According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, more than 50 percent of small businesses fail in the first year and 95 percent fail within the first five years.

Add to that dismal statistic U.S. Highway 50 construction, the Peabody bypass in the mid 1990s, several years of bad weather affecting crops, and the economic slump following 9/11, and you have a recipe for disaster.

But the jackrabbit is still hanging outside the charming little shop on Peabody's 1880s main street, the sign that the store is open for business.

Lamborn said she isn't sure how she managed to weather the storm.

"It's mostly just faith," she said. "There's really no sound explanation for us still being in business. The people in Marion County have been good to support us."

Lamborn said the fact that the store exists at all is really "a fluke."

She and a lifelong friend Glenda Mah visited Peabody on a whim in 1993, and her life took an unexpected turn.

"I was teaching in Arizona, and I came back to visit Glenda in Kansas and we were driving back to Wichita. She had read about the Peabody Main Street in the paper, and she said, 'Let's stop in Peabody and see it,'" she said. "We hadn't had coffee, so we stopped for coffee and walked up and down the streets and really liked it.

"A few days before we'd gone to Council Grove and we saw an empty store there, and I said. 'Wouldn't it be fun to have a bookstore or a sporting goods store or some kind of store?' And it grew from there."

Lamborn said that although she and Mah were serious about the idea, they probably would have forgotten about it had it not been for Peabody Main Street Director Julie Irish, who found Glenda's number on a check she had written in town and called her and encouraged them to open a business.

"We just decided to do it," she said. "We believe in laying out fleeces.

"It comes from the Old Testament," she said. "Gideon had laid out fleeces to test God for a sign to see if he was supposed to do something, and I've always believed in doing that. Our sign was Julie Irish calling us. If she hadn't have called, we never would have done it."

Lamborn took a leave of absence from her teaching job in Arizona "just in case it didn't work out."

Glenda, who now lives in Great Bend, became her silent partner.

The store's original concept was a bookstore and tea room, Lamborn said.

"But the tea room idea never really took off," she said. "We tried cappuccinos, coffee and pastries, but it never really took hold."

She later added gifts to the store.

"We never could have made it just selling books, so we had to expand into gifts," she said.

If there's a secret to the Jackrabbit Hollow's success, it may lie in its ability to evolve over time.

"When the clothing store went out of business, we added the tux rental," Lamborn said. "Then when the balloon shop went out of business, we started doing balloons."

Most recently, the store added home furnishings.

"People are getting into nesting," Lamborn said. "We're trying to fill that niche."

Understanding customers' needs and noticing what they buy is critical, Lamborn said.

"People were wanting wedding and shower gifts, so we brought in more kitchen and house ware items," she said. "And there are a lot of tea drinkers in town, so we expanded our tea line."

She keeps up with trends by going to gift markets "and listening to customers when they come in and ask for things," she said.

"I try to buy what they're asking for."

Lamborn said she does a lot of special ordering for customers, something she feels differentiates Jackrabbit Hollow from the large department and discount stores. She also offers free gift-wrapping and free delivery within the Peabody city limits.

She has tried to create a unique atmosphere in the store that shoppers won't find at most retail establishments.

Structural changes were made to restore the Victorian flavor of the 1885 building housing the store.

"We took out the false ceiling and a couple walls," Lamborn said.

Antique furnishings are used to display merchandise, and the high, corrugated wood ceilings give her plenty of space for overhead displays.

Lamborn hosts a variety of events in the shop and frequently brings in authors and artists to share their work with patrons. She sees the store not only as a retail establishment but also as a venue for learning and conversation.

The big wooden table at the front of the store has become a gathering spot and is used for card games, socializing, perusing books, or petting one of the two shop cats, Scout and Jane Austen.

Lamborn said she welcomes groups that want to meet at the shop.

"We have a book club that's been meeting since 1995," she said. "A local bridge club meets here every week."

Just let her know in advance, so she can put the coffeepot on to brew.