Ashlyn Pratt & I have known each other since high school and been best of friends since that time.  Former PC West Patriots, Ashlyn and I also attended University of Central Oklahoma together.  After college, we both pursued our careers; Ashlyn in Human Resources and me as a Legal Assistant.  Ashlyn later became a stay-at-home mom, and I have worked for the same attorney for 13 years. 
 
In January 2009, Ashlyn & I started brainstorming and came up with a few business ideas.  Initially, we thought we should open a gift shop.  The next day, we decided maybe it would just be better to open a booth at a store so I called and made us an appointment.  On January 30, 2009, after meeting with another store in town, we decided we could do that; we could open a vendor store.  By the time we made it home, we had already found the location and had an appointment to see it the next morning.  I will never forget walking into our store and visualizing our dream.  We talked about it for several days, and it was decided.  Ashlyn & I signed our lease on February 28, 2009, for Stockyards Mercantile, and began demo that night.  After tearing down a couple walls, taking down 3 layers of paneling on the other walls, gutting bathrooms, and building, texturing and painting walls, we were open for business on April 8, 2009.  I can't believe we got it done that fast.  We opened with 5 booths, 3 of which were ours.  Wing and a prayer!
 
Over the next month, we leased 13 more, and so it continued.  We had our officical Grand Opening Ribbon Cutting Ceremony on May 8, 2010.  We have been so blessed to have found such wonderful vendors, and to be in a wonderful area of our city where hundreds of thousands of visitors come each year. We are so proud of what we have accomplished. We hope you will love our store as much as we do!
 
Trisha Parent