I admit it, I’m a scaredy cat!

For the last few years, I thought I should open a shop in Seattle that would sell nothing but consumer goods made in America.  I would sell tools, boots, clothing, cookware, dog toys, you name it, all made by members of our extended American family.  But I didn’t do it for a variety of reasons I won’t bore you with.  Mostly I was afraid I wasn’t up to the task of running a store.  Luckily, there are a few people in Seattle with more nerve than me.  Three of them recently opened The General Store Seattle and they are bound and determined to succeed selling goods only produced in the U.S. and more particularly in the Pacific Northwest.

The General Store Seattle is owned by Claire Jones, her father Mark Jones, and Claire’s friend from college Morgan Dolan.  Mark Jones was a City Development Officer who focused on small business and inner-city neighborhood development.  They chose to open their store in the hipster neighborhood of West Seattle. If you want to buy what they have on offer, you can do it both in person and online.  You can get your paws on your online purchases by picking em up at the store in West Seattle or getting them in the mail.

Since Claire lives in Seattle year round, she is the day-to-day steward of the Store.  Claire has always been interested in buying local.  Once she moved to Seattle, she kept up that practice.  She soon realized that it was relatively easy and relatively inexpensive to buy primarily local items for everything in her life, it only took the effort and time to commit. Realizing that not everyone had the time or inclination to follow in her footsteps, she and her partners decided that they would make it simple for us.  Thus, The General Store Seattle was born.

The General Store Seattle Triumvirate want their store to be more than a store.  To quote Claire, “we want to become a go-to resource – a one-stop shop if you will – for all things local. Part of this plan is creating a sort of collective or club, something akin to the Seattle Good Business Network’s “Think Local” program (a three-year campaign started in 2011 that educated the public about the personal, economic and community benefits of thinking local first). Our program can envelop existing collectives such as Food Hubs and CSAs in the region as well as co-ops, local craft shows, etc. We could then develop and organize our own trade shows or conventions to highlight local producers, businesses, and companies.”  Sounds exciting to me.

Some of the goods on offer at Claire’s general store that grabbed my attention were the Out of the Woods in Oregon cutting board in the shape of the Evergreen State,

West Seattle Tea Towels,

and Vegan Herbal Bliss Bath Salt Blend.

God knows I never use bath salts that aren’t vegan!

The General Store Seattle has a nice supplier page that lists whose goods they are selling and links to the supplier’s website.

So if you live in Seattle, I urge you to stop by the store for a visit and purchase some great products made by members of our extended American family living in these parts.  And even if you don’t live in Seattle, you can buy products made by residents of Cascadia by shopping the General Store Seattle’s website.

Now get shopping!