Seeing is appreciating in this shop

SECOND TIME'S A CHARM: Matt Bird, owner of The Curatorium on Wickenden Street in Providence, founded the store after leaving a 
previous venture, RISD Works. The shop sells an eclectic mix of gifts. / PBN PHOTO/FRANK MULLIN
SECOND TIME'S A CHARM: Matt Bird, owner of The Curatorium on Wickenden Street in Providence, founded the store after leaving a previous venture, RISD Works. The shop sells an eclectic mix of gifts. / PBN PHOTO/FRANK MULLIN

After having started RISD Works more than a decade ago, Matthew Bird was wondering what to do next. After seeing a vacant space on Wickenden Street he toyed with the idea of another store, but why consider a venture similar to the one that you just left? “There is increasingly more and more great stuff out there in the world and it gets overwhelming,” Bird said. “There are amazing things that nobody can find.”
In some cases, Bird believes an item can be best found online; other objects, however, need the human touch, need to be seen and held. As time goes by, he sees the Internet superhighway making shopping impersonal, just a point and a click away.
Bird considers one of his strengths to be curating, the seeking, organizing and displaying of items that are, in his current venture, for sale.
The gifts he sells at The Curatorium are a unique and sometimes humorous hodgepodge, from tote bags to the “fisticup,” a coffee mug with fake brass knuckles for a handle. Quick inventory changes keep things fresh and interesting, even for the owner who often likes the items as much as his customers.
It’s an interesting combination because Bird frequently buys items that he might normally buy for himself. He is a curator of sorts, with his “museum” his store.
Ever watchful, Bird always has an eye out for spotting opportunity, especially for that one particular item that could create a buzz. This unique style is the store’s main attraction.
Presently he’s proud of being able to acquire books from authors like Monique Felix and Lynda Barry. “It’s really fun to get stuff in that I really care about and find other people that care about it,” he said.
“There are a couple of things that my employees tease me about, they tell me, ‘No one is going to buy this, and I tell them, good!’ It’s nice to sometimes live with the stuff for just a couple of months and then off it goes,” he said.
As for a theme to the store, there isn’t any. The choices run from housewares and jewelry to books. His only criterion is that whatever he sells has to be well-executed. He points to his experience at RISD Works, where the theme was simple, everything must be made by RISD students. He may have not liked an item there, but if its origins were at RISD and it told a cohesive story, it was included. “That made me really excited to open this store, where the only logic is, ‘Do I like it?’” With no boundaries except the owner’s taste, the selection is wide and never dull. “I’m very wary of things that seem very funny at first but once you finish laughing they’re not useful in any way,” he said. “All the things I have – with the exception of one thing – are funny first but also really useful in the longer term,” he said.
Bird says his shop is holding its own financially. When asked if the loss of Brown University students for the summer caused a downturn in business, he answered in the negative, saying that activity is cyclical only around the December holidays. The majority of the shop’s income, in fact, is earned in the last two months of the year. Student graduation week might cause a little surge and visitors investigating the school are also good for some extra business.
Other factors lend stability as well. There is usually something to look forward to every month, whether it be Valentine’s Day or a month’s worth of summer weddings in June. He also likes the Wickenden Street location.
“Providence is an unusual size for many cities; it’s still very walkable,” he said. “People that come here are usually looking at all the other stores as well, walking the entire street. It is still like an old-fashioned Main Street.”
There are always new customers filtering in but most of his customers are repeat shoppers. “I think it all goes back to the mission of the store. … If they need anything they can come here and not waste time looking, they can find something here,” Bird said.
One concern he has is the new Interstate 195 interchange. Moving the highway away from Wickenden Street, Bird feels, has cost his shop some business, but he is unsure if it is due to the recession or road construction. “I give people directions how to get here but it can be very confusing. It’s almost hopeless now,” he said.
“Everything has been designed to keep traffic moving without consideration of the neighborhood,” he added. “It is something we have had to take into consideration.” •

COMPANY PROFILE
The Curatorium
OWNER: Matthew Bird
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Gift Shop
LOCATION: 197 Wickenden St., Providence
EMPLOYEES: 5
YEAR ESTABLISHED: 2006
ANNUAL SALES: WND

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