Merchant of the Month: October 2026

Bohemian House has been a Main Street Ellicott City staple for the past six years. Inside, Tiffany Averill greets you, surrounded by art, crystals, trinkets, and oddities she curated herself. As an artist herself, Tiffany’s goal for Bohemian House is to take the stuffiness out of art galleries. She has a little something for everyone in her witchy little shop.

Tell us about your business.

Bohemian House is an eclectic art gallery and gift shop with a little bit of a witchy spiritual vibe to it, but tasteful. Lots of little quirky things without being in your face. I wanted to open a place that I would want to shop at.

I'm an artist. I have a background in like luxury sales. I just wanted it to be like a fun, quirky, welcoming, inclusive little hidey hole. I actually have three different businesses that I run out of here. Okay, so there's the store, then I have a wholesale brand, which is the candles and oils that I make. Then I'm also an art conservator and restoration artist. I work with a lot of estates. I do estate portfolio and appraisal services. If things are damaged or broken or just need restored. I do that. Lots of painting, lots of sculpture, lots of moldings, like frames, like old gilt hand carved frames.

What problems does your business solve for customers?

I think that it takes away the stuffiness that some art galleries can hold, people go in there afraid to touch, or you know they're afraid that they’re not dressed well enough that day. I don't want that. I've worked in places like that, and they make me sick. Yeah, I just want it to be approachable and fun. I would say it solves the stuffiness problem.

I've got stuff here that's $1 up to 1000, so it’s more accessible to the casual person. Whether they're like a teenage girl coming in to buy a crystal, or an established couple that already have a home and they find this great piece of art.

It's like all the people. I want everybody to come in.

What makes your business unique?

What makes my business unique is me.

I have a branding and marketing background, and a lot of times people focus on branding their brand. But they're the brand. They're the face of the brand, and they forget that. I focus on me. I'm the experience. When they walk through the door, they get me first and foremost. Everything else is secondary, and my client base that I built, especially here in Ellicott City, relates to me. They come and tell me their problems.

It has nothing to do with selling them anything. It's like they just like to talk or give advice or be heard. Again, I think that’s one of the quirks of this community is the line between the business and the patron is very askew in a good way. The people that come in are the business.

I do mentoring for startup businesses, and the first thing I tell people is you're the face of your brand. If you're not authentic, people are going to know. They'll walk right out the door. They don't want to buy from you. They want to buy from somebody that they can relate to.

Who is your ideal customer?

I don't know that I have an ideal customer. I would say the people that walk in and go, "What is this place? And where have you been?” The ones when they walk in and their face light up, those are like my people. The ones that keep coming back.

I feel like they get it. Some people don't, and that's okay. But the ones that do, they're my sunshines.

What has been your proudest milestone so far?

I've had several proud milestones. Best Art Gallery 2026 from Baltimore Magazine. A year before that, they did a big article on me. The woman that interviewed me for it, she got me. Like when this came out and I read it, it says, “Tiffany Averill’s Ellicott City Shop is a Love Letter to All of Her Favorite Things” She gets it. This shop is my love letter.

Oh, this is a big deal. I had an 18-month restoration contract The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, where I restored-I don't even remember how many pieces it was over a year and a half. It was the art of Jeanette Weinberg, and she's been dead since 1991, and I mean this is a global philanthropy corporation. Very big deal. The fact that they trusted me with her work, which is invaluable. You can put price tags on a Picasso or a Renmark. You can't put a price tag on her paintings that she did herself. They’re invaluable, you know. They asked me, “What do we do for insurance purposes?” And I was like “I can absolutely give you some kind of catalog. But price wise you need to insure this for like $5 million. Minimum.” Hopefully they will never have any fire or flood.

That was probably one of the biggest highlights of my restoration career.

What challenges have you overcome as a business owner?

I would say my biggest challenge is balancing my three brands and making sure that I give them all the attention that they deserve without shooting myself in the foot. I'm firm with my work and life balance, which is something that I didn't really grow into until my 50s. Before that, I was like working 20 hour days, getting no sleep, hustle, hustle, hustle, and I was a zombie. I didn't appreciate it. But I have a family at home, a husband who loves me, I have kids that love me, and cats that need fed, and a garden that needs to be tended. I'm adamant about turning my phone off and just being present for my life because that's what matters.

A huge challenge besides like that work-life balance was probably my rent when I first came on the street. I was lost. I almost closed after a year. I was in another location down the hill; I was in between Unusual and Company and Stonehouse Collective. Eventually this place came up, and I was able to make it work.

How do you support or engage with your community?

By throwing myself right into it. My love language is the community, and serving the community. I love the Ellicott City Partnership. It's my heart. Supporting the other shop owners, going to their events, shopping in their stores. Yeah, just being in it actively, yeah, consciously, and helping it grow.

I’ve been involved in the board for almost five years. And in different roles. Learn your community, learn what they need, and jump in. I would be nothing without the other businesses and people that live there.

I live literally right up the road in Catonsville. I shopped here. I was one of the regulars before. When I was going to open a shop, I knew I wanted to be somewhere in the Ellicott City-Catonsville corridor. I already knew people, and I think that helped me. Plus, I'm a total extrovert!

What products or services are you most excited about right now?

I would say all my products I'm excited about because they support local artists. I've got right now 37 different artists that are ultra local. Within a five-mile radius.

Things like crystals and stones are outsourced from all over the world. But I buy them from a local vendor. She’s a single mom, and that's what she does. Supporting the artist is my greatest thing.

What's next for your business?

Every year I set a goal for myself, and I set out to slay that goal. Last year it was to double my business. This coming year for 2027, I think I'm looking to really pinpoint the long term. I’m six years in, and I've been focused on building my business, and now my business has arrived. All three of them. Now I feel like I'm in that sweet spot where I know where I've made mistakes, and I won't do them again. I know my potential, and I'm gonna reach it. It’s just getting from point A to point B and figuring it out along the way.

There’s a fly by the seat of your pants element to it, and that gives me a little bit of energy. A pep in my step because I like that. I'm focused on sustaining and growing, but also looking for ways to support more artists, support my community more, and bring people together.

What do you want customers to feel when they work with you?

I want them to feel safe and included and equal; I want them to feel like I'm not better than them. I'm not trying to be. I want my customers to feel like they had an experience. And I don't want them to leave and go “It was boring.” I promise you, everybody that leaves here is gonna remember me and come back.