Have you heard the latest buzz? BeeDazzled at The Buzz just turned 10.

And BeeDazzled seems to be a well-kept secret.

“People who get BeeDazzled love it,” happily says Deb Ferguson.

BeeDazzled is the creation of Ferguson, “an eclectic mix of ever-changing finds.”

When BeeDazzled opened, it was one of five shops inside the building at 128 N. Sequim Ave. Gradually the other tenants left, and Ferguson bought the building.

Seven years ago, she opened The Buzz with ice cream, coffee and sweets on one side of the building and BeeDazzled on the other side. The Buzz quickly outgrew its side and Ferguson expanded it into most of the building. That pushed BeeDazzled into the back of the building.
Still Ferguson loves her mix of new and old: clothes, dishes, scarves, jewelry and much more.

‘I have a good eye’
Ferguson loves to shop. “My passion is finding treasures. I have a good eye.”

She visits thrift shops and garage sales looking for things that are interesting — usually hunting locally, but if she is in Port Townsend or Seattle, she will look.

 â€œI never know what I will find. Sometimes I leave with nothing, but the hunt is what I love.”

She has a storage locker full of boxes of things she has purchased over the years. She says it is just like Christmas to get out a box and open it because she never knows what she will find ­— but she knows it contains treasures because she buys only treasures.

The first thing Ferguson does with a new find is to wash it or, if necessary, have it dry cleaned. Then she irons it if needed and hangs it up to admire.

Ferguson loves it when someone else admires and buys a treasure.  Then she knows she made the right buy it in the first place. And now she has a place to put a new treasure.

Finding the fit
“It makes me very emotional when something has been here a long time and someone walks in and it is perfect for them.”

Ferguson says the magic of the shop started the first day it opened. A woman walked in and was delighted to find address numbers for her home. She had two at home in a style she liked and had been looking for the same style for years. Ferguson had two of the numbers, the exact two the woman needed.

The merchandise always is changing and, to help give focus, Ferguson likes to pick a theme and find items that fit it. Now she is working on a Asian theme. She recently focused on chickens and roosters.

When Ferguson opened in 2000 she had a dog named Zuzu that greeted visitors and escorted them in the shop. When Zuzu died, Ferguson set up a table in her memory with candles and rose petals. People came to visit and talk about Zuzu for more then three weeks.

Buzzbee,  what else?
Now she has a dog named Buzzbee that has been with her four years. Buzzbee is Ferguson’s shadow. At the store, he greets visitors at the door then sits inside a display counter supervising customers as they browse.

“I love what I do,” says Ferguson. “People love to come in and chat. Every day is a delight.”

Six years ago, Ferguson opened the Itty Bitty Buzz in Port Angeles and last September opened the Buzz Rx in Olympic Memorial Hospital. She calls it the newest part of the hive.

The Buzz Rx serves lunch as well as the ice cream, coffee and sweets of the other shops. Since that is doing well, Ferguson plans on serving lunch at The Buzz with sandwiches, soup and quiche starting this spring or summer.

Ferguson says one of her “worker bees,” Violet, and Violet’s job coach will visit downtown businesses to take lunch orders and deliver them. Many of Ferguson’s employees have been with her for much of the seven years The Buzz has been open. She considers them part of her hive.

The Buzz in Sequim soon will begin movie nights. On one or possibly two weeknights, it will open long enough for customers to get coffee and snacks and find a seat. The shop will close, and customers will view an independent, probably foreign, film. She is open to suggestions for films and  schedule.

Wednesday night open mic will continue.

Reach Dana Casey at dcasey@sequimgazette.com.