Blue butterfly set for red holiday
Happy Valley shop specializes in cards, chocolates and small gifts
Angela Marvin, owner of The Blue Butterfly, a specialty store in Happy Valley, rearranges her Valentine’s Day card display.
Ellen Spitaleri / Clackamas Review
Valentine’s Day is approaching at speed, and Angela Marvin is ready to help you get what you need to make your loved ones happy.
And she’ll even gift wrap it for you.
Marvin is the owner of The Blue Butterfly in Happy Valley Town Center, and she is exactly where she wants to be.
She opened the shop in Happy Valley in October 2007, because she wanted not only a site “with growth potential,” but a location where she “could make a difference.”
She added, “People want a hometown store, so they don’t have to haul the kids to the mall.”
Marvin said she loves the “village” feel of the new Happy Valley Town Center, and especially likes the fact that the shops are linked to the nearby neighborhood by sidewalks, so moms can push strollers down to the stores.
“People are excited that I am here and I’m really happy,” she said.
Cards, chocolates and more
For that special day coming up soon, Marvin recommends local chocolates made by Michele’s Chocolates in Clackamas, and scented soaps and body butters made by Jenteal, another local company.
“I have a ton of cards,” she explained, ranging in price from $2.50 to $6 for pop-up cards.
Other items with a Valentine’s Day theme include candles, cups, wrapping paper, magnets, picture frames, and a whimsical walking heart wind-up toy.
Easter merchandize is already on display, including soft toys and colorful egg dishes.
Boutique store
Holidays aside, Marvin said she stocks “millions of cards for all occasions,” invitations, paper party ware, car charms for the rear-view mirror, baby items, including clothing and soft toys, home décor and specialty candles, including the Kobo candle that comes in a tin with matches.
“It would make a great house-warming gift. It has a layered fragrance — so it will fill your whole house with scent,” she said.
Green pearl jasmine, water mint and fresh current are featured scents of the Kobo candle.
Customer service
Marvin said she grew up in Gresham, went away to college and returned to work for Nordstrom in Portland. Then she was transferred to Chicago and worked as a buyer in that Nordstrom store for 13 years.
She moved back to Portland in the summer of 2006, “with the intention of opening a new business,” she said.
She spent a year traveling and enjoying time with her family, before settling in to The Blue Butterfly in the fall of 2007.
Her experience in customer service while working for Nordstrom for 17 years has been a plus, she said, noting that she wants to “re-invent the art of gift giving.”
Marvin added, “I want to help people. If a husband comes in at 6 p.m. and says he needs a gift for his wife, I want to be [the one] that helps him pick something out, and gift wrap it.”