Marla and Thomas Russo are bringing eclectic, handmade gifts to downtown Cooperstown.
The couple launched The Last Firefly at 39 Chestnut St. in late August.
“We are originally from New Jersey,” Marla Russo said, “but we’ve been coming to Cooperstown for the past 30 years for summer vacations and, when we retired, we wanted to move to Cooperstown because my husband is a baseball nut. I’m not at all — my background is literature and fine arts, and he was an attorney for 30 years.”
Though new to Cooperstown, Russo said, The Last Firefly concept began decades ago and its local iteration represents a full-circle moment.
“The idea for the store actually came from Cooperstown Country Crafts,” she said. “Every summer, we would come up and I would go to Cooperstown Country Crafts and I loved the idea of it. There was nothing like that in our hometown of Scotch Plains, and I thought maybe I could recreate it in Scotch Plains. That’s what I did, in my husband’s former law office.
“I’d been doing handmade things and I do hand-painted furniture and I’d gotten into making jewelry and selling it at home parties, but I wanted a brick-and-mortar space,” Russo continued, “and I wanted to bring in other artisans, exactly like Cooperstown Country Crafts, but not a co-op … so, I took things in on consignment.”
Russo said the shop name also has meaning.
“We started out camping in Cooperstown, then staying in an apartment, then were able to buy a camp on the lake,” she said. “It had a lovely little porch and, one summer, before the store opened, we were sitting on the back porch and I said, ‘it’s a perfect evening, but one thing’s missing.’ There were no fireflies that year. He was like, ‘Whatever, who cares?’ Then December comes and there’s this package under the tree. I opened it up and it’s a mason jar full of little electric fireflies and I just burst into tears. To me it just represented the fact that, even though my husband had mocked me at the time, he was listening, then made this big, romantic gesture. January is when we were going to open the store in New Jersey and we were kicking around names and I said, ‘I’ve got the perfect name. We’re going to call it The Last Firefly, as a tribute to the gift and Cooperstown.’ It just stuck, and people liked it.”
The Otsego County iteration, Russo said, maintains its focus on handmade, “very eclectic” items.
“It’s a tiny shop — maybe 400 square foot — in our carriage barn, next to our house,” she said. “There is a little something for everyone, from kids to senior citizens. About three-quarters of the shop is more to the feminine, then his section is vintage sports memorabilia — mostly baseball — and when I say vintage, it’s vintage. There’s no cookie-cutter T-shirts. This is more unusual stuff.”
Russo said she and her husband purchased the property six years ago.
“We were able to buy the John Mitchell home, at 39 Chestnut,” she said. “Mrs. Mitchell used to own a knitting store here, so I think it’s kind of nice that I’m carrying on the tradition of a handmade business in here.
“It has taken us six years to open the store, and one of the reasons is my husband has gotten into acting and joined local theater groups and is doing Shakespeare and plays every summer,” Russo continued. “I left behind consigners in New Jersey, so all the jewelry is handmade by me and a lot of the pottery is made by me. I have picked up pottery from estate sales and auctions, and the hand-painted furniture is all mine, and suncatchers and mobiles. Those have been top-sellers, and the other thing is leather goods — small purses and keychains. I also have glass cheese plates and bottle-toppers, and I have Nepal knits — hats, gloves and scarves that are made in Nepal — and I virtually sold out of those. I also have vintage trolls from when I was a kid … and, of course, the sports things.”
Though The Last Firefly will likely operate seasonally, Russo said, “There’s been momentum building since (opening) Aug. 30.”
“I’ve had business every single day,” she said. “I am primarily a gift store … and, in Scotch Plains, the bulk of my business was September through December and holiday gifts. Unfortunately, we have no heat in the building, so we’ll probably be closing for the winter months then reopening Memorial Day, but if we have nice weather, I might do a pop-up opening, because everyone who has come through has said, ‘this is so great, I could do my holiday shopping here.’”
That response, Russo said, has been shared by locals and tourists.
“I had tourists who would stop in right off of Main Street, but I want to thank the people inside the village and outside, because it’s been very welcoming, positive feedback from everyone,” she said. “I have had children to seniors, men and women, locals and tourists. It’s been great and exactly what I had hoped for. A lot of people have said, ‘it’s just magical in here, and I love coming in and it’s so much fun to look at and so much diversity,’ so that has made me feel good.”
Regular, in-season hours are from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday through Saturday, though Russo said, in addition to potential pop-up openings, she will open by appointment.
Russo said she is considering the store’s inclusion in the village’s Stroll the Street event in December and plans to offer jewelry-making events at some point.
For more information, find “The Last Firefly, LLC” on Facebook or call or text Russo at 908-419-4993.
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