No matter what opportunity life presents, you should always follow your heart. That’s what local boutique owner, Jessi Jurek, owner of Visions, located at 1 Ok Street, has done, and she wants her story to give people hope – especially teenagers – to trust the path they are on.
Life has been good to Jurek, giving her timely opportunities since she was a youth. Born and raised in Sierra Vista, she graduated from Buena High School, where she was enrolled in a business and marketing program.
Consequently, the science teacher at Buena High School, Eric Meyer (now a teacher at Bisbee High School), approached her marketing teacher/mentor, Jacqui Clay (now the superintendent of Cochise County schools), for trustworthy students who would want to work in his wife’s clothing store in Bisbee so she could go on vacation.
Jurek and her best friend at the time got hired to work in the store (Magnetic Threads), and part of the gig was knowing how to sew to be able to make the clothes as well as sell them. The timing of it couldn’t have been better, as Jurek had also just finished her senior art study project, which was sewing.
She had already been familiar with Bisbee and had been building a community here since she was 16, as she had been coming over with her mom to work in a shop on Main Street in exchange for lodging above the shop. She was also getting her cards read by a psychic reader in Bisbee during that time.
The job at Magnetic Threads was the perfect union of her interests/studies in high school, and what she learned in her teenage years laid the foundation for Visions to be possible. And what you see in Jurek’s store is a culmination of the chapters of her life, thus far.
She ended up starting her own little business selling handmade clothing at the Bisbee Community Market and doing shows. “It was the entry into doing my own thing,” said Jurek. “I was always into fashion and didn’t need school to start doing it.”
She continued doing that until 2015, when life presented her the opportunity to move to the Big Island of Hawaii with her boyfriend at the time and his family. She continued to sell her handmade clothing, and she also started making her own line of sensitive-skin body care.
“I had a severe case of eczema I had been struggling with for a while,” said Jurek. “So, I turned to my kitchen for natural ingredients.” She has been selling her first product, Morning Dew, a moisturizing facial oil, ever since.
In 2018, a twist of fate made her realize her heart belonged back in Bisbee. So, she had to follow it. After two years in Hawaii, she returned to Bisbee and continued doing her thing making clothing and skin care products, selling at the market and at shows again.
After a few years doing that, she decided it was time to create space for the business to evolve. Without taking too much of a risk, she rented a kiosk in the Bisbee Convention Center. “It was a great bridge from the market to a brick-and-mortar store,” said Jurek.
She was open one year to the day before the pandemic shut down the building. It was a sign that it was time to take the final jump and open her own brick-and-mortar store. She had already been inspired to do it, but it was never the right timing before.
As fate would have it, the building at 1 Ok Street would be available to lease by the end of 2020. The previous tenant/business of over 20 years, VaVoom!, went out of business, and Jurek had the keys by January 2021.
She opened her doors on February 27, 2021, with essentially no startup capital, which meant she had to get creative decorating the uniquely shaped space. So, she enlisted her brother’s help to gather, load and deliver manzanita and other plants to be dried for décor. “It’s my space to create and play in,” said Jurek. “And I have fallen in love with interior design in the process.”
Besides selling her clothing and sensitive skin care products, she also sells other artisan-made goods from local consignors and artists. And she sources items from people who make them in traditional ways, trying not to import or order as much as possible.
Store offerings change organically and are always thoughtfully curated. Best-selling items include her Morning Dew and Rosewater Mist, as well as beeswax candles and incense. The store also sells herbs, essential oils, jewelry, crystals and more.
It’s more than a store; it’s an experience – a space to enjoy the afternoon sun, to chat with Jurek or to buy gifts for yourself or others. She will be hosting a tea party on Friday, February 27 for her five-year anniversary. Treats will be served, along with joy and inspiration.
“I feel incredibly grateful to have had any amount of time here, especially five years,” said Jurek. “I’m excited for people to continue to find me over here and discover what they enjoy about the space.”
The anniversary celebration will take place during regular business hours, which are 12-6 p.m. Monday-Friday and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.