About Linda

About Linda Welcome…

Welcome to my website, my name is Linda Oliver.   I am celebrating 17 years of LindaOliverOriginals Jewelry and over 30 years of Hand-made jewelry making.  There was definitely a DNA that was deposited in me with the label “Retail Artist Entrepreneur” when I was born…!  As a little girl I grew up making things, covering boxes/trunks, painting murals in my basement and creating window displays at a local mall store by the time I was 15 years old.

I attended Bauder Fashion College in Arlington, TX for Interior Design.  After graduating from Bauder, I walked into a 1982 economic recession with a career field that was impossible to make a living!  After 100’s of endless resumes and applications,  I soon found a part-time job at an Art Gallery and it turned out to be a God-given opportunity!  Within 3 months I was offered a position of managing a poster art gallery called Main Street Gallery at St. Anthony Main Specialty Mall in Minneapolis, MN on the Mississippi Riverfront.  I went on to manage the Main Street Gallery Poster Art Store at River Place and also City Center Mall downtown Minneapolis.   I am very greatful to the family that owned these galleries and the experience that I gleaned from them!

After several years of managing art galleries I finally mustered up enough courage to to start my life long dream of opening my own store!  So at 24 years old, I rented a little cart at Bandana Square Mall in St. Paul, MN.  Hanging on to the Art Gallery job by day and working the evening/weekends at my “cart”, I found out that I could make a living working for myself selling 1928 Jewelry as my feature product and the hats created an atmosphere of fun!  The fun had begun.

"Bandana Square gets youngest shop owner.."
“Bandana Square gets youngest shop owner..”

After 3 months of a cart, you can imagine how I felt when Bandana Square Mall offered me a store location and told me I was “selling too much” for a cart rental and exceeding other store sales.  God has a way of moving us forward in our destiny!  It was the beginning of my entrepreneurial skills for a life time…

Side door of Chapeau Rouge at Bandana Square
Side door of Chapeau Rouge, Inc. at Bandana Square Specialty Mall

Looking back is always good, because it helps you see how far you’ve come…  Now I don’t have to open the front door of my store every morning & close it every night for you, it stays open on the world wide web for you 24/7!  What a world we live in…  Enjoy!

Front door entrance to Chapeau Rouge hat shop at Bandana Square Specialty Mall.
Front door entrance to Chapeau Rouge hat shop at Bandana Square Specialty Mall.