From family move to storefront: Blue Nest Mercantile finds new home in Greensboro

Chrissy Hild said her path to becoming an interior designer was a little unconventional.

"My oldest daughter, we had moved from a house she absolutely loved to one that she felt not comfortable in," Hild said. "She had left her friends. We were in a cul-de-sac, and then we moved to a busy street. And her counselor said, There's nothing wrong with her, she's just been kicked out of her nest.'"

The family's move was in 2016.

Hild said the experience would shape the name of the store she opened in Kernersville in 2022, Blue Nest Mercantile.

"So, my blue nest came from that," Hild said. "I needed to work on making our house feel more like a home for her."

On Saturday, Hild held a grand opening for Blue Nest Mercantile's new location. The store moved from Kernersville to a larger space at 2801 Lawndale Drive in Greensboro.

Hild said initially she was a little hesitant to make the move to Greensboro.

She said the wife of one of the building's owners was a shopper at her Kernersville store.

"He said, 'Would you like to be in Greensboro? And I said no," Hild said. "I was like, I'm fine in Kernersville."

Eventually, Hild had a change of heart.

"I came, and I looked at it. And I was like, 'You know what, maybe this is a good idea,'" Hild said. "So, once we started putting everything together and putting things out on social media and seeing that Greensboro was like: 'We're happy to have you.'"

The feeling is mutual.

Before the building on Lawndale became Blue Nest Mercantile, it was a fabric store. Before that, it was a Sears department store.

"People come in here now, like even the woman that did the wallpaper, she said my grandmother used to work here when it was Sears," Hild said.

When you first enter the store, you will hear praise music playing quietly in the background and see a variety of home décor items for sale.

"We sell everything off the floor," Hild said. "So, if you come in and you say, 'Oh, I need a dining table.' Then, you can take this home."

Hild said the store's most popular item is candles. The large ones sell for $34.95.

Hild said the most popular scent is grapefruit.

"Literally, we will have that in the store, and people will say, 'What are you burning? That's what we want,'" Hild said.

All the candles sold at Blue Nest Mercantile are from Nest.

"Nest is a worldwide, top-end candle company, and they only let certain people carry it," Hild said. "When I opened in Kernersville, I called them, and I said I'd really like to open an account. And they said, 'Well, it's $10,000,' and I was like, 'Well, I don't have $10,000.'"

Nest found that there was no other dealer in the area. The $10,000 account minimum was waived. Hild placed her first order.

Another popular item at Blue Nest is mixers, ranging from $20 to $30.

"Right now, we've got Paloma and Margarita mixes. And then in the fall we'll do like a cider, a Moscow Mule, cranberry, that kind of thing," Hild said.

At the Kernersville store, Blue Nest was focused primarily on home décor. The larger space in Greensboro has allowed for the addition of furniture and rugs.

Hild said the furniture at Blue Nest is made by the company Rowe. Hild said their most popular sectional is called the Sylvie, and the second most popular is called the Madeline.

The most popular chair is the Kara Chair. "This one swivels and glides," Hild said. "So, they can feel the swivel mechanism on the floor."

Blue Nest plans to sell custom mahjong tables.

"Andrew Graven makes these. He is with Kerf & Burled," Hild said. "This is $3,000 for this piece. As you can imagine, this is pretty detailed, but he makes several of these in different styles, and they're just gorgeous."

Kerf & Burled is a small furniture company based in Stokesdale.

Hild said there is a sizable mahjong-playing community in Greensboro.

"Mahjong is huge right now," Hild said. "There's a designer down the street who has several of these tables, and they have mahjong games there."

Blue Nest is open to the public, but Hild also does appointment-only visits where she shares her expertise as an interior designer.

"Usually, I go to their house first. Once we gather all the information, they come into my office," Hild said. "We sit down, and I pull together some ideas for them."

Hild said having the furniture pieces in the store now helps her advise clients more effectively.

"I can say to a client, 'Hey, I think we should do the Kara chair in a swivel glide,' and they can be like, 'Well, what does that feel like?'" Hild said. Now, she noted, the customer can try out the chair in the store.

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