How Solgarden came to be

Jill Auditori returned to her hometown after completing college, and she quickly purchased a fixer-upper in downtown Mebane.  Shortly thereafter, she decided to get her Master's degree in Spanish literature in order to become a Spanish professor.  All went well, and she taught Spanish at both UNC-Greensboro and Alamance Community College for some time, but waking up just to get in her car and leave for the day made her feel very disconnected from the community in which she lived. 

While in graduate school, Jill had helped her college roommate open a store in Greensboro, and she thoroughly enjoyed the buying trips, the set-up, and the customer interaction.  So she made up her mind to open her own store in Mebane, preferably within walking distance from her house.  Once the decision had been made, it didn't take long for everything to fall into place (with a lot of work, of course!).  On November 11, 2000, the doors to Solgarden officially opened.  A week later she closed the book on graduate school by successfully defending her thesis and, thus, receiving her diploma.  Six months later she married Rob in the beautiful setting of her mother's backyard.  And now she and Rob have added 1 dog, 2 cats, and 2 beautiful children to their fixer-upper in downtown Mebane.  (As it turns out, a 1922 home will always be in need of a project!)

Jill's hopes for the store are all coming true.  Not only is it her livelihood, but it is also the perfect connection between herself and her community.  Solgarden has allowed its civic-minded owner to become more involved in what's going on around town as well as facilitated the opportunity for Jill to meet many new people and get to know fellow Mebanites.  You rarely find Jill's two small children there (ages 4 and 2), but she looks forward to the day in which they'll be able to hang out and even help out at Solgarden, making it a family affair.