Minding Your Business- Oceana

It’s all in the family now for this iconic shop at 1 Main St. in Orleans. Jen and Russ Heamer, Brewster residents for over 10 years, and Jen’s parents, Midge and Bud Dey, Harwich residents for 30 years, are proud to call themselves the new owners of Oceana, the go-to gift and housewares shop in Orleans. The thoughtfully curated gifts and coastal accessories and accents have attracted shoppers and guests to Oceana for decades, and the family is excited and honored to carry the shop’s legacy forward.

“We bought the inventory, the building, the property, the whole shebang,” Jen Heamer said. “We are all so excited and tickled!”

The family brings a wide background of experience to the table. Jen’s mother Midge is a talented artist and had a retail shop with three locations a decade ago in Harwich, Brewster and Sudbury for over 20 years called “Marjorie’s.” She went on to run the gift shop at the Wequassett Resort, handling all of the buying. Midge also used to sell her shell artwork to original Oceana owner Carol Wright years ago. Jen’s father Bud spent his career in medical management and billing, and her husband Russ had a career in construction, recently overseeing the reconstruction of the Osterville Baptist Church. Jen worked for her mother’s Sudbury shop for 15 years before branching off into a sales and marketing director position for a wholesale sign and souvenir company. 

“I have always said I have been on both sides of the counter as a buyer and a seller,” Jen said. “We have four totally different personalities and we all had our own careers. I had been traveling for work and gone 38 weeks of the year. I was travelling so much for work that I was like, ‘I just can’t do this as my father ages.’ All of our careers were at the point where we were like, yes it is time to pivot. We all started daydreaming about what we could do together because we vacation together, we do everything together.”

The family started looking around for businesses for sale in the area and opportunities to tap into, agreeing that they wanted to purchase a business that was already well-established. They saw an undisclosed retail shop for sale in Orleans and dove right in headfirst. 

“I called my mom and was like, ‘oh my gosh, this is it, this is it!’” Jen said. “My father was the master manipulator of the finances to make it happen. We then communicated with the owner Jane and she was very excited and knew our history. Jane really wanted the new owners to be local and take it forward, continuing the tradition.”

The family opened the doors of Oceana under their ownership on April 1, exactly 30 years after Carol Wright first opened the doors.

“Everything was so fortuitous,” Jen said. “It all aligned that it was Carol’s 30-year anniversary on the day we opened. It just gives us all the goosebumps!”

Oceana carries home accents, gifts, art and jewelry of all types. It is a destination in town for wedding and hostess gifts. Everything in the shop gives off coastal, timeless vibes. The family plans to keep many of the current vendors, styles and traditions in place, including the famous “sail loft” sale area upstairs and their iconic gift wrapping service (tied together with the Oceana shell, of course!). Jen and Midge will handle all of the buying and will plan to continue to carry about 60 to 70 percent of the same vendors. 

“We definitely have new eyes,” Jen said. “We will have new artists we’ll bring in. We went to the New England Made giftwares show in Maine in March. The four of us went and had so much fun! We’ll be bringing in more local artists, New England and Cape Cod as much as possible and feature USA made.”

Jen’s husband and dad, Russ and Bud, are transforming the far left wing of the space to a men’s gallery with a variety of new gift items and merchandise. Russ will also handle all of the shipping and receiving for Oceana’s online orders and Shopify accounts.

“There is so much possibility here,” Jen said. “The potential with our passion is really exciting to us. We all have the passion for retail, for Cape Cod and Orleans. We are so excited to be a part of this community and build on it.”

Oceana will be participating in First Fridays all summer long with musical acts already booked to perform. 

“I just love coming to work every day,” Jen said. “I feel like the luckiest girl in the world!”

And it shows! Be sure to stop in to Oceana and say hello and welcome to Orleans to Jen, Midge, Russ and Bud and browse their gorgeous store soon.

Details:

Oceana

1 Main St., Orleans

508-240-1414

oceanacapecod.com