Shake the Tree turns 30

Shake the Tree marked a major milestone on Saturday, Oct. 19, with a festive party celebrating 30 years in business for the funky, independent boutique and gift shop on Salem Street.

“The party was a huge success,” said Marian Klausner, proprietor of the shop located at 67 Salem St., following the event, which drew hundreds of faithful customers and friends over the course of the evening. “We are grateful for all of the community love!”

The shop’s origins date back to 1994, when Klausner, then a practicing attorney, was working as program director of a small nonprofit women’s criminal justice project. When the project ran out of funding, she found herself suddenly and unexpectedly unemployed and began pondering her next career move.

At the same time, Klausner was indulging her artistic side by painting furniture and home accessories with a friend, which they were selling at local craft fairs.

She also had a longtime aspiration – something she had kept private until this time. “Secretly, I has always wanted to open a business,” recalled Klausner, then a Brookline resident.

From the start, Klausner admits she had no business plan whatsoever and very little money, but she did have numerous contacts in the local art world via her own work as an artist. She put the call out to the artisans she knew who were making jewelry, ceramics, handmade paper, textiles, and handcrafted glass and wood pieces, among other items.

And with these artists offering to put their creations on consignment, the business, originally known as ‘Shake the Tree Gallery,’ opened in Brookline in June of 1994.

The business takes its name from “Shaking the Tree” – a 1989 song by Youssou N’Dour and Peter Gabriel, the renowned English singer-songwriter who first rose to fame as the original singer for the band Genesis, from  N’Dour’s album, ‘The Lion.’ The following year, Gabriel released a new recording of the song, with slightly altered lyrics, for his greatest hits collection, also called ‘Shaking the Tree.’ The song’s lyrics  reportedly relate to the desire for female liberation in Senegal in Western Africa.

In 2004, the lease on the Brookline Village was set to expire as Klausner was thinking about relocating to an area with more foot traffic and where her business could reach a wider audience.

She found a location on Salem Street in the North End that she loved and was able to negotiate a reasonable rent with the landlord.

The move also brought a change in concept for the business, which dropped ‘Gallery’ from its name to become just ‘Shake the Tree.’

The name change came as the business expanded from its previous focus on “mostly local or American-made, small-batch designers,” said Klausner, although she added “that’s still an important part of us.”

In particular, Klausner said wanted to expand into the “world of women’s contemporary clothing,” along with “cookbooks and stuff that didn’t fit the definition of an art  gallery.”

(In 2008, Shake the Tree moved to its current location on Salem Street, a few doors down from its original storefront in the neighborhood.)

An avid traveler, Klausner also began to draw inspiration for Shake the Tree from her time away from Boston. She made a connection with a jewelry-maker in Barcelona, who creations are on now on sale at the shop, alongside a number of items that evoke one of her favorite destinations, France, including items such as a tote bag emblazoned with the word ‘croissant,’ as well as dish towels and glasses that include images of Paris street signs.

One trip to Mexico and the “wonderful food” she ate there even compelled Klausner to start selling Mexican cookbooks, along with tortilla presses and masa so customers can make their own tortillas at home.

Italy is, of course, another one of Klausner’s favorite destinations so Shake the Tree is stocked with Italian cookbooks and other similarly themed items for sale.

“Being in the North End is very important to me because I love Italy, even though I’m not Italian,” she said. “The vibrancy of the Italian culture is very much alive here.”

Of moving to the North End, Klausner said, “It’s such a vibrant neighborhood. I couldn’t understand why there weren’t more business besides restaurants.”

Today, however, Shake the Tree is part of a close-knit community of small businesses in the North End.

“Small businesses are an integral part of the neighborhood, and we take care of each other,” said Klausner, who also noted all of these businesses give back when and where they can.

Shake the Tree has supported myriad causes and charities over the years, including participating in local fundraisers and contributing to local schools, she said.

Meanwhile, Shake the Tree is also a family business in the truest sense, with Klausner working alongside Sasha Brill, her 32-year-old daughter, at the shop.

Brill has been serving as Shake the Tree’s full-time manager since this summer, but she literally grew up there. A small play area was set up for Brill and her older brother in the original Brookline store, and she began helping out at the shop on the retail side in high school and continued to work there during her breaks from college.

After college, when Brill was working as a teacher in New York, she would accompany her mother when she visited to attend clothing shows in the city. This gave Brill a hand-on education in how purchasing for Shake the Tree works while she also provided her mother with her keen fashion insight.

“It’s such a hoot. It’s great. I love working with her. She brings fresh eyes and insight,” said Klausner of working with her daughter.

Klausner noted that as a mother-daughter business, Shake the Tree reflects the shop’s customer base, which most often comprises a young woman accompanied by her mother.

Likewise, Brill echoed this sentiment, saying, “Our customers are usually versions of both of us, young professional women in their 20s and 30s and their mothers.”

Looking ahead, Brill only hopes to continue the spirit that her mother created at Shake the Tree.

“I think it’s a vision in process,” she said. “I just want to keep the vibe alive. She created such a welcoming, vibrant, and happy community for the people for work here and for [longtime customers].”

She continued, “The business has really evolved over the years to complement her vison and how she sees the world, and her travels. It’s got a cool vibe, and I hope I can continue that.”

Moreover, Brill said, “There’s a certain beautiful, positive energy she creates, and we want to keep this. It comes not just from the items on the shelves, but it’s really a lot of her energy that she’s brought to the store for so many years. I want to continue that and also keep it exciting for customers with items that feel new.”

            Visit Shake the Tree online at shakethetreeboston.com.