Small Town Feel

Smack dab in the middle of an apple orchard in Garrettsville, actress and Cleveland native Monica Potter has planted a seed of her own: the first outpost of Monica Potter Home. The Parenthood star's name is everywhere, from the sign out front to the line of skin care products inside — and it's not just lip service.

"My dining room sort of looks like my father's workspace," she says of her late dad, Paul, an inventor. "I was always creating with my dad when he was still alive. He taught me to work with my hands, to appreciate the art."

Since 2012, Potter has sold her Monica Potter Home soaps, lotions and room sprays online. This past Valentine's Day, she cut the ribbon on a shabby-chic-meets-country-twang store in a town that needed a little love.

Less than a year earlier, a fire ripped through a historic block of downtown Garrettsville, destroying a number of businesses. Among them was Stephanie Dietelbach's antique store, One Real Peach. Potter had already begun collaborating on her skin care line with Dietelbach, thanks to an introduction by Potter's sister and Garrettsville resident Jessica Brokaw. After the fire, Potter brought Dietelbach and her products into the family fold.

"It's been an organic, authentic way to move forward from that disaster," Potter says. Dietelbach's intoxicating candles ($24) with scents such as clover, apple and crimson are sprinkled throughout the store.

Monica Potter Home also features a raft of other locally made products, including upcycled barnwood bun boxes ($30) and linen aprons ($80). Fifties-style tea towels ($6) are arrayed across weathered wood walls next to metal bottle openers shaped like tractors ($10).