Rag Peddler owner Jane Buckner and Tank, her Irish terrier, in the doorway of the Rag Pedder, 250 Walton Ave.
When Jane Buckner opened the Rag Peddler in 1993, she traveled to North Carolina to buy fabric for her upscale fabrics and furnishings store. Now sales reps twice a year bring samples to her shop on Walton Avenue, where customers can choose from hundreds of samples and a wide array of Buckner’s in-stock bolts of fabric. Interior designers and individual clients alike entrust their custom draperies, window treatments, bedding and other projects to Buckner.
Many of her repeat customers have patronized the Rag Peddler for more than 25 years and through three iterations of the store.
A native Lexingtonian, Buckner earned a degree in finance with a minor in business management from the University of Kentucky. She was a social worker in Versailles before taking a career turn into business ownership.
Not wanting to go into debt, she used some of the trust fund her father left to her when he passed away to start the Rag Peddler. “I figured I would take a $20,000 gamble, knowing I could always go back to being a social worker and get benefits and all that,” she said. But after her first year in business for herself, she never considered going back.
The Rag Peddler’s original location was on Liberty Road next to the vintage and consignment store Room Service. In 1997 she moved the shop to a larger space on Broadway, where she stayed for 16 years. In 2013, she found a space on Walton Avenue, “that I knew was going to be perfect,” she said. “My business has grown exponentially since I moved over here.”
Located next to Epping’s on Eastside restaurant in the Warehouse Block, the Rag Peddler sees a steady stream of customers throughout the year, but spring and fall are the busiest, particularly March and September, Buckner said. In addition to creating window treatments, the Rag Peddler is also known for custom upholstering. Buckner’s clientele can have their sofas, club chairs, headboards, wingback chairs and other modern or antique furniture re-covered. “If somebody has their grandmother’s Martha Washington chair, we can redo it in a fun fabric,” Buckner said.
She and her team of four employees handle smaller upholstery projects like ottomans in-house. “I couldn’t do half of what I do without the incredible employees I have,” she said. “We are a team here, and we work together as one.” For larger or more complicated pieces, Buckner contracts local seamstresses and reupholsters.
Many of her clients live in the 40502 zip code, so the Warehouse Block location is quite convenient. “I have a lot more walk-in traffic than I did on Broadway,” she said. “That’s the good thing about the Warehouse Block. You can eat lunch, go to yoga or Pilates, come drop in for fabric, buy dresses and jewelry—all in this one block.”
Buckner is active in the Warehouse Block Association, and the group’s monthly meetings are open to all 38 tenants in the district. “The Walkers are great landlords,” she said of the owners of Walker Properties, who developed the Warehouse Block. “They’ve done a great job repurposing these older warehouse-type buildings for retail or shopping or business.”
"It’s a little community we have here. Everybody supports everybody else. It is a very cool district." — Jane Buckner
The business association has created a map of the district denoting the service businesses, shops, studios, fitness facilities and restaurants. Signs are coming soon to direct traffic to certain locations, and a vacant lot on National Avenue at North Ashland is expected to be paved to allow for more parking. A block party is scheduled for the last Saturday in July, when streets will be blocked off so the public can enjoy street vendors, beer and food trucks and live music.
“It’s great for all of us. It’s a little community we have here,” Buckner said. “Everybody supports everybody else. It is a very cool district.
“I just signed a 10-year lease, so I’m not going anywhere.”makes