NATCHEZ — Dennis and Phyllis Lewellyn thought it would be neat to move back to Phyllis’ hometown.

So they did just that and have opened Oh, Neat!, a variety store in Magnolia Mall.

The store opened its doors on Friday to a steady stream of shoppers.

Phyllis said getting back to Natchez took well over a year of planning but she thinks it was worth the effort.

“We wanted to make sure in this economy, we were doing something that would help people be able to afford to shop,” she said.

The store carries approximately 50 percent new merchandise and 50 percent “gently used” merchandise, Dennis said.

The store is patterned after popular stores in Minnesota, where the couple most recently lived, Phyllis said.

“Where we lived, they were fabulously popular,” she said. “We shopped at them, and everyone we knew shopped at them.”

Oh, Neat! carries a little bit of everything, Dennis said. There is children and adult apparel, pet supplies, hardware and yard supplies, exercise equipment and toys.

“Most of the stuff you are going to get here is half of what you’d pay elsewhere for the same item,” Dennis said. “The stock is always changing. If there is something you want, you better get it because once its gone, we can’t promise we’ll get it back.”

New shipments arrive each week and Dennis said he expects to load up on items for the Christmas shopping season.

Prices range from 49 cents to up to $199.99 for a trampoline that regularly costs $600, Dennis said.

The reason prices stay so low is because the store purchases merchandise from overstock items and shelf pulls from large, national retailers.

“We aren’t allowed to say where we get merchandise, but some of the items we get, you’d have to go far away from Natchez to find them in a store,” Phyllis said.

If the prices aren’t enough to draw folks in, Dennis said the helpful staff will be. He said customers are greeted when they enter the store and the friendliness doesn’t end until the customer is on its way home.

“The staff is just naturally friendly,” Dennis said. “I’ve never had to tell them what to do; they just do it.”

And while the store is trying to make merchandise affordable for local shoppers, the Lewellyns also want to give back to the community. The store will give donations to three local charities on a monthly basis, Dennis said.

The store is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

The store phone number is 601-897-0191.