Holman is a stylist and an entrepreneur. After retiring from a management career with Aetna, she bought two buildings at 31 Camp St. for $270,000. She moved all her craft supplies from her basement and started an interior design business on the first floor of the corner building.

Cleona & Carol Designs Etc. is a custom-design shop for homes, fashion, weddings and people. The name is a combination of her mother's middle name and her own.

Holman is a trained florist who also knows how to finish a room with the soft accessories - flowers, drapes, pillows, fabric, fountains, arches, even food.

"The mouth starts to water when you see all the things that go with it," she said.

Holman's display area showcases her talents in sitting, party and sleeping areas. When the drapery business dropped off, she started making one-of-akind fabric handbags for women in her church, friends and shop owners.

On Thursday morning, the room behind the showroom bustled as she and a friend, Colleen Nowe, prepared fabrics to make into purses to display at Saturday's Black Expo in Hubbard Park.

"Brenda brings the joy of what she can do to people," Nowe said. "She really wants people to have nice homes and can work within any budget."

The 4,200-square-foot building is the former home of R.J. Patton, an electrical engineering company. In addition to her showroom, she has four offices, a kitchenette conference and reception area upstairs, and 850 square feet in the building next door. Two offices are already rented and she's looking for more tenants to fill the buildings.

Holman met with Trudy Magnolia of the city's economic development office and learned she was eligible for tax abatements because the building is in the city's enterprise zone. She is also paying close attention to the city's downtown redevelopment plans and is taking an interest in the area.

"I was happy to see her attend the last downtown meeting in May and she immediately volunteered to have the next meeting at her location," Magnolia said. "While she's not at the heart of downtown, she is close enough so that the downtown issues are her issues and she's stepping up to the plate to help. She's done a great job and improved that corner tremendously."

As part of her incentive package, Holman gets 80 percent real and personal property tax abatements for five years. The state reimburses the city half of the abatement, Magnolia said.

Holman is planning a grand opening in August and will begin offering sewing and other crafts classes next month to introduce herself to the public.

"When I get the traffic down here, people are going to start coming," Holman said.

mgodin@record-journal.com (203) 317-2255