Olive Juice Offers Unique Experiences to Locals and Out of Town Guests

Erin Briscoe was given the opportunity nearly five years ago to open up her ‘dream’ shop in Oxford called Olive Juice. She wanted to incorporate something different yet eye catching to locals and tourists, and she did.

“I was basically born and raised in the Grove,” Erin said. “I know that sounds crazy and although I’m not from here, I’m from about 45 minutes away from here. I grew up here and I know all about Oxford. I always knew I wanted to have a store but never knew how soon I could have it. The opportunity came available my senior year of Ole Miss. I jumped on it. I knew that I wanted to do it, I just did it. I had nothing to lose. I didn’t have a job yet. So here we are, four years later going on our fifth year. It’s been so much fun. We hope to be here a lot longer. It’s great. It’s so much fun. It’s my whole life.”

Erin makes sure to buy from local jewelers and artists and displays their work all throughout her store. From hand-made picture frames, to hand-painted pictures and hand-crafted earrings and necklaces, she has it all. One girl’s work that stood out was Sadie Jewelry, made by Krista Blanchard from Pontotoc. She has beautiful bracelets and earrings that are super affordable, especially if you are looking for a graduation gift for your grandchild or daughter’s best friend.

Erin is in the process of preparing for Double Decker weekend that will bring well over 40 thousand people to the historic Oxford Square. Double Decker is one of their biggest weekends. Since Olive Juice supports local artists anyway, they have had a lot of great feedback from Double Decker weekend and can’t wait to see what this year brings.

Olive Juice has trunk shows or a special event every year for the Double Decker weekend to support one artist or a couple of artists. They will host a jewelry show and a local artist that will be doing a trunk show as well. Supporting local artists is something Erin and her staff always try to do. “We up-play our art and different things that local artists make, so really just supporting them that particular weekend is key,” Erin said.

When you walk by the store you can’t help but want to peak in, especially now that the weather is cooperating. “The weather definitely has a direct effect on the business,” Erin said. “If it’s rainy or cold obviously not a lot of people are out and about shopping. Lately, with the beautiful weather and the sun shining it has really picked up and been great.”

Erin has been told lately by customers that they want to see her expand the baby gift’s section. She said that they are in the process of working on that as a little side project at the moment.

The store also offers graduation gifts from $15 and up. Erin mentioned that usually a person has not one but several graduates to buy for and she wants to make people feel welcome in her store buying a gift that is not only affordable, but buying a gift and feeling good after doing so.

“We really try to be different,” Erin said. “So when our guests come to oxford they don’t go to every store on the square and see the same things. We try to find unique and different items so that our out of town guests have a  unique shopping experience when they come to the Square in Oxford.”

Erin also mentioned that she sometimes forgets Oxford isn’t just a college town, that Oxford also has really great high schools. Lately, she has been trying to cater to both high schools since graduation is coming up. She has gifts for everyone and welcome anyone to come by and see her.

Brittany Bugg is a HottyToddy.com staff writer and can be reached at brittany.bugg@hottytoddy.com.