as well. She also hopes to continue to add more craft items, as her husband and sister have even started making more of the items being sold in the store. 

As with any business, operating a store has both positive and negative aspects. As Tallant describes, sometimes owning a gift shop is difficult because you never know what type of items will sell, and seasonal sales trends are up and down. 

In fact, in the early years of the store, the landlord did not think the store would survive, but Tallant credits her sister for all of her help and inspiration to keep going during difficult times. “She is multi-talented and has been so much help,” Tallant states, “she works another job but always comes in to help out here as well.” 

Tallant says her favorite part of the job is interacting with the people who come in the store every day. 

“I always love to greet everyone who comes in and ask them where they are from,” she says. The store used to keep a guest book for visitors to sign, but even though they have stopped this practice, people from all across the United States, and even from other countries, have stopped in to check out the store. 

For Tallant, living in a small town like Water Valley has a lot of benefits. “I don’t know everybody, but I know someone who does,” she jokes. She has enjoyed seeing the town grow and has had a front-row seat to the changes downtown. She is cautious, though, and hopes the growth does not lead to Water Valley becoming too commercialized and lose its “small, southern charm.” She loves watching children outside throwing a football around in the fall and loves bumping into people on the street. “People will wave and be friendly,” she adds. “It’s a great place to raise children and is very pretty to drive through.” 

While we were talking, people were browsing through the jewelry collection, a little girl picked out a beautiful handmade birdhouse, and several people stopped by to buy flowers displayed outside the door. 

So if you are looking for a gift for a family member or maybe something to decorate your home, stop by the Velvet Glove on Main Street. Candy Tallant will greet you with a smile, and do her best to help you find exactly what you are looking for. 

Now for the rapid-fire questions to close the interview with Candy Tallant

What was your first car? 

– Green Pinto my sister bought for me

You are stranded on a desert island, what three things do you want to have with you? 

– Water, matches, knife

Is a hotdog considered a sandwich? 

– Absolutely 

If you could have one superpower, what would it be? 

– Reading minds

It’s karaoke night, what is your go-to song to sing? 

– R-E-S-P-E-C-T 

Last meal, what do you want? Entrée, desert, and beverage? 

– Spaghetti (cooked by me); German chocolate cake; sweet tea