Pop-Up With a Purpose Mother’s Day sale

Jean Rowcliffe is looking forward to welcoming you to Riverwalk Commons on May 8 and 9 for her Pop Up with a Purpose sale with lots of beautiful items for purchase for Mother’s Day. Keep an eye out for more information on upcoming events taking place at the beautiful Water Street building.

By Wendy Lamond

The beautiful Riverwalk Commons is getting busier as owner Melissa Barton, who purchased the building in 2020, has transformed it into a warm, welcoming space for events, drop-ins and pop-ups with one of these pop-ups taking place on May 8 and May 9. This pop-up is being hosted by the lovely Jean Rowcliffe with clothing available for purchase from Joanie Chappel, “Formerly the Glass Shoppe”, with lots of items to be purchased and elegantly wrapped for Mother’s Day.

For sale are beautiful items like Tiffany jewellery, items from royalty, china, silver, clothing by designer brands, items from travel, art books and so much more. Preferred payment for the upcoming pop-up will be e-transfer and cash.

If you don’t know Rowcliffe, she has a very interesting history on what brought her to St. Marys, a town she truly loves. When she was a young girl living in London, Ontario she was a Royal Family follower and wanted to pursue a career working with them. Rowcliffe got hired to work in the dining rooms of Buckingham Palace. Seeing how nannies were well respected, she decided to train and was hired to be a nanny for Prince and Princess Michael of Kent who she remains in contact with today. Coming to a crossroads of whether to stay in London or to move on, in 1984 Rowcliffe decided to apply for other nanny jobs which brought her to San Francisco where she nannied for high-profile clients like Danielle Steel and Arianna Huffington. In 2007, Rowcliffe founded and ran The Village Well Inc. which was a community resource centre in San Francisco for young families giving them a supportive, welcoming spot to come and play with their little ones amongst music, games and circle time.

Sadly, in 2009, Rowcliffe’s only son James passed away from a rare form of cancer. Eventually Rowcliffe moved back to London, Ontario to be close to family and now lives in St. Marys.

After meeting Barton and knowing that she is being guided by her son, Rowcliffe has a vision for the beautiful Riverwalk Commons. Spending much of her life around children and helping them develop and grow, Rowcliffe will be starting something like The Village Well Inc. Coming in June on Monday mornings from 10-11 a.m., Miss Jean will be hosting a Children’s Circle Time for babies to pre-school age, along with their parents. There will be lots of music, dancing and stories in a comfortable, fun setting.

However, that is just the beginning. Rowcliffe has other visions for the space on Water Street. She is planning lots of community activities and events with more information to come.

There will also be more pop-ups like the one that is happening May 8 and 9 as well as game nights and indoor markets are being discussed.

Lots of great ideas are in the works and Rowcliffe can picture the Riverwalk Commons being filled with light and laughter and from her experiences, understands the need to live your life to the fullest because you never know when it will throw you a curve ball so enjoy every minute.

Owner of Riverwalk Commons Barton shared, “I love this, I love Jean. The vision I had for the space when I created it was how can I bring this place back to life and how do we grow in a way that is focused. These types of events and the energy that Jean is bringing to town and to these events, I fully support it.”

For more information on the pop up sale please email info@rwcommons.com or popupwithapurpose26@gmail.com