Applying the Finishing Touches

“I knew I always wanted my own business.” Maureen Braun said.

When she opened Finishing Touches on the Square in Jasper over 35 years ago, she chose wedding registry, home decor and gifts because it appealed to the artist in her as well as the businesswoman. She felt it could be a lifelong journey.

“I felt like if I picked something that would be interesting for life that I wouldn’t get tired of it,” she explained. “So for me, I picked a perfect business. That’s one reason why I am still here, because it’s a perfect match for me.”

In May of 1978, she and her husband, Mike, purchased the building at 505 Main Street in Jasper. She chose that location because, at the time, there weren’t many buildings available in downtown Jasper.

“I wanted to be downtown,” she said. “I liked the tradition. I liked the quaintness. I liked the space that was available in this building. So, it [the building] being downtown and available were the biggest factors in choosing this location.”

Maureen was joined by her carpenter brother, Mike Burger, and her husband in gutting and renovating the former Dollar General Store building. After several months of 18-hour days, she opened her doors for the first time in September that year.

“I was like most 24-year-olds having graduated from college and having two years of work experience. You think you know it all and really feel like you can do it all,” she explained her mindset when she approached opening her business. “You think you have all the tools, the education and back then you have the energy.”

She had already taken steps to ensure her business’s success, though. While Mike finished his MBA at Harvard in Boston, Maureen, who had graduated from Indiana University with a business degree, completed her business plan and market research.

“I did all my homework ahead of time,” she explained. “I really had a strong feeling for the market. I think that’s where a lot of people go wrong. They want to do something because they love it but you really have to have the market to support your business, otherwise you could be wonderful with what you do, but if the market’s not there, you won’t survive.”

She envisioned a home accessories and gifts business with a focus on a wedding registry, which at the time was something Maureen felt downtown Jasper and Dubois County needed. There weren’t many gift stores in town, and her focus on wedding registries would set her apart from others. “When we came here, next door was Flick’s Drug Store and at the time, Georgia Lee Gift Shop was over by the Astra and there were some other clothing stores. Not nearly as many gift stores as we have now.”

As a young business owner, the initial success of her new business gave her high hopes for expansion, and she even considered a national chain of stores. By 1980, she had expanded to Evansville — in 1982, she opened another in Bedford —and things were going well until she was hit by a drunk driver on Baseline Road in Evansville one day on the way home.

“I would have probably died except for the fact that I had my seat belt on,” she explained. “It was scary, you know this was before cellphones, so luckily people helped us out and they had to go find Mike (her husband) which was harder to do then.”

She wasn’t seriously hurt, but the experience did change her perspective, and as if to foretell the coming bad years of high interest rates and poor economy, the accident caused her to rethink her big visions and turn her focus to her hometown and family.

The 80s were tough, with high interest rates stifling business growth, but Finishing Touches continued to grow and prosper in Jasper until another disaster struck in 1990.

Maureen remembers it was a Sunday morning in February at 10:58 a.m. when the front windows blew out from the heat and flames of a fire. The fire started when a lamp cord sparked and caught a wicker basket in her display window on fire.

The rapid response from the Jasper Fire Department saved the building, which, according to a report at the time, would have been lost if the fire department had arrived six minutes later than they did. Their efforts couldn’t save anything else, though. Everything inside was destroyed; the building’s interior was gutted and filled with smoke and water damage.

Amid the devastation, an exposed wall depicted a beautiful mural from when the store was the Greek Candy Kitchen. The family has a recording of the mural, but the wall had to be covered with paint to prevent the smoke smell left by the fire.

“That was the biggest challenge in our business. Mentally and physically we were starting all over,” she said, but through the nonstop efforts by her and her family, the store reopened in April.

“My children (Jeff, 31, Jason, 34, Ashley, 28, and Kristen, 25) definitely remember it. They were young at the time but it was earth shattering for them,” Maureen explained.

Through these events, Maureen, balanced by her education and prominent business savvy, built a solid and loyal customer base by providing great service and an ever-changing product line centered around practicality and fun. These days — say for Christmas — customers can find something for everyone and any taste: Duck Dynasty-themed gifts and other man-centric items; kitchen gadgets and dishes; jewelry, bags and watches; a section devoted to kids; and of course, home decor.

She takes pride in the fact that Finishing Touches has so many different items to offer and displays them so eloquently. As much an artist as a businesswoman, she loves creating displays.

Maureen always seems to be moving around in her store, and that energy continues even at home. There she has a list of what she describes as “about 200 do-it-yourself projects.”

So many projects that she took a time management course to help whittle through them. “I wasn’t getting anything done and they [the instructors] just laughed and said ‘because your list is too long,'” she laughed. “I still have the list but I know I can only get two or three priority things done a day.”

She is often approached by prospective entrepreneurs and even a few old hats at business for advice. Her success, education, open personality and genuine interest in the continued success of downtown Jasper have reinforced her role as an adviser to these businesses and prospective business owners. She may not be standing in front of a crowd, but she regularly provides guidance and advice openly and freely through one-on-one interaction.

She is dedicated to continued growth and vibrancy of the area and the current Downtown/Riverfront Master Plan really excites her. “I really want to create a downtown and area around the city that will attract my children and other children back. That is one of the reasons I am still so active in the community,” she said. “I feel like Jasper and Dubois County has a lot to offer and we need to make our children aware of that.”

CityVisions Associates and Gamble and Associates recently released a draft for a vision of what Jasper could become is the beginning point of Maureen’s vision of where the city should go. “I just want to live to 200 so I can see it all come to fruition.”

Maureen credits her education, her ability to change, and her persistence for allowing her to work within her passion. “People need to have passion in their work or in something they do outside of work,” she explains. “I am lucky that I don’t feel like I go to work everyday, I feel like I am going to my passion.”

Maybe the most important factor for Maureen’s success has been her persistence. She has persisted through the crash, the fire, the economic downturns, and the ever-changing business landscape to continue providing the Finishing Touches for her customers and her community.