When Lou Nerren moved up to Raymond from Alabama in 1999, her daughter, Jani Cummings, was worried about what her mother was going to do when she got up here.

It took one of Nerren’s homemade tote bags to help the two women decide on a plan.

Cummings, who has taught first grade at Raymond Elementary School for the past 28 years, carried one of these bags to work. When the other teachers saw it, they all wanted to know where they could buy bags like it.

Nerren started filling orders and by the year 2000 their business, Cottage Industries of Raymond, was born.

“We started asking, ‘What would it take to open a store?'” Cummings said. “‘What could we fill it with?'”

Their answer was just around the corner, because soon, parents of students she’d taught over the years came forward, wanting to sell their work in the new store.

Located in the barn of their old, lavender house on the corner of routes 85 and 121, the consignment shop displays creations from about 25 different artists, all of whom live in Raymond or have some connection to the town.

“This is the community,” Cummings said, looking around the room at the various items arranged on the walls, shelves, and on every other available space.

The artists’ work ranges from glass painting to woodworking to jewelry making and everything in between.

Although some of the craftspeople selling their work at the shop change from year to year, many have been with the mother-daughter team since the beginning.

“It feels good to have the things they make seen by others,” Nerren said.

And, in a way, this is why they chose Cottage Industries as the name for their attractive shop.

For a couple of years, while Cummings was a teenager, the family lived in New Delhi, India. Her father, Nerren’s husband, was a Marine in charge of Marine security guards for embassy security there. One shop they frequented in New Delhi was called Cottage Industries.

“It celebrated the industries of women,” said Cummings. “It gave them an avenue for their industry when they didn’t have a voice.”

Although some of the artists are men, it is predominantly women who sell their designs at the store.

Nerren does most of the work in the Raymond shop, says daughter Cummings. And Cummings takes pride in her mother’s accomplishments and passion.

“My mom, who does all this work is legally blind. She has macrodegeneration, but constantly demonstrates her determination to make this work,” Cummings said.

During the winter months, when Cottage Industries is closed, as well as in summer when she’s not busy in the shop, Nerren fills her time sewing her tote bags, handbags, fleece blankets, and pillows.

Because there’s no heat in the barn, they are only open part of the year, from Memorial Day through the end of September, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 12 p.m.-5 p.m. on Sundays.

“I love it. I miss it when it’s closed,” said Nerren.