According to their facebook page, Mon Cherie "brings together socially conscious women and artisans…read morefrom around the world by selling handcrafted treasures from North America, the Andes, Russia, Italy, Bali, Brazil, India, Mexico, Thailand, and West Africa. By purchasing these products, women can celebrate themselves, support artisans and preserve the artistic traditions that have been around for centuries." They also have thirty-one reviews on their FB page, all 5 stars. (Also, their website domain has not been renewed.)
This sounds great and all, but my brief experience was a bit different that those reviewers. I stopped in here with my mom over the weekend, during a craft and vendor show in downtown Irwin. Neither one of us had ever been in the store before and just popped in to check in out. So basically, the store has a lot of hand-crafted and unique items, such as jewelry, purses, baby items, home decor, etc. Immediately upon entering we were approached by a man who started to give us the spiel on jewely - fair trade practices, where the owner buys her items from, some items she makes herself, and so on. I walked away, just wanting to browse. I found a purse I liked and started to take it down off of the rack to get a close look. A woman (the owner) announced that there was a purse inside of the bigger one and started to walk over toward me. I told her that I was looking a different one. I took it off of the rack and inspected it...cute, but it was $50 - too rich for my blood, so I put it back. She pulled another one off of another rack and proceeded to try and sell it to me. I tried not to look at her, because let's face it, I just wanted to look around and not be hassled. My mom and I peeked into the other rooms - there is one with baby items and another with sandals and home items. They had several cute, original things but they were also on the expensive side. The entire time I felt eyes on me. Whether it was because they are afraid of theft or because they are ready to pounce if you show the slightest interest in an item, I can't say. Regardless, I felt very uncomfortable and we ended up leaving before we got a chance to look around the whole store. After leaving, I commented on the intrusiveness, and my mom agreed, stating that she would have bought a few pieces of jewelry but didn't want to be bothered. Overall, a nice little shop but also a little pricey for a place like downtown Irwin. I have seen many shops come and go in this small stretch of road over the years. I'm sure they have a small, dedicated following but I can't see most people stopping in here on a regular basis.