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Business brings the world to Tahoe residents

Susan Wood, Tahoe Daily Tribune

Jill Beede need only glance out her store window to get inspiration for her inventory.

Beede, who opened Tahoe Country on Lake Tahoe Boulevard on July 4, has a commanding view of the lake while sitting perched in her office chair in back of the small store. She uses the office cubby as a catalyst for her “Tahoe” furnishings gift shop.

Beede, who has lived in the basin for 11 years, started a Web site for basin-related merchandise in February 1996, which she figured has 11,000 visitors a month.



Since then, the world traveler has made several contacts with Tahoe artists and created a business that evolved with her knowledge of the basin’s history.

“Tahoe is not just for the extreme skier. I looked at it as how I would want to travel. (Americans are) becoming more cultured and intelligent travelers, and I think the Internet has helped that,” she said of her business. “I’ve had good response from the locals, part-time guests and visitors.”



The store carries a wide assortment of travel and historical books, along with vintage postcards, videos, paintings, photographs, candles, hats, pillows, aprons, pottery, mobiles, maps, place mats, magnets, shot glasses and key chains that either say Lake Tahoe on them or were made by an artist in the basin.

As it turns out, her life is as diversified as her merchandise.

She’s a former American Express Group Travel employee, French teacher and writer, who is working on finishing a series of guidebooks covering the four sides of the lake.

With the help of one employee, Beede stays open seven days a week. The 3339 Lake Tahoe Blvd. business can be reached at (530) 544-6600 or at http://www.TahoeCountry.com.


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