Meet Sonya Chisenhall and Rachael Miller | Small Retail Business Owner, Finder, and Maker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sonya Chisenhall and Rachael Miller and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sonya Chisenhall and Rachael Miller, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Our business began when a snowstorm hit one winter about 10 years ago. At the time, Sonya and I were roomates and had nothing better to do than to work on some creative projects. Being the savers we were, we had everything needed to sew and glue several different complicated projects. We both grew up in lower income homes and our backgrounds taught us to cook, can/freeze items from the garden, sew, repurpose, and reuse whatever we could find. It was exciting being first generation college graduates, who had made our way in the professional world but we always remembered where we came from. I was a 3rd grade teacher, and Sonya was a graphic designer. After the snowstorm had passed we realized we wanted to create things more often and began making things to sell at a local farmers market. Several years later, an opportunity opened up for me (Rachael) to manage a retail antique/vintage store. We did this for a year before completely quitting our jobs and taking ownership of the store. Sonya became my business partner, and with her graphic design skills helped rename and rebrand the retail store as Wilderlove, a handmade and vintage store. The store is a direct reflection of both us, and the people we hand pick as our handmade & vintage vendors. As we are not a traditional antique store, some people walk through quickly, but others linger for an hour or more marveling and buying interesting items, or striking up conversations that explore every topic under the sun. With our handmade inventory, we strongly believe in supporting local and international creatives, without wholesaling from mass produced, slave labor companies. Our vintage inventory is chosen carefully, making sure to pick items that reflect current trends, are of historical importance, and of all price ranges. We work with our vendors, making sure they are making enough profit in their spaces to make it worthwhile and their products are hitting our local and beach traffic markets. At the heart of Wilderlove we exist to create community and inspire creativity both locally and globally.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
A lot of the products we create or find come from reclaimed materials. Whether it’s sourcing quality second-hand inventory or saving a piece of furniture heading for the landfill. We take the broken and discarded things and give them a new life. Both Sonya and I come from Mennonite backgrounds that taught us the value of hard work and stewarding our resources well. It has very much influenced our business ethics. We both desired to pursue creativity and our backgrounds helped us dig in and do the hard work of growing a small business in a small town. Our journey has not been easy. It has required much tenacity and long-suffering, especially in the last four years from the start of Covid until now. Between the fire next to our first store space, a very unexpected move, difficult health diagnosis’ for both Sonya and I, and a flood, we have been very challenged to keep moving forward. When we set aside all those hardships, we have always known that our heart is provide a creative and beautiful space for our local community and those passing through. We have overcome each challenge both with the support of our community, friends, and family, and grace of God. Through it all we have learned the value of pushing through the hardship to find the beauty on the other side. This even goes for our creative projects. Whether I’m working on a challenging sewing project that just doesn’t seem to be working out, or Sonya solving a problem while flipping a piece of furniture, we push through the work to find a solution. When we are willing to face the challenge, we learn new things and expand our knowledge and skills as creatives. Wilderlove is about pushing into our creativity, and wrestling with challenges we face while we bring beautiful things into existence. Never stop creating, the world needs to see the beautiful things inside you.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
For my town of Greenwood, I would take them to our local coffee shop, Amity Coffee Roasters and Cafe for the best fresh-roasted and brewed coffee drinks. It’s also a great space to hang out, meet the locals, and take a fun creative cookie decorating class by Sweet C Baking. Heading down the beaches, in the summer, we’d hit Cape Henlopen State Park to hang out on the beach at Herring Point while the sun set behind the dunes. Then we head over the Kindle in Lewes for drinks and a bite to eat. For a winter beach trip we’d head over to Miyagi Ramen bar for a bowl of ramen and a cozy hang. Another great spot in the summer is Trap Pond State Park where we can rent kayak and paddle through the water cypress groves, or take a five mile hike around the pond. On the way home, we’d stop to devour tacos at Tacos Chabelita in Laurel, DE. We could also head over to the other side of the peninsula to visit historic St. Michaels and enjoy the history surrounding the Chesapeake Bay at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. We’d be sure to stop by Lyon Distilling to pick up a top-notch bottle of rum, because what’s a trip to see ships without some rum! Also while visiting the eastern shore of Maryland, we’d enjoy a hike at Blackwater Wildlife Refuge and end our journey walking through history at the Harriet Tubman Museum in Cambridge. On the way home, we’d grab a couple dozen oysters or blue crabs (depending on the season) and head home for a backyard seafood feast. And that’s a wrap for the week!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Covid 2020 caused us to shut down for two months and affected revenue in recent years as well as the difficult current economy. In 2021, an arson fire, in the building next door to our original location, caused us to shut down due to smoke damage and move to a different, much smaller space down the street. Our community in and around Greenwood, Delaware, came out in support and moved our entire two story store and the coffee shop with us, down the street and into storage in three days. We were overwhelmed by the generosity of people who volunteered their time and donated food for everyone. In July 2023, a flood of water nearly overtook our building and again the Greenwood community showed up. Local business owners brought water pumps and a group of local Greenwood citizen and Sonya’s extended family arrived, willing to load the whole store into a tractor trailer someone brought over to save our inventory if necessary. We will move again, into a renovated space in the spring of 2024, and again have many people offering to volunteer time to make this happen. Our local southern Delaware community have also continued to go above and beyond the necessary to shop and support us during the time in between. Amity Coffee Roasters and Cafe, who we were in a building with before and will rejoin soon, has been our biggest business supporters. We are fortunate to live in an amazing community of people that care about each other.

Website: www.wilderlovestore.com

Instagram: instagram.com/wilderlove_store

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wilderlovestore/

Image Credits
The photo of Rachael and Sonya from the flood was taken by Chloe Gingerich. The rest of the photos were taken by my business partner Sonya except of the one of Sonya, bookbinding the the cat, that was taken by myself, Rachael Miller.