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realized you guys were here and had this much inventory.”

Whether professional baker or homemaker, most customers initially voice the never-realized-you-were-here comment, simply because,“we’re hard to find, really hard to find,” as Michelle puts it. “But once you find us once, peo-ple don’t forget,” says Michelle, adding that some customers have been coming in for the almost 30 years that the shop has been in business.

Word of mouth recommendations account for many of The Decorette Shop’s newer customers. Another grow-ing category of customers is people who watch reality shows like Cupcake Wars, which pits the country’s top cupcake bakers against each other in an elimina-tion-style competition.

Once they find The Decorette Shop, novice and moderately-skilled bakers often take one of the many classes the shop offers: decorating cookies, deco-rating cupcakes, and two seven-week series for decorating cakes, in addition to themes such as “fun with fondant” and “royal icing flowers.”

“We have some great instructors who are extremely creative,” says Michelle.

There are even cake decorating and candymaking classes for kids; at the request of customers, The Decorette Shop recently started hosting children’s birthday parties that incorporate baking activities.

The willingness to add birthday par-ties is an example of why The Decorette Shop has survived for nearly 30 years. Michelle says, “It’s really about the cus-tomer.”

That philosophy isn’t likely to change when Phil and Donna officially pass the torch to Michelle and John. Michelle says she respects Phil and Donna’s way of doing things — after all, it’s worked for this long.

haron Sands has been a wine drinker for 15 years. Last year, when she was unemployed, she tried to translate her passion into a profession by applying for jobs at local vineyards. But none of those positions worked out.

In May, Sharon and her husband Joe Sands took a family friend on a wine tour of Yamhill County. During the trip, the friend mentioned a business idea he was entertaining: a do-it-yourself microwinery, where customers could make their own wine. But he didn’t have the time to pursue the idea.

Sharon and Joe thought the business would be perfect for Sharon, so they began looking for retail space to lease. They found it in Tigard. One night, the couple was headed to one of their favorite restaurants, Cafe Allegro, when they saw a “for lease” sign at 12436 S.W. Main St. It seemed like the perfect location for the winemaking business.

By June 1, the space was theirs. The Sands — both longtime Tigard residents — spent the summer renovating the space: adding carpet and tile and upgrading the lighting.

At the same time, Sharon was commuting to Lacey, Wash., to train at a winery with a business model similar to what the Sands had in mind for the Tigard space. Having been introduced to Classic Winemakers’ managers by the same friend who had ini-tially suggested the business idea to her, Sharon was learning how to make wine through an internship-like arrangement with the Washington winery.

Tigard Wine Crafters opened in October and is operated sole-ly by Sharon and her husband, although Sharon hopes to hire help for the holidays. Over the past few months, Sharon has formed good relationships with nearby businesses, including

Sherrie’s Jewelry Box and Musi’s on Main, an upscale clothing resale shop.

Customers who want to make their own wine at Tigard Wine Crafters start out by scheduling an appointment with Sharon. They taste wines and decide which of approximately 16 varieties they want to bottle for their own order, either a batch or half-batch. (A full batch is about 30 bottles.)

The next step is the mixing process, during which customers pour into buckets the wine juice that Sharon purchases from vineyards all over the world. They add the ingredients that start fermentation. Then the customer heads home and goes about his usual business, while Sharon handles a 40-day process that includes racking, filtering and clarifying the wine.

While customers wait, they can design a personalized label for their bottles; Sharon tells them where to find stock images and photo editing tools. After the proper time has elapsed, they return to Tigard Wine Crafters to fill and cork the bottles and to apply the labels that they have designed.

Both parts of the process — mixing and bottling — are espe-cially fun for groups; people have reserved Sharon’s shop for birthday parties and bachelorette parties, for example.

Customers also have the added pleasure of distributing their wine. Special occasions like holidays, weddings and graduations are popular reasons to make and bottle a unique batch of wine. Other customers give the bottles as hostess gifts or donate them to charitable events.

At the initial appointment, customers often comment to Sharon that even a half batch seems like a lot of wine for which to find a good home. Usually they call or come back later to tell Sharon that “by the time we gave it out, we didn’t have any for ourselves!”