Chicken Sisters

The Chicken Sisters is a locally own store in Lamoni that repurposes things into decorations and various sundries. They are only open one weekend a month. Last time they had lots of special and creative deals that they called BINGO:

Bring a friend at get 50% off.

If you bring a Bingo card get 50% off.

Necklaces 50% off.

Guess where the Chicken is and receive a free gift.

Outside items 50% off.

There was a small plastic chicken hiding somewhere in the store that we looked for but could not find. It was a very interesting store, unlike any store I have ever been in. It is cool the way they take normal items that other people would probably throw away, and turn it into to something artistic and beautiful.

They used to sell their products at vendor shows, but after winning a contest they received enough money to open up a store. The Chicken Sisters sold their upcycled creations at First Friday, an event on the first Friday of every month in West Bottoms of Kansas City where similar vendors sell their own items. They found out about the Dream Big contest from the local newspaper and decided to try to win the $5,000 prize so they could open up shop. For three weeks they had to get as many votes as they could using Facebook and Twitter, to win top five in the south central region of Iowa. Only one person had more votes than them, which meant they had to go to Osceola to present their business plan to the judges. Devy described it as like the show “Shark Tank.” She had three minutes to describe her business plan and to present some of her work. The judges loved the idea and the Chicken Sisters won $5,000 to get the store up and running.

Now, after more than a year, Chicken Sisters is doing well and attracting customers from all over. They are only open one weekend of the month on the second Saturday. That leaves them plenty of time to create new items to sell, and rearrange to whole store. Every month it looks completely different.

Devy finds much of the raw materials for upcycling in the form of people donating them, garage sales and thrift stores. They get some of their ideas from Pinterest and create many original products as well. The store is full of unique and creative items.

Devy also works for the Health Center of Southern Iowa with behavioral health. Her daughter helps out with Chicken Sisters too. The stores is located on S. Maple Street. You can’t miss the big metal rooster out front. Their hours are 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Saturday and 12 p.m. – 4 p.m. on Sunday. Be sure to check out the Chicken Sisters’ Facebook page for more information.