Bewilderment store now open at 129 N. Columbus St. is more than just a retail shop

LANCASTER − The new Bewilderment store at 131 N. Columbus St. does more than just sell items like wax melts, aroma sprays, car fresheners, shirts, stickers and more. It is also a mental health advocate.

Brandon Love owns both the store and www.bewilderment.com.

"Bewilderment is a 10-year-old family business I started with my great-grandmother with some of her old recipes," he said. "It's always been a business that's been tied to mental health advocacy from my own struggles. It has expanded to this massive community of what we call BewilderBuds, a Facebook group. It's called a mental health hangout."

Love is from Baltimore, Maryland, but now lives in Fairfield County.

"North Columbus Street is really becoming like a retail mecca in downtown Lancaster," he said. "It's exciting to be a part of it. I came here months before and I spoke to all of the business owners around. We found this fantastic location. It's a historic building and was a funeral home at one point. So a funeral home from the 1800s is now a very fun department store."

Love said he'd like to expand the store in the next six months or so by 30% to feature more products.

"We were really fighting these last two months to be open for back-to-school season," he said. "Autumn is my favorite time of the year, so I really wanted to show what we have going for us."

Bewilderment is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday.

jbarron@gannett.com

740-681-4340

Twitter/X: @JeffDBarron

This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Bewilderment store now open at 129 N. Columbus St. is more than just a retail shop