Market 116

“Buffalo is my hometown, my very own small-town USA,” said Nicole Bryan, owner of downtown retail Market 116 in rural Buffalo, Missouri.

“The town is filled with our friends, family and neighbors,” she said. “If I can do anything to positively impact or influence others here, that’s enough to give me the drive to do what I do!”

Market 116 sells clothing, home furnishings, and supplies for at-home furniture refurbishing projects. Bryan also consults with customers, working in their homes to design comfortable spaces or at the store with an area large enough to lay out furniture sets so customers can get a feel for them.

Behind Market 116’s carefully curated showroom also sits a workshop for refurbishing antique and older furniture. Employees keep busy painting bed frames, restoring antique desks, spray painting kitchen chair sets, and more.

Market 116 sells both locally and online. It has shipped goods to all 50 states and is a staple business on the Buffalo downtown square.

Bryan was inspired to open the store on the square in 2016 after attending a home show with her mother-in-law and seeing the potential for such a business in rural Buffalo. Market 116 grew rapidly and expanded just five years later to a much larger 14,000 square foot building down the street.

It took the Bryans just 58 days to renovate the building, which had stood vacant for years. Market 116 re-opened in the new space just in time for its fifth anniversary.

Personal hometown service is Market 116’s hallmark. It’s in the small-town vibe of Bryan’s two sons, Beau and Dak, “hanging out in the back, finding ways to entertain themselves” It’s in the attention Bryan pays to each shopper regardless of whether her customers are visiting the brick-and-mortar store or shopping from anywhere in the country.

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