Taylor Shaffet always knew she wanted to be her own boss. In May of 2014, she found the perfect location to open her dream store, Butter & Bread Company, on the Square.
The store offers unique and handmade kitchen and home supplies, jewelry and even art. The vibe of the store is unique with a bohemian, yet retro-vintage feel. Candles are burning, colorful wallpaper delicately dresses up the walls and animal skin rugs cover the floor.
Shaffet opened Butter & Bread Co. during her fifth year at the University of Mississippi. She learned the importance of time management being both a student and a new business owner.
“I opened the store at the start of my fifth year. It was very time-consuming, I had no employees so, I had to be at the store every Tuesday through Saturday and Sunday on home game weekends. I was not able to go home often but my fiancé, at the time, would drive back and forth from Clarksdale to see me. Being here so often was never a problem because I’ve always wanted to do this,” said Shaffet.
Shaffet said prior to opening the store, she was looking for a hostess gift on the Square and could not find anything she wanted to buy.
“I called my mom at that moment and said, ‘Mom, I am opening my own store,’” Shaffet said. “I was looking for something particular and couldn’t find it so I thought, ‘If I can’t find it then I am just going to open up a store myself.’”
At the time of opening, Shaffet was hoping her store would bring distinctive, handmade and different items to Oxford, not just locally made items or things found in every other store on the Square.
“I am a very different and unique person as it is,” Shaffet said. “I’ve always, with fashion, with decorating my house, you name it, been very different. If someone has something that I have then I don’t want it anymore.”
Shaffet said that she chose the name Butter & Bread Company because it is her favorite comfort food.
“My dad is from Louisiana and my mom is from Mississippi, so I grew up on good, Creole, Southern food. I wanted people to walk in my store and feel comfort. I know if I walk into a store and see a pillow I like, I immediately think, this is really going to make my home feel more welcoming, so I wanted my customers to feel the same,” said Shaffet.
Shaffet said at first, she was hesitant about her location, being that it is somewhat hidden. She now loves her stores location; she said that it is a hidden gem, just like the items in her store.
Butter & Bread Company has items for everyone. For the men, there are homemade Tabasco kits and homemade gin kits. For the women, jewelry, candles and art. There are even cute shirts for infants.
“Although my target audience is women, there is something for everyone. Men love the homemade Tabasco and gin kits, they also make for the perfect gift,” said Shaffet.
Hunter Whitfield, a local Oxford resident, said that he goes to Butter & Bread specifically to buy the homemade Tabasco and Gin kits.
“Tabasco and Gin are two of my favorite things as it is. It is really cool that I can make each of them on my own with these kits. They are awesome whether I get them as a gift or buy them for myself,” said Whitfield.
Shaffet said her favorite items are the unique mugs that have fun sayings on them. She also said the Whiskey Bottom candles fly off the shelves.
“I would say about 99 percent of my customers return. They buy something they like and they always come back. That makes me feel like I have accomplished everything I wanted to with my store,” said Shaffet.
Dannielle Fyke is a senior print journalism major at the Meek School of Journalism and New Media. She can be reached at dlfyke@go.olemiss.edu.
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