After a year in business, The Linen Closet has established itself as a downtown staple, despite moving locations.
“For the first year, I shared a space with RiverCity Provisions (232 W. Main St.), another downtown retail business, to help cut down on overhead costs,” The Linen Closet owner Brittany Sams said. “The plan was always to grow and get our feet under us before parting ways.”
When The Linen Closet’s current storefront at 236 W. Main St. became available, Brittany said she took a leap of faith and bought a ton of paint.
“We built out the shelves and upcycled the counter,” Brittany said about the new store. “It was truly a labor of love, but seeing my vision come to life a little more was such an exciting process. One of the best parts of owning the shop is I can continue to guide it into becoming the fullest realization of my vision, which I most definitely plan to do as I establish the shop in the new space.”
The Linen Closet is a luxury home goods store that offers linens from around the world — kitchen linens, blankets, robes, towels and sheets — candles, soaps and other skin products, local art and more.
Brittany is excited about her business’s growth and says it wouldn’t have been possible without the help of Downtown Frankfort Inc. Executive Director Suzy Hosley.
“The owners of all of downtown’s new retail establishments, hotels and restaurants have taken huge risks and put their hearts, souls and, quite frankly, blood, sweat and tears into the current renaissance downtown,” Brittany said. “Suzy is our ambassador, our marketer, our personal assistant, our event planner, and, overall, our fairy godmother.
“I think people mostly imagine that DFI’s purpose is to create events for downtown. While Suzy most definitely brings us customers during the events she plans, I’m not sure people realize how much her role also functions as the glue that holds us all together and connects us to local customers and regional visitors.”
Brittany said Suzy calls, emails and provides surveys for her to do all the time.
“In addition to marketing for all of us, she’s getting our individual feedback so she can tailor her support to exactly what we need in order to grow. If you think about it, her work is not only a service to business owners, but to every single resident in Frankfort.
“She’s creating reasons for everyone to be downtown — to enjoy the beautiful architecture and unique businesses that belong to all of us, and not just the people who live or work in the immediate area. It’s time for all of Frankfort to elevate and celebrate the heart of our community, and Suzy is working to make sure everyone can join in this effort.
Read the following Q&A with Brittany and learn more about The Linen Closet and what it means to her and all Frankfort residents and visitors:
FRANK.: Describe your store and the items you offer.
Brittany: The Linen Closet exists to offer locals the chance to buy functional household items and unique gifts which are thoughtfully sourced. I believe the beauty of shopping small is being able to make sure your purchases work toward something good. We offer local items, organic items, items made from recycled materials and items that give back to the world, each in their own unique way. I want shoppers to have an experience, a way to engage with the community and a way to elevate shopping to more than just getting something you need in a convenient, but sterile, way.
I named the shop after the linen closet in my first home in South Frankfort. I loved that house, and I loved folding all of my household linens and arranging them in an organized way on each shelf. It was a small area that I could protect from the happy, but truthfully chaotic mess of the rest of the home, which I shared with my husband, infant and toddler. In addition to household linens, I organized hand soaps, bath products, candles and other beautiful little items I received from family members and friends as gifts throughout the year. I started organizing the items by season, making sure I would take out or use floral and herbal scented products during the spring and summer, warm and smoky scents during the autumn, and scents like almond, cinnamon, mint and citrus during the deep winter. White sheets, lovely smells and beautiful labels were such a source of joy whenever I would open the doors. The closet was my own little space.
Essentially, I’m trying to reproduce this feeling on a larger scale in the shop. I’m an architectural historian, and I can’t imagine anything more wonderful than carrying things that you can buy for yourself or another that make homes just a little more cozy and vibrant. Just like my original linen closet, the shop offers household linens including linen and organic cotton bed sheets, organic cotton towels, linen and cotton napkins, tablecloths and runners, linen-encased throw pillows, organic cotton baby blankets and recycled wool blankets. All of my household linens are natural fibers — linen, wool and cotton — and many of them are organic or recycled.
The Linen Closet also offers smaller, consumable items found in the home, all with an eye toward sustainability — a core principle in the shop’s ethos and vision. We offer functional items for the kitchen: Swedish dishcloths, bamboo utensils and cleaning tools, upcycled glassware, handmade cork potholders, and handmade property from Kentucky artists Sailor Ceramics and Quinn Mayer. Sailor Ceramics is owned by Rachel Lutz, who lives in Shelbyville, and Quinn Mayer is a pottery professor at Morehead State University.
I love Sailor Ceramics products for their careful perfection. Rachel’s pieces are minimal and functional, designed to inspire beauty in everyday routine, made to be well loved and well used, not to sit on a shelf and collect dust. That’s how I feel about every item at The Linen Closet, and I feel like my goals from the shop and her aesthetics align beautifully.
Quinn digs his own clay from Eastern Kentucky and refines it before using it to create his truly one-of-a-kind items, which could be equally used or displayed as a gorgeous art piece.
We’ve just started carrying Woodford Reserve bitters and various cocktail and bourbon-related food products with an eye toward tourists. And, just for fun, I’ve started importing various oils, vinegars, salts, jams and candies from France. We offer candles sourced from fun places around the world and Commonwealth Candles out of Louisville. All of our candles are made from soy wax and offer a cleaner, healthier burn.
You will also find bath and body products that give back in their own way. We have brands that support protecting the habitat of honeybees, offer employment and housing to domestic violence survivors, are made from organic and sustainable ingredients, and support female entrepreneurs. And, just to add a dash of extra coziness, we now offer Conscious Step socks, which donate a portion of each sale to a charity or cause associated with the print on the sock. Each pair, made from organic cotton and recycled polyester, is clearly labeled with the charity it supports, which range from animal shelters to domestic violence non-profits to cancer research.
We’ve just started carrying more local art, which has been so exciting. The Linen Closet features recent work by Frankfort artist Bill Macintire, including watercolors depicting Frankfort windows and historic portraits. The windows are all historic South Frankfort; the portraits are from Frankfort a century ago. We have Bill’s dream-like architectural prints made with hand-carved rubber stamps, including house parts such as gables, windows, chimneys and weatherboards, combined with other stamps. I love the sense of mystery and nostalgia in Bill’s work.
We’ve also started carrying eclectic and fun upcycled furniture pieces from local artist Grace Rogers. Her 2D work is found all over Frankfort, from the walls of Buffalo Trace to the newly painted murals on Local’s Food Hub and Pizza Pub’s fence. Beginning in March, we will have a bespoke, handcrafted display of jewelry by Dawning Collective, an artist out of Georgetown. Her whimsical pieces are created through soldering, metal clay, ceramics and casting, and I absolutely know they are going to be adored by our shoppers.
FRANK.: What does the future hold for The Linen Closet?
Brittany: Just continuing to exist for locals. I love all our customers, including tourists, but I truly feel we should have a cozy, downtown home and lifestyle shop for people in Frankfort. I say this all the time, but local businesses simply can’t compete with 24-hour delivery to your doorstep or the low prices at larger chains. But what we can offer better than any other large retail establishment, is a beautiful experience. I plan to continue offering items that reflect the beauty of each season — spring, summer, winter and fall, so that shoppers can find both household staples and be delighted by new items every time they shop.
FRANK.: What do you say to encourage people to check out your store?
Brittany: Don’t come downtown just for The Linen Closet! Come downtown and make an event out of it, because there are so many new things to enjoy! Visit us on a Thursday evening before going out to dinner at the new French-inspired restaurant at the Ashbrook, or on a Friday evening before getting espresso martinis at The House of Commons Bourbon Library. Buy a gift for a friend, a tiny reward for yourself.
If you need any kind of item for your home, such as a sustainably made doormat, fair-trade dryer balls, hand soap, luxurious sheets, upcycled drinking glasses, coffee mugs — anything — consider purchasing these items locally on a Saturday morning. Shop with us after getting a lavender latte from Engine House and before stopping in The Kentucky Flower Market for a bouquet of Kentucky Proud flowers to display on your kitchen table.
Take a pottery class as a fun date night activity, and consider stopping in before to buy your lady love one of our French perfumes. Stop by on your way back from the Franklin County Farmers Market, and buy a sustainable Swedish dishcloth or a handmade, sustainable cork potholder to use while making an amazing meal with the produce you’ve purchased at the market.
Engaging with businesses and services downtown is truly about experiencing a unique place and moment in time. I think having community spaces of which you feel you are part of is an essential part of maintaining a good quality of life. Wave to your neighbors, talk to your barista, visit your local shopkeepers. Everything downtown belongs to everyone who lives in Frankfort, in a way. It’s your downtown — these are your spaces, and this is your place. Cherish it and enable it to thrive.
