Owners Anne and Barry Bradley (in foreground) are flanked by (from left to right) staffer Sheila Bingham, artist Stevie Jo Lake, staffer Kim Baethge and artist Melissa Starry. Credit: Al Rendon.

Artisans at Rocky Hill co-owner Anne Bradley admits she didn’t go about planning her retail gallery operation by the book. It was more like, “Let’s open a gallery,” she laughs, to sell her husband Barry’s handcrafted furniture and canoes.

The couple didn’t do extensive research. They liked crafts, and Barry had been a part-time craftsman since first learning woodworking as a boy, but neither had any formal training in the visual arts. And they latched onto the idea of opening a particular store in a particular place more as the result of an enticing opportunity than from a fully mapped-out plan.

Yet after five years of business in two locations, Artisans is not only doing well, it’s thriving. Sales were up in 2009, 13% over the year before. The number of artists represented burgeoned from 18 to 91. And the gallery’s location on Main Street in downtown Fredericksburg, Texas, almost guarantees a steady stream of customers.

All of which speaks volumes about the passion and commitment of both the Bradleys and their artists, whom the couple have worked diligently to make an integral part of their success.

For more of “In Texas Hill Country, with Love” pick up a copy of the Summer 2010 issue of NICHE magazine.