Shelves of color-sorted ribbons and buttons line the wall behind a work desk.

Refurbished vintage chairs piled with bright pillows gather around a table featuring sparkling jewelry.

Everything from a bowl made from a roll of tickets to beaded dog collars are scattered throughout the rest of the store.

Savvy State College, 153 S. Allen St., may not be a typical store, but owner and designer Dana Marsh said a good part of the store's appeal is its uniqueness.The store features handcrafted greeting cards, handmade jewelry and framed photographs, along with other crafts.

"Every time you look around, you see something you didn't see before," Marsh said.

Marsh is a Penn State alumna who studied journalism and French. After moving to New York and working for BusinessWeek, Marsh began to take classes at Parsons the New School for Design.

"That's where I started to have confidence in my artistic abilities," Marsh said.

She soon moved back to State College and began designing greeting cards. Many of Marsh's friends were also artistic and specialized in making crafts, she said.

"The store was born from creative friends who wanted to get into a business but didn't have an outlet for their work," Marsh said. "I thought, 'I can be that outlet.' "

Marsh features many of her own crafts in the store.

Sammie Starr, a designer from Arlington, Va., makes all of the jewelry in the store, and various photographers from around the area provide the photographs Marsh frames.

After looking around other similar stores and having been to the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, Marsh said she knew it would be important to have products that were unique, quality and affordable.

"A lot of people like handmade crafts, but they can't afford it," Marsh said. She added that her prices on anything in the store do not go over $200.

Marsh also said mostly everything in the store can be customizable.

"Jewelry can be resized, matched, lengthened or shortened," she said. "All of the photos can be resized and even the greeting cards can be customized. You can have exactly what you want."
Word-of-mouth, Marsh said, has greatly helped her advertise, since Savvy is below street-level -- underneath Tadpole Crossing, 101 E. Beaver Ave. -- and often not easily noticed by those walking by.

"I wanted to overcome the fact that I'm in a basement, and I tried to make this small space inviting and warm," Marsh said.

"I want it to be not just a store, but a destination."