QUILCENE — The Quimper Mercantile Co. held its first public meeting Wednesday night, inviting people to hear a presentation about its new enterprise — a new general store in downtown Port Townsend — while soliciting investors in the publicly owned retail outlet.
“We hope that the new store will become an anchor for downtown shopping,” said Chief Executive Officer Peter Quinn.
“There are a lot of small, interesting stores downtown, but there are a lot of things that you can’t get in Port Townsend.”
Quinn defined “The Port Townsend Shopping Center” as the area along Water Street through Lower Sims Way, which is the town’s major retail area.
The center lacks an anchor tenant, such as a Sears, Macy’s or Target, that would bring people to town for necessary items.
The new store will be located at 1121 Water St., a few blocks from the ferry terminal. The location recently was home to Swain’s Outdoors and previously held a Safeway and a Sprouse-Reitz variety store.
The lease is for 15,700 square feet and does not include an adjacent 200-square-foot space.
The terms of the lease with owner Bill Massey have been agreed upon, but the final document won’t be signed until all parties can get together, according to board member Michelle Sandoval.
Quinn said the entire space would probably not be occupied at first but that the inventory would grow over time.
Once open, the store will have 12 employees, he said.
The inventory will be limited, with not a lot of different versions of the same items, due to space and convenience to the customer.
“We will be a filter and only offer the best available merchandise in a particular category,” Quinn said.
On Wednesday, 10 people attended the 90-minute presentation and bought 16 $100 shares between them.
This is added to the approximately $50,000 raised since the stock went on sale in January.
The store is looking to raise $950,000 through stock sales, with shares priced at $100 each and a maximum investment of $50,000 allowed.
This rule is in place in order to prevent a single person owning a controlling interest, Quinn said.
The stock sales are restricted to permanent residents of Washington state, though they can sell the stock to an out-of-state resident after a nine-month waiting period.
The company has a May 1 deadline to raise $425,000, half the goal, with the funds held in an escrow account until that time.
If the goal is met, the money will be released and work will begin. If not, the money will be returned to investors.
A third option is to extend the deadline, but this is not favored.
“We want to get this done as soon as possible and open sometime in the summer,” Quinn said.
If the goal is met before May 1, the money will be released at that time.
Wednesday’s meeting was the first of three such presentations.
Others are scheduled for Monday at the Cotton Building, 607 Water St., in Port Townsend and Thursday at the Port Ludlow Beach Club, 121 Marina View Drive.
Both meetings will take place from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
For more information, visit www.quimpermerc.com.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
