Barbara McCahill is the owner of a very unique gift shop in Barefoot Landing called PURPLEologist, a boutique store wherein everything inside is purple.
The shop, next to Christmas Mouse, opened in 2009 and sells apparel, jewelry, shoes, accessories, housewares, gifts and many other things in all shades of purple. Barbara gets constant positive feedback from customers, who say the store, with Christian music playing and the smell of lavender products, is calming.
With a background of 51 years in retail and design, Barbara, whose title is “Chief PURPLEologist” and is called “Purple Barb,” attends trade shows around the country during the year, buying and even creating many of the items she sells.
“We have a nice array of Christian and inspirational books, Bible covers, and lots of gifts, and I do ‘judge a book by the cover,’” she laughs, “as it has to be predominantly purple!”
She notes that she has more than one trademark for PURPLEologist, “which we have utilized to create well over 200 unique products with our brand.”
Barbara’s passion for purple began when she was a toddler. She saw her mom wearing a gorgeous purple sweater “and apparently became obsessed with the word and the color!” When she was eight, her pastor, knowing her fondness for purple, told her about a woman in the Bible named Lydia, who was a “Seller of Purple.”
Because of the rarity of purple dye in those times, only royal families could afford it, and Lydia became wealthy through her sales and generosity, inspiring Barbara.
Later, a purple business plan in high school reinforced her career path.
“I might not be wealthy like Lydia, but I am so blessed to be a ‘seller of purple’ and living my passion, so I am not having to work a day in my life.”
PURPLEologist
4850 Hwy 17 South
Barefoot Landing
North Myrtle Beach, SC 29582
(843) 957-0670
purpleologist.com
