MG Mercantile in Mount Gretna has a new owner.
Dayna Bernard, who worked in the store as a sales associate in 2025, purchased the business from Tanya Mann and her husband Jeff Grimshaw, who still own the property. MG Mercantile, at 501 PA Route 117, features curated goods, groceries, and gifts.
A former Rexmont resident, Bernard moved back to Lebanon County when she purchased a Mount Gretna cottage in 2022.
“I worked here last year from March to December. And during that time, Tanya and I started having some conversations,” Bernard said. “She has a whole other business that she runs with her husband and that was eating up her time, and she was looking for me to get more involved.”
Those casual conversations became more serious as the year progressed, she added.
“It was probably about the fall of last year that we really started getting serious about, you know, she started asking more serious questions and so did I and things sort of evolved from there. And it was really a good fit,” Bernard said. “She was wonderful. She’s built something that’s absolutely stunning here, and I knew I wanted to stay in this area and I wanted to invest in myself and the community that I love so much. And so that’s kind of how we got here.”
Bernard said her professional career has been as varied as the goods offered in the unique store. She said her last two jobs, including working in human resources for a digital media company in Baltimore, were highly demanding and stressful.
“I didn’t have this straight path, right? So I went to Penn State and I graduated as a nurse and then I didn’t go into nursing, and then I went into boat sales for a while, and then I went into another marketing company and I got into management,” she said. “Working with people, of course, will always translate anywhere you go where there’s any kind of customer service involved. I think the biggest thing is that I’ve just been willing to try different things and take risks and not be boxed into one particular thing. So I think my willingness to kind of get out there and try something new was a big driver.”
LebTown asked Bernard if buying a business when she never worked in a retail environment was daunting.
“It’s still scary,” Bernard said with a laugh, but noted she “was really looking for something completely different. … I loved all the companies that I’ve worked for in the past. However, the last two were … just really high-demanding jobs and lots of travel, and I was kind of always on the road, always stressed out, and I decided that I wanted a change of pace for myself.”
Part of the leap of faith to open her own business was informed by the death of her best friend, who she took to treatments after she moved back to Lebanon County in 2022.
“If anybody’s ever experienced loss, it’s eye-opening … how it shifts your personality and what you want to do with your life and how you want to spend your time,” Bernard said. ”And so for me, it’s scary. I’m terrified, of course, like I bought it and then we went to war. There’s a lot of things going on right now, but what I really wanted to do is just be able to live and work in a place that I love, where I’ve got the time that I want to spend with my dog and to be with my family and to have more of that work-life balance that I wasn’t getting previously.”
Bernard credits Mann for helping her transition from the corporate to the retail world by “being just super encouraging and believing in me. … I also got to start seeing the ins and outs of the business a little bit deeper than other sales associates because I started getting involved in the inventory, understanding what it really takes to run a shop,” Bernard said. “It was my first time since I started here last year that I ever worked in retail. So I feel like there was a lot to learn, but she was very encouraging to me and I think we both felt like it was a pretty good fit from a personality perspective, not just she and I, but also like me and customers that are coming in and just being able to be around the community and meet them.”
Bernard said the community has been supportive since her soft opening. She is now open full time in preparation for the upcoming summer season in Mount Gretna.
“Honestly, the people in this community have shown up to support me … whether they’re in here buying things or even sometimes just stopping in to introduce themselves to me so I can put a name with a face. They’ve been surrounding me with just nothing but well wishes and support,” Bernard said.
LebTown asked Bernard why she believes it’s important to have MG Mercantile in Mount Gretna.
“If you look around, you’ll see that many of our items that we have in here are sort of inspired by nature, very much inspired by the trees and the animals and the things that we love so much here in Gretna,” she said. “I think it’s kind of a blend of gifts, it’s a blend of these vintage items, which I think have been going over really well here since I incorporated that. It’s also, like I said, the nature-inspired goods.”
There’s also the Mount Gretna-themed merch.
Read More: (July 2023) MG Mercantile opens in former Gretna bank, offering gifts, grub, & essentials
“There are the Mount Gretna items as well. So, we do have quite a few people that come through Mount Gretna, certainly, in the summertime, and so having items that they can take home with them, to remind them of Gretna is always lovely,” added Bernard.
The vintage items Bernard referenced is a new venture for MG Mercantile, which opened for business in 2023.
“The first change I made was bringing in more vintage, I’m a huge fan of vintage items. I like it for the sustainability efforts. I like it because I like the mix of old and new. I feel like it looks more put together and like a collection versus just like all brand new things,” she said. “So that’s always been something that I’ve really been drawn to.”
As an arts-focused community, Bernard has plans to bring together local artisans with her customers.
“I think the other thing that I’m changing and you can see with the pop up, I do want to showcase local business owners and artisans in the surrounding area and put their work on display,” she said. “We live in this wonderful artistic community and there’s so many beautiful things out there, and I think you’ll be seeing more of things like this for me in the future, little pop-ups, things like that that we’ll do. And that’s also something that’s a bit different than before.”
Bernard plans to continue to use the garden in front of the shop for community classes, which begin this Sunday, and to expand outside activities.
“I want it to be a really welcoming, inviting area. We’ve got beautiful gardens outside. In the summer, there’ll be music there. We do classes, our community classes,” Bernard said. “So we’ve got a planter class starting next Sunday, things like that, to really get people involved. And it just fits very well with how Gretna is. Certainly through the summer, there’s programs and there’s so many things that you can do.”
While shopping, Mount Gretna resident Shannon Fretz succinctly noted the interconnection between the community and the business.
“I’m gonna interject. It (the store) feels like Mount Gretna,” Fretz said.
And the store is certainly part of the heart and soul of the Mount Gretna community.
“I think for me, it’s really around just during his first year incorporating some new things that I want to do, continuing the community stuff, because if you spend time here and you live here, you’ll see what a really unique and special community this is,” Bernard said. “And so I want to support that in any way that I can.”
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