IN 1889, IN anticipation of the railroad coming to Port Townsend, Nathaniel Hill expanded his apothecary business by building a multistory edifice on Water Street, adjacent to the Quincy Street dock, for his shop, N.D. Hill and Sons.
Last week on Water Street, a new business opened that operates on the reverse assumption: that a local economy made up of local businesses is in a stronger position to weather a recession than one tied to outside expectations.
“In a small town, people have more control over their destiny — if they realize it,” said Beau Richards.
Richards and partner Aliza Finley are owners of Apothecarium, a coffee and tea shop across from the ferry dock.
There, they offer over-the-counter cures for winter blues: gourmet coffee, exotic blends of tea, and grown-up hot chocolate, with the goal of perking up the local scene along with the local economy.
“We’re a bear business, not a bull business,” Finley said.
They are looking for art by local artists to fill the walls.
Richards, an electrical engineer by profession, owned Studio 360, an art gallery in San Pedro, Calif., that helped propel the town’s renaissance into an arts community.
Finley grew up in Seattle, where she took acting classes at Seattle Children’s Theatre and made her professional stage debut as a munchkin in 5th Avenue Theatre’s “Wizard of Oz.”
She studied acting at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle and at age 18 moved to Los Angeles, where she studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and met Richards, who works in the film industry.
Port Townsend’s original architecture and its community of artists and craftspeople are part of what drew the couple to Port Townsend.
“Small towns have such individuality,” Finley said.
“You don’t get the same feeling in towns with chain stores, where people dress the same and eat the same.”
They also wanted to be closer to family.
Finley’s parents, Scott and Ande Finely, live on Lopez Island.
Richards’ mother, Shirley Richards, and her husband, John Gale, live on a farm east of Port Angeles.
His sister, Rondi Smith, is an antiques dealer in Port Angeles.
A nephew, James Belardi, is a contractor who helped the couple remodel the space, including building the shelves behind the counter.
Antique lamps, iron birdcages and purple couches carry out the decor, which Finley describes as Victorian with a Mad Hatter edge.
“We patterned it after an old apothecary shop,” Finley said.
Coffee from local roasters
The owners are serving coffee from local roasters: Sue Ohlson at Sunrise Coffee in Port Townsend, Don Batcheller at Rainshadow Roasting in Sequim and Denise Brennan at Princess Valiant in Port Angeles.
Brennan also is supplying their drinking chocolate, an “adult” blend — dark, with no emulsifiers.
Apothecarium was inspired by B. Fuller’s Mortar and Pestle, Finley said, a Seattle store that sells medicinal herbs and 40 different kind of tea.
Apothecarium will be carrying B. Fuller blends: Nesting Tea for nursing mothers, Surely You Digest and Spring Breathe. Lavender Gray is a blend with black tea.
Imperial Breakfast has rose petals.
“Coffee and tea are some of the best sources of antioxidants,” Finley said, “and sometimes a hot cup of coffee is just the thing. There’s nothing like it on a rainy morning.”
Gathering space
The couple see the space as a gathering place for local artists and writers.
Live music will be part of the mix.
Richards, a comic book aficionado, hopes to hold readings at the shop.
Apothecarium also will be a stop on Gallery Walk, and the owners are planning to host an event in connection with Victorian Heritage Days in March.
The work they put into transforming the space and starting up the business is just half of the equation, Finley said.
“The other half is the people who come in and enjoy it and fill it,” she said.
The bottom line for Apothecarium owners: to be part of the community and the local economy by offering price points for all pocketbooks while making enough to stay open and get established.
It takes a village to raise a business, Finley said, and it takes a village of businesses to raise the economy.
“It’s not up to the big corporations to save the world,” Finley said. “It’s up to me.”
Finley is a proponent of Charles Eisenstein, whose book Sacred Economics offers a new paradigm based on gift economies.
Richards said it is possible for a small community to stabilize its economy by circulating money among local businesses.
“People say this is a terrible time to start a business, but if you are comfortable with it, it is in your best interest in the long haul to do something to stimulate the economy around you,” he said.
“These are not the times to shelve your dollars.
“That and I love coffee and wanted to have a coffee shop.”
And, Finley noted, people waiting for the ferry will have a place to get out of the cold.
Apothecarium is open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at 1300 Water St., two doors down from Subway, with possibly longer hours on weekend evenings.
For more information, visit http://tinyurl.com/89qhecm.
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Jennifer Jackson writes about Port Townsend and Jefferson County every Wednesday. To contact her with items for this column, phone 360-379-5688 or email jjackson@olypen.com.
