“When sisters stand shoulder to shoulder, who stands a chance against us?” – Pam Brown, Australian poet and author.
That iconic quote about the power of sisterhood and its unbreakable bond of unity seems to aptly apply to Crystal Housman and Sherri Agers. In 2022, the sisters took ownership of a brick-and-mortar in the southern Illinois community of Anna and blended their talents to turn that retail space into a vibrant southern Illinois treasure.
“Annabelle Market is a ten-thousand square foot retail space. We have 35 vendors,” explained Sherri about their store which also doubles as a collaborative engine designed to help other local entrepreneurs thrive. “We have boutiques, antiques. We have gift items. We basically have everything you need.”
“We intentionally made this a shopping destination or shopping experience for our customers,” added Crystal.
Sherri and Crystal eagerly stressed that they love working together and feel like they are serving as a community catalyst, representing the best of what Union County has to offer in downtown Anna.
Sisters take a chance
When customers walk into Annabelle Market on the main stretch of Anna, they see shelves filled with unique gifts, sun-catching glass, hand-lettered signs, and vendor displays arranged with intentional style and charm.
Annabelle Market did not always look like this according to Crystal, who said the space formerly operated as a traditional antique and resale shop.
“I used to be a vendor inside, and it was more of an antique-based store, like a resale shop,” Crystal said. “The owner put it up on market. My husband talked me into considering purchasing it.”
Crystal, a retired, local high school principal, had the instincts to see the potential. But said she knew she did not want to tackle the challenge by herself.
“I called my sister, and I’m like, ‘I don’t want to do this by myself,'” Crystal recalled with a smile. “We’re both retired now. So, we did it.”
That phone call set everything in motion. Crystal and her younger sister, Sherri, who recently retired from a career in health insurance, became co-owners, co-visionaries, and, by most accounts, the twin heartbeats of what Annabelle Market is today.
“We changed it. We made it into this fabulous new gift store,” Crystal explained. “We expanded the vendors, and it’s just beautiful. We’ve redone so much stuff, and we truly have made it what it is today.”
Ask Sherri or Crystal what makes their business work, and their answer comes without hesitation.
“We have a blast,” said Sherri with a smile looking at her sister. “We keep each other going. It’s a great support system. If I need to do something, she’ll let me know. We’re very honest.”
“We’ve always been close, even though there’s a considerable age difference between us,” Crystal noted.
“I remind her of that all the time because she’s a little bit older than me,” Sherri added with a playful grin practically audible in her voice. “But we work really well together, and we plan well together. We still can go on vacations. We cover for each other, so I wouldn’t have done it without her. It is more fun because we do it together. People want to see us together. We’re the face of the store basically.”
Positive energy everywhere
There’s a reason regulars keep coming back to Annabelle Market according to Crystal, who says their sales have less to do with inventory than the dynamic of their store.
“Our customers feed off of our energy, and we feed off of our customers’ energy,” Crystal said with a smile. “You don’t find that in every career.”
It is the kind of warmth that is difficult to manufacture and impossible to fake. Although the primary customer base at Annabelle Market skews toward women between the age of 20 and 50, the sisters have been intentional about broadening their appeal.
“Our typical customers are women, and we’re trying to really work on that. We brought in a lot of men’s stuff,” noted Crystal.
“Primarily it is ladies that shop with us. Even in the men’s department, they’re buying for the men,” Sherri interjected.
When the water rises
For all its charm, Annabelle Market has had its share of hard times. Top of the list: standing knee-deep in water inside the store where they invested their hearts and their finances.
“As wonderful as everything looks, we do have challenges with owning an older building. Our roof is one of them,” Sherri said plainly. “We have had two really bad floods over the past few years. We have had some major water cleanups. Sometimes I think it’s never going to end.”
The worst of the water sent Crystal straight to Facebook in tears, with a candor that she said resonated in their close-knit community.
“It was really bad. We ended up having to do roof repair and have a sump pump put in. That was a rough time for us,” recalled Crystal. “I honestly was like, ‘What? What were we thinking when we purchased a store in retirement?’ But our community was so kind to us because we were very forthcoming about it. We did a Facebook video, and I was tearful and I’m like, ‘We can’t be open today. I’m up to my knees in water.'”
The repairs took a big financial toll, but the sisters found a way to reframe the disruption in business.
“We turned it into a good thing,” said Sherri, “We took some of the areas in the very back that were storage that were full of water, and we had to clean them out anyway while we were doing it.”
Floods aside, the day-to-day challenges of running a brick-and-mortar in a rural region require creativity and patience, according to the sisters.
“Hiring can be a challenge in southern Illinois because there are not a lot of residents who live here, and there’s a lot of businesses,” Crystal explained. “So, the pool to pick from is pretty slim. You do have to pay extra if you want really good employees, or you have to work yourself, which we do, and we love it.”
Then there is the ever-present shadow of online shopping, with instant purchases never more than a few clicks away. Rather than pretend otherwise, Crystal and Sherri have leaned into what a digital screen cannot offer.
“People could find a lot of this stuff online and we know that. We’ve actually had people say, ‘I looked on Amazon and it’s the same price, but I’d rather buy it from you,'” Crystal said. “We try to keep our prices low comparatively. We do check that to make sure we’re not pricing ourselves out. But we also know that people really appreciate the store. They want to be here. They can feel it; they can touch it. We also offer services like free gift wrapping and stuff like that. So, if they come in here, it’s not just clicking a button and getting it shipped to them.”
Stocking the stuff you love
Behind every item on the shelves at Annabelle Market, there is a philosophy which traces back to a piece of advice that Crystal gave Sherri before they ever opened their doors.
“The best piece of advice I received whenever I first started putting things in here is Crystal said, ‘Buy things you love. If you love it, your customers will know, and then they will love it too. So don’t buy things that you don’t love,'” Sherri recalled turning to smile at her sister. “I’ve done that the entire time.”
“My other piece of advice, and we live by it, is go all in,” Sherri chimed in. “If it is something that you love, don’t hesitate. If you think it’s going to sell, it’s going to sell.”
That conviction shows in the product mix, in their vendor relationship, and in the way the store feels. It is a business assembled by people who genuinely wanted to be there, and it reads that way from the moment you step inside.
“When I walk in the store on the days that I come in to stock, to do whatever, it’s just like coming home,” said Sheri. “I just love our customers, who are our friends. We may not always know their name, but I can tell you when their anniversary was.”
The arc of Annabelle
The influence of this story extends beyond its transactional earnings. Annabelle Market has become a consistent anchor for community events, including activities for children, non-profit support, seasonal gatherings, and celebrations that give people a reason to show up downtown and linger.
“The goal for us was not to make a lot of money. Sales has never been a driving force for us,” continued Crystal. “It was to be part of the community, to sustain our lifestyle, and to have fun. I think we’ve accomplished those on so many different levels.”
“We feel that Annabelle Market matters, especially to our community,” Crystal said. “We host a number of community-wide events and we start them here. I think without Annabelle Market, that would kind of shrivel and go away. And our community appreciates it and they thank us every time we have an event, for doing what we do.”
Sherri explains to us that geography plays no small role in why all of this resonates so deeply.
“I think the store works in Anna, because there isn’t much around,” Sherri points out. “People have to drive 20 or 30 minutes to get to Cape Girardeau, or to get to Carbondale to do their shopping. They love it that they can shop in Anna. So downtown Anna is alive.”
Easing the burden
Sherri and Crystal noted that higher state sales tax in Illinois takes a toll on their business. And so, they stepped forward with a clear message for legislators in the state.
“I would probably want them to know how much taxes affect us, especially here in southern Illinois, because our neighboring states’ (sales taxes) are so much lower than we are, and customers can go there and get a lot of the same things that they get here.”
Crystal added her own worry for customers who cannot always afford to pay more when they shop.
“We do have a lot of senior ladies who come here to do all of their shopping, and they’re on a limited budget,” said Crystal with clear concern on her face. “They’re on a fixed income. So, when they’re paying nearly 10% in taxes in Illinois, it is crippling for that generation specifically.” (Editor’s note: The total sales tax rate in Anna, Illinois is 9.50%.)
For the love of it all
After years spent navigating the institutional weight of public education and the complex landscape of health insurance, Crystal and Sherri found something in retail they had not fully expected: pure, uncomplicated joy.
“I love retail because it’s different every day,” Crystal said. “You see new people every day. You have new experiences every day. When people are shopping, they’re happy. They don’t come in the store crabby. They come in the store happy.”
“That’s what I was going to say,” interjected Sherri with a laugh. “They are just happy to be here. And, you know, in my previous job, there were a lot of people who were upset all the time, and I felt like it was constant negativity. We don’t have that here. People walk in and they’re like, ‘Oh, it smells so good in here.’ ‘Oh my gosh, everything is great.’”
