Quimper Mercantile Company

Story

First, let us introduce ourselves. We are a diverse group of business-oriented Quimper Peninsula residents concerned about the loss of Port Townsend’s Swain’s Outdoor & More store and the gap that it leaves in our community’s ability to provide for basic mercantile needs.

We are also concerned about the negative impact this gap can have on the practice of shopping locally; a practice that is important in fostering the economic viability of our Quimper community.
We call ourselves the Quimper Mercantile Group and our Mission Statement is as follows:
Jefferson County needs viable local shopping options for many essential goods. Using a model of broad-based community investment and support, Quimper Mercantile Group will create and fund a General Store that will meet those needs in an inclusive and innovative manner.
We want to express our appreciation to you for continuing to run a solid locally owned and operated business in the Quimper Peninsula area. We know that these are hard times and we want to thank you for your continued efforts to provide good service and products to the local customer base. We share your concern that we keep and expand our local businesses and economy. Driven by our concern about the loss of Swain’s Outdoor & More store, we have been working together- and want to work with you- to see what can be done to ensure continuation of that type of business in our community.
We are excited at the prospect of creating a community-owned mercantile store which we are currently calling the Quimper Mercantile Exchange. We are encouraged by what we have learned about community retail ownership elsewhere and we believe this community owned and operated business will be a source of pride and ownership for us as well. It will encourage a spirit of cooperation and it will strengthen the community’s sense that we can be the masters of our own economic success and viability.
Additionally, we believe that the Quimper Mercantile Exchange will not only keep local dollars at home by providing needed goods, but it will also create a well-rounded retail magnet to bring more traffic to all area businesses. While we hope to encourage healthy competition through creation of this store and the goods it will carry, our intent is not to undermine what existing retailers are offering in the area. With this in mind, we have created a survey that we are distributing to the community at large for feedback on what goods they would like to see us carry. We encourage you to participate in the survey online at www.quimpermerc.com. The survey will close on April 6. We invite your comments and questions and look forward to hearing from you soon!
Sincerely,
The Quimper Mercantile Group: Peter Quinn, Michelle Sandoval, Deborah Stinson, Gigi Callaizakis, Ian Keith, Frank DePalma, James Frazier, Marty Gay, Scott Wilson, Shannon Davis, Shelby Smith, Steve Moore, Teresa Verraes, and Tim Whyte

Mission

Jefferson County needs viable local shopping options for many essential goods. Using a model of broad-based community investment and support, Quimper Mercantile Group will create and fund a General Store that will meet those needs in an inclusive and innovative manner.