Local shop owners offer beauty and whimsy to Alden community

Keeping up with the accelerated pace of working as a small business owner can be rough, especially during the holiday season. One needs to stay one step ahead of customer demand while offering a unique supply of goods and maintain a personal rapport with customers. Married couple Tom and Theresa Shriver of Alden know the techniques for running a smooth business. Their company, Chicken Coop Originals: A Country Gifts and Herb Shop, has been a local favorite for years now.

Chicken Coop Originals, located at 13245 Clinton St., Route 354, features hand-painted country artwork, herbal wreaths, “oldtiques” and collectibles, pine trees, herbs, and perennials in season. The shop is open April through December, and just wrapped up a profitable holiday retail season. Since 1999, the shop has been open; it started off with the sale of perennials, herbs, and eggs 30 years ago. The couple began their business enterprising when they first got married and lived in West Seneca, by selling Christian books and later, little pine trees.

Now, the couple lives on the Alden/Marilla border, and their business has grown into three little buildings, which make up Chicken Coops Originals. The story behind the couple’s business is one of inspiration and true ingenuity.

“My husband and I always liked to make our own gifts, but I never thought I’d be selling them to other people,” Theresa said. “I’m a self-taught artist, and that’s one of the things that got me inspired, when I did a show and people bought my things. We have a creek and chickens and five children, and I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. It was a major choice we made in our marriage.”

Theresa went to school for recreation and took care of the household, while her husband Tom went back to school to become a teacher after he lost his job with a carpet company during their marriage.

“We felt it was important to have stability in the home,” Theresa said. “We would rather live on less than have me gone and the kids home with the babysitter. We learned to live on less and started a business.”

The couple started Chicken Coop Originals by packing up their wares and selling them at home parties, similar to today’s Avon or Tupperware parties. Then Tom got cancer, right after he secured his first teaching job in Buffalo that provided good health care. He almost died and was paralyzed from the waist down.

“We prayed ourselves through that with doctors and friends,” Theresa said. “Him getting better was a two year process and after that, we were so thankful. Now it’s been 17 years cancer free.”

Today, many themed gardens blossom in the sunshine at Chicken Coop Originals. Plus, several art and garden workshop classes are offered to the public. Such classes include learning how to make hand-painted cards and fresh Christmas centerpieces, lessons in herbal table arranging, watercolor painting seminars, and peaceful retreats for gardeners. It is a true marketplace of both beautiful items and creative energy.

“I felt like I needed something for myself and Tom encouraged me,” Theresa said. “He fixed up the chicken coop – he was really the backbone pushing me to do it. Little by little we keep growing. I own the business; the business doesn’t own me. We’ve been married 35 - 36 years and we recognize our differences and complement each other.”

During the off months, Theresa works as a teacher’s aide/substitute teacher and Tom is a full-time teacher. Both teach art lessons and run a summer camp for People of Praise. They host a Christmas open house where they welcome the general public into their home as if they are all old friends.

“We just had this little country home that we paid $28,000 for in 1977, and since then we’ve paid it off, built up the property, and made something of it,” said Theresa. “We burn our own wood to keep the house warm, and my husband started raising turkeys. The people we meet, we are so blessed by them.”