Bellows Falls Business Whirlwind

By Charles C. Bingaman, Contributing Writer

            Few people have the courage, energy and stamina to start their own business.  Sharon Boccelli has started three businesses in Bellows Falls in the past year. And she’s relishing the experience!

            In fact, Boccelli has always been a self-starter, unafraid to tackle things she knows little about and very willing to learn from the ground up!

            Growing up in Lynn, Massachusetts and later Cambridge, Boccelli frankly admits to “no experience and no education” before she became an entrepreneur.  In fact, she was working on a General Motors assembly line when she initiated an amazing string of businesses.

            Relying on $2 book on “How to Get Into the Antiques Business” Boccelli launched her first business.  She accumulated her “antiques” inventory by scavenging Cambridge neighborhoods before dawn looking for old furniture others were putting out for trash pickup.  Then, she refinished her collection on the weekends and filled a storefront with reconditioned furniture.  When all but two small pieces sold, Boccelli knew she was on to something.

            But then she discovered auctions.  “I didn’t even know what auctions were,” she laughs now.  “But when I saw that you could sell a whole store full of furniture in an evening with an auction, I got interested real fast!”  She learned that business while running a catering business at auctions and then got her own auction license 27 years ago.  As she tells it now, “I learned as I went!”  Since that time, Boccelli has run an auction business in Massachusetts, mostly liquidating estates and, along the way, developing a deep background in antiques, collectibles and the ins and outs of selling them.

            Fast-forwarding to Vermont in the 1990s, Boccelli and her civil union partner Ingrid bought a vacation cottage in Westminster West.  Three and a half years ago they moved in full time, and Sharon intended to work at home.  But, as many friends predicted, she just HAD to be developing a new business, and Boccelli’s on the Canal was born in early 2006.  Having rehabbed a multi-bay building formerly used as a repair garage, Boccelli’s now features an Italian themed coffee shop/bakery/restaurant with a complimentary Internet “hot spot” in one bay, a grocery featuring many Vermont items in the second bay and, guess what?, an auction hall where Boccelli expects to begin regular auctions of furniture and other estate items.

            Again, entering the bakery and restaurant business, Boccelli is learning while doing and, in blustery good-humor both enjoying and learning from the process.  “The hardest part is ordering the right amounts of food and avoiding having too much waste,” she says.  “But,” Boccelli says, “the restaurant and bakery, along with the grocery keep our auction employees busy for the days between auctions, and they provide a needed service and meeting place in the town.”

            “And, it’s such a great community!  There are such a lot of choices and reasons to come to Bellows Falls,” she notes. “There are so many misconceptions about Bellows Falls.  But the people and the architecture are great, businesses are coming in, and the hotel is getting done over!

            And just to punctuate her enthusiasm for Bellows Falls, Boccelli last week opened ANOTHER new business!  Sharon Boccelli & Co. Antiques at 1 Canal Street, just up from Boccelli’s on the Canal.  “We’ve got a bit of everything,” says Boccelli, "at a range of prices." Chairs, tables, oriental rugs, dishes, chests of drawers, political posters and more.  Most of the things are from estates I’ve bought in Massachusetts and the Boston area.”

            According to store manager Henry LaRose, “we’re adding stuff every day.  Sharon has a couple of storage units she hasn’t even opened yet!”

            Boccelli’s on the Canal is open Wednesdays through Saturdays, from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, and  from 11 am to 9:00 p.m. on  Friday and Saturday.  Sharon Boccelli & Co., Antiques is open Wednesday through Saturday 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Friday until 8:00 p.m. For further information, call Boccelli’s on the Canal at 802-460-1190.

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