The doors open to a small shop, and eyes dance around the store walls to different products including bracelets, fairy bags, paintings of dragons, wire wrap trees and even a suit of armor. All the products come from different family members related to a 2019 Revere alumna who created the store last year. 

Revere graduate Sarah Mitschke opened up her store Different Branches Same Roots (DBSR) last September, where she sells medieval merchandise.

Mitschke graduated from Revere in 2019 and was not sure exactly what she wanted to do until she later settled on opening a store. After graduating, Mitschke got a job at a recycling plant but when COVID hit, she needed a new plan. After 6 months without a job, Mitschke began working at Gio at the Summit Mall, where she learned skills to help her open DBSR. Gio is a whimsical store where someone can buy different fairies, swords, figurines and other things. Mitschke explained how Gio was valuable. 

“I learned all the wholesalers and everything, and they had us tear down the store and move it to a different place in the mall. . . . I had already had the experience of taking down and setting up a store, so all I had to do was just get in contact with the wholesalers and [get] my new business license and give out all the money I made,” Mitschke said.

After working for a while, Mitschke was ready to buy a house, but instead, did a full 180 and decided on building a store instead. 

“I went from earlier that year thinking about buying a house that was approved for [an] $180,000 loan, and now I [have] opened my business instead. It opened September 15th, and I can’t believe I’m here,” Mitschke said. 

Mitschke’s family has always liked medieval things, and Mitschke’s imagination brought not only the different products to life but an entire store to life. Mitschke’s mother Heidi helped Mitschke out with the store when she wanted help and explained how Mitschke’s creativity and hard work created the store. 

“A lot of her inspiration for her jewelry comes out of her own imagination. She’s done this all on her own; this is all her creation. She’s always loved medieval stuff and so has the rest of the family, so maybe that’s where some of the inspiration comes from,” she said. 

Mitschke began her medieval creations back in her senior year of high school where she presented her hand crafted chain mail suit of armor in the art show. Mitschke described what building her first suit was like.  

“I [learned chain mail] in the most painful way. I had a wooden dowel rod and I drilled a hole through it, and I would sit there and twist it with my hands like a cat kneading a blanket, and the blisters on my hands were so horrible. It took me three months to build my first suit of armor, and it was a display piece only,” Mitschke said. 

She later went back and disassembled the suit to be a wearable unit.

Heidi explained how her daughter’s dedication is what got her to finish the piece. 

“Her [first chain mail suit] was really impressive, and I didn’t help with any of it. I just sat there and watched her wind up the coil, clip them, snip them into place, and it’s tedious work, but she loves doing it; that’s her happy place,” she said. 

Although the chain mail itself could be its own store with the amount of materials Mitschke has, Mitschke sells many other things as well. She makes many of the products including the bracelets, rings, necklaces and more, and the products can take from a half an hour to a week to create. Not only does Mitschke make things, other products are made by family members. Heidi explained what she supplies. 

“I crochet. I’ll make blankets, scarves, sweaters, headbands, stuff like that, and I’ll bring it in and it’ll sell, but this is more Sarah than anyone else,” she said. 

Along with Heidi’s input, Mitschke’s sister Jesse also contributes to the store. Jesse is currently a senior at Revere and creates her art in her AP art class along with outside of school. Jesse explained when she creates her works and what she creates. 

“Anything that’s on a canvas [is] painted at home,. Anything that’s on a flat canvas, like a sheet of paper, that’s made here at school. I was in advanced [art], so I could pretty much do whatever I wanted as long as I was working,” she said. 

Along with paintings, Jesse also makes small wire wrap trees that she learned to make from a YouTube video. Jesse explained why she started making them. 

“I saw a video online and thought, ‘that’s cool, let’s try that,’ but this guy was making massive trees and was asking thousands of dollars for them, and I thought I could probably make these smaller and better, and I did,” she said. 

Mitschke’s father also helped with shelving and other things to build the store, and some of the pieces are from Mitschke’s grandmother. Everyone’s effort in the store formed the name of the company, Different Branches Same Roots. All the family members create something different, different branches, and they all come from the same family, same roots. The name is quite long, so Mitschke opts to shorten it to DBSR most of the time. 

Mitschke expanded from armory to more bracelets and jewelry to appeal to more customers’ taste. She explained the jewelry market.

“The armory does not sell too well at all; it costs a lot and it’s a really big financial decision. Jewelry, it’s a huge market, which is both a plus and minus because there’s great demands, there’s great diversity, but there’s also great competition and if you’re going into something like jewelry, you’ve got to understand that you can’t get mad if someone next to you is also selling jewelry,” Mitschke said.

Mitschke, along with having her store, goes to flea markets every weekend to sell her products in a different setting. A lot of diverse products are sold at the market, and Mitschke explained how the culture works there. 

“Sometimes you look around and see what other people are doing, sometimes you get ideas off of them, sometimes they get ideas off of you,” Mitschke said. 

Mitschke used an idea she saw at the flea market to help create her necklace wheel in the front of her shop to display her different creations. 

Although the store is medieval themed, Mitschke tries to appeal to everyone’s taste, and there is a variety of products for anyone to buy. If interested in visiting DBSR, it is located at 4615 West Streetsboro Rd in Richfield or visit the website at https://www.differentbranches.com.

Gallery • 6 Photos

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