The Corner Store is 10 YEARS OLD!
How did this happen? As of tomorrow, the Corner Store will have been in business, serving our community, for 10 YEARS!!!
It's hard to overstate our gratitude to all of you who have propelled us every inch of the journey with your genuine fellowship, encouragement, and impeccable standards. Not to mention your bountiful local harvest and your loyal patronage. Are we part of an exceptional community or what?
The improbable magic of these last ten years always makes me (co-owner, Katy McCoy) think of this Gary Larson cartoon where two mosquitos are biting an arm. One mosquito finds herself inflated like a taut balloon. The other mosquito yells, "Pull out, Betty! Pull out!... You've hit an artery!". Well, Betty, I can relate! That's what it's felt like from the start, opening a "small, modest" farm stand in Chimacum, WA.
Thank you, one and all, for your astounding heart-pumping collective arterial vigor! All ten years of it.
What follows is a photo album story of the early days, getting this improbable store up and running.
chapter 1: birthing a grocery
The Chimacum Corner Farmstand story starts here with a couple of dreamers, my husband, Phil Vogelzang (a Seattle physician), and Malcolm Dorn (community visionary and Port Townsend contractor).
One fateful day, these two fellows along with Crystie Kisler of Finnriver Farm sat down to have coffee and get acquainted. Sarah Spaeth of the Jefferson Land Trust had recently introduced them to each other. The main topic of conversation was the property pictured below, the one with a new "for lease" sign in its window.
In the course of an hour or so, all three agreed that a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do some good and have some fun was before them. The vision was to create a marketplace of sorts that would support the area's farms and grow the local agricultural economy.
The business plan specifics (at least as I, Katy McCoy - aspiring artist, understood them) were a little vague. Malcolm and Phil would rent the property as a venue where the Chimacum Farmers Market could relocate, and it would sort of pencil out because the Jefferson County Farmers Market would pay us a rental fee in return.
The local farmers got juiced about this development, and soon approached us, "Could the farmers take over the old auto parts store as a farm stand and sell their goods throughout the week?" I believe it was Pete Brackney of Wildwood Farm who advocated for this. The farmers would take turns staffing it, set up their goods on straw bales, and only need a building key. Deal! How easy was this? In April 2010, we signed a 5-year lease.
Well, no surprise – farmers don't have time to staff a farm stand. We hired a part-time manager, Mike Garland, to oversee the opening and running of this enterprise and John Foss to get the premises "up to code" and functional. I got roped into designing a "Welcome to Chimacum" sign and painting some graphics on the building. The hunt began for some used coolers and freezers on Craig's list. We were off to the races to get at least something opened.
By October 2010, we were making good progress, and everything (other than the, ahem, balance sheet) looked promising. We threw a potluck for all local farmers and producers (basically anyone responsible for said "FOOD FROM HERE") to celebrate. A conversation began about how to make a local food system prosper. Things were overall fizzy, and the future was bright. Maybe it wouldn't matter that none of us had any retail experience!
In my mind, there was still a humungous list of things yet to do when Malcolm declared we needed a firm opening date – November 22nd.
Okay. Very intimidating. Now being on the hook for more than building graphics, I designed our first ad in the Leader using one of the chicks I had painted on the building.
We butcher-papered the windows, which added to the suspense. At least one passing truck driver asked if we were going to be a fried-chicken joint. Wishful thinking.
The week leading up to our opening was stressful. Time was short, and we needed goods to sell. We spent a whopping $10,000 on inventory, and to our disappointment, it filled little more than one set of shelves. Because we were so small and new, our buying options were limited. We ended up buying our Organic Valley products from QFC at retail because that's the lowest price we could find. We purchased much of our first round of bulk from the Food Coop at retail for the same reason. Here we were, the week before Thanksgiving, without a single turkey to sell.
We hired our first clerks (including Tassie!) and girded our loins. When all was said and done, we excelled in canned tomatoes and mustard.
Finally. OPENING DAY!
And darn it, if there wasn't a freak November snowstorm.
Oh well. Nothing we could do. The open-signs were deployed, the sidewalk shoveled, and Mike took position as our first greeter.
Here's the point in the story where I get a bit sentimental. Despite the empty aisles, the slim pickings of much to buy, the snow—you, our community, showed up and did your diligent best to fill your shopping baskets!
Check out this first photo. Three cars in the parking lot and three full bags of groceries! Donna and Heidi were the first to fill a double-decker shopping cart. John Bellow bought one of our larger containers of milk. The Kislers showed up in force. That's me hugging Crystie and at least temporarily forgiving her for launching my husband, Phil, into this crazy store idea.
Today, it's quaint to look back at all our endless floor space, the empty shelves, and the single metal bowl of self-serve salad greens in the produce department. But, hey, you've got to start somewhere.
The store was born, and now it was a simple matter of raising it.
chapters 2-11: raising a grocery
Oh, boy. That's a long story still in progress for another day. The gist of it is we make a lot of mistakes, learn along the way, work, work, work, and hire a bunch of great people that, bit by bit, move us forward. Never once does the community not have our back.
As crazy as I thought my husband was initially, after ten years, I've got to concede MAYBE it wasn't such a bad idea. Luck was definitely in our favor as we planted the store on amazingly fertile ground. Semiahmoo muck with the world's best community. Eternal gratitude to all who played their hand in making this store flourish.
THE END (at least for this blog)
