After many years of vacancy, the store on the corner of 6th St and Atlantic Avenue that once housed Benson Thrifty White is once again be occupied by a business. 

The Verge of Fantastic, owned by Emily and Chris Fickes, is opened last weekend.

The store will be a “gift and thrift,” showcasing second-hand items from donations, and many handmade items by local vendors, artists, and artisans bought wholesale. 

Emily Fickes first opened The Verge of Fantastic in Glenwood where it was all gift items. When she married Chris, who is originally from Herman, the couple had to decide where to settle. Being from Morris, Emily said coming back home was an exciting, yet scary prospect. However, making the commute to Glenwood daily from Morris, especially during the winter, was less than ideal. The old Benson Thrifty White in Morris had been available for quite some time, and she said they joked about buying it. Soon, it became less of a joke and turned into reality. They had many ideas for the building and knew it was a risk, but an exciting one. The couple decided that it was a risk worth taking, and now, Emily traded in her half-hour commute for the ability to walk to work!

When they bought the building, they began envisioning how they wanted to renovate it. They hired Infinite Design Consulting from Alexandria to help put those visions together, and from there were able to provide mock-ups of the space. Emily said they used some of the design company’s ideas as well as some of their own for their final concept.

About a month after buying the building, Emily had to have a brain operation. At that point, Emily said she and Chris weren’t sure what they were going to do and were fearful that their dream just went up in smoke. She continued to push through ongoing medical issues and worked on renovations to the new store, and began the process of closing the store in Glenwood with the help of her husband.

As one of the oldest buildings on Atlantic Avenue, many renovations were needed to make the space suitable for their business.

Chris said that the foundation was good, which was a relief, but other things, like the flooring, needed a lot of work. The floor had several layers of tile, subfloor and carpet, and he added that he thinks they could have filled up a five-gallon bucket with the nails they pulled out. Other renovations made include exposing the original ceiling tiles, shelving, signage, a front counter, fun light fixtures, paint, elements around the store that contain the colors from their logo, and a modern railing on the ramp that leads from the upper level of the store to the lower level. 

The upper level and lower level create the feeling of two spaces. The upper level will be the “gift” portion of the store and also contains a “workshop” space that will be for pop-up vendors, crafts, paint and sips, and more.

The sunken portion will house the “thrift” area. For the time being, donations will be stored behind the old pharmacy counter.

Bringing back nostalgic items from the Benson Thrify White store, like the grab bags, is one of the things Emily hopes to add to the business.

The store was named for her grandfather, Dean Paulson, who passed away from Covid, Emily said. When people would ask him how he was doing, he would always reply that he was right on the verge of fantastic. Her grandfather had deep ties in Morris. From managing the Cenex Co-Op, to being part of several local organizations. Being able to bring the store to Morris is like coming full circle, Emily said.

Emily added that all of the local business owners have been extremely welcoming and helpful.

Part of the profits will be donated to Morris Women of Today, which Emily is a part of. They will also be giving back to local veterans, and are planning to work with the Morris American Legion to do that. They will be looking into other organizations as well to see if there are any that have funds to help, so they can help local veterans who maybe need assistance with groceries, or rent, and they want to keep that as local as they can. This would be funded through profits from donations. They want to keep it as local as possible because local people are helping by donating items to Verge of Fantastic.