The Doodle's Story
In 1994, the idea of Whim So Doodle was born when two new friends were chatting about their mutual love of smocking designs for children’s clothes. Because of the lack of supplies available locally, these two women, Jill Orobello and Shirley DeGroot, decided to open a shop devoted to smocking supplies. They discussed opening a small shop to start off with, and found themselves operating out of a back room in Beach Drive Papery. In those early days you would find the shelves stocked with not only smocking and sewing supplies, but also unique gifts and fun Hello Kitty products. To say that the beginnings were small is a slight understatement. The store was open on Monday and Friday for only three hours a day with Shirley the sole employee. Jill and Shirley operated Whim Sew Doodle, as it was originally known, this way for two years before they realized that they needed to find a bigger location.
Downtown St. Petersburg beckoned with a new location and 800 square feet of space to fill. Whim Sew Doodle officially moved to 2nd Avenue and 3st Street and continued to sell smocking supplies and gifts but now added the popular hobby of rubber stamping to their shelves. Crafters were very happy with the newest addition, and Jill and Shirley expanded not only their inventory but their customer base as well. They became known as a rubber stamping store offering a variety of stamping supplies for card and invitation making. Because the store was gaining popularity they found themselves seeking help running the store and hired Debbie and Barb, who ultimately became the store’s manager. Still in these days the store ran on fewer hours only being opened during daytime hours Monday through Friday.
In 1999, with a resurgence of urban renewal, Whim Sew Doodle lost their location to downtown development and had to choose a new location. Having faith that all things happen for a reason, Jill embraced the
move even though both she and Shirley really didn’t know what they were getting into. They settled on the 4th Street location with an impressive 2,300 square feet. Quite a lot of space to fill! The stamping supplies were very popular and took up the entire back room of the new location. The front room was devoted to gifts, and smocking occupied one of the smaller rooms in the store. There was a big, new craft on the horizon called scrapbooking. It had recently made its way to the Florida area, and both Jill and Shirley found this hobby exciting. Scrapbooking supplies were introduced into the new store, and with most of the store’s inventory devoted to crafting supplies the “Sew” in the store’s name was changed to “So” and the new Whim So Doodle was born! Jo, Jamie & Rachel came on board and brought their own brand of uniqueness that makes the store special. The gift line and smocking supplies soon were being eclipsed by all the scrapbooking supplies. Within two years the store was totally devoted to scrapbooking and rubber stamping. Local crafters were very happy with the switch since they could find almost everything at The Doodle.Scrapbooking was taking off in the world of crafting and Whim So Doodle kept up by carrying full lines of the most popular products, hosting events with early industry leaders such as Lindsey and Vickie from Cut It Up, hosting Friday night Scrap-A-Doodle crops with the uproarious duo of Jamie and Rachel, offering basic scrapbooking classes, mailing a quarterly newsletter and providing unparalleled customer service. For three years Kim worked at The Doodle as the store manager making sure that the store ran smoothly and efficiently. Leisa and Jen joined the Doodle Divas, as they are known today, and with their love of teaching paper crafting to eager students, have helped popularize the class offerings keeping them in high demand.
These days weekly emails replace newsletters, hours have been extended to include nights and weekends and special holiday hours, weekly crops have been outpaced by classes, fun events like Bus Shop Hops, Garage Sale Days, Fall Festivals and more have been huge successes and the staff now includes a Design Team. Through all the years there have been a number of fresh faced young girls to help out around The Doodle including Jill and Shirley’s daughters. There have been countless graduations, college choices, weddings, career changes, boyfriend changes and more recently babies for The Doodlers and it has been a joy to share in all these milestones. Jill, Jen and Jo now manage fifteen employees that through the many years together more closely resemble a family than co-workers. Over the years the mission for the store has evolved into the idea of crafting to help others. Whether it be by giving back to the community via outreach projects, donating supplies to local churches, schools and Hospice, being simply the greatest place to work or just giving those in the crafting community a fun place to gather and enjoy this hobby has made Whim So Doodle more than just your local scrapbook store.
Whim So Doodle is approaching its thirteenth year of being in business and is still evolving and changing. In late March 2007 the location will once again be changing to even a larger location and moving back downtown. We'll make room for even more scrapbooking and rubber stamping supplies with over 4,600 square feet! In the new downtown location there will also be room enough for two simultaneous classes or a large crop event. There will be more room in the aisles to move around and just shop. The new shop will be just minutes from the beach and will enjoy the updated urban atmosphere of an eclectic downtown St Petersburg district. Join us for a shopping trip, then stay for a First Friday celebration. Come crop and enjoy a delicious meal from one of many local favorites. Whenever you come for a visit just know that you will be welcomed by The Doodlers and will always have fun in the creative environment!