A new generation of business owners approaches downtown differently
By Derek Firenze
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Pablo and Maria Qamara enjoy a moment on one of the couches they hope to fill their gathering space with. Beacon photo by Derek Firenze [/caption]
Three retail businesses recently opened on Water Street, all with a shared philosophy: people over profits.
This wave of relatively young entrepreneurs with community consciousness consists of AJ Hawkins of Kalma, a death-positive goth clothing and accessories shop; Nicholas Pendragon of Pendragon’s Labyrinth, a mystical art gallery with esoteric inventory; and Pablo and Maria Qamara of Wallflower, an event space and artist residency retail pop-up.
The usual array of objects for sale greets customers at the entrance of all three storefronts. But tucked away in each of these shops are cozy nooks with couches and chairs. In these not-so-secret spaces the store owners plan to facilitate presentations, conversations, book readings, and more with an aim to uplift, educate, and engage the community.
“It’s not just about selling things and how much money you can make,” said Wallflower co-owner Maria Qamara. “There’s more purpose, culture, relationship, and contribution. And selling things helps those other things exist.”
Yes, each of these is a for-profit business engaging in the age old tradition of hawking various goods to tourists and locals alike. But few other retail businesses preserve such large portions of expensive square footage for community gathering space.
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Lou Geraghty crafts in the back space of Kalma during the shop’s grand opening. Owner AJ Hawkins hopes to utilize this space for both crafts and classes. Tori Kellogg photo courtesty of Kalma [/caption]
“I care a lot about finding ways to maximize the community’s access to a given resource,” Kalma owner Hawkins said. “In this case, I have the resource of space, so how do I maximize access to the resource of space and bring as many people in to use it and share it together?”
Of course, space downtown in the most densely populated part of Jefferson County doesn’t come cheap. Hawkins noted during a fundraising campaign that her business’s rent was double the mortgage of her home.
The Qamaras do not rent but own the Zee Tai Building, which houses Wallflower. They bought it back in 2019, and while in the planning stages for its new incarnation, they rented it out for events, noting that people were often surprised to hear the cost.
Now, the Qamaras have split their square footage between a community gathering space in the back and an artists’ residency retail pop-up in the front. Two or three artists at a time will be able to create and sell their work in the space each season before a new group of artists rotates through. As Maria Qamara put it, they’re hoping to create a “pollinator space,” encouraging not only cross pollination between artists, but also with a hope to become a hub, “for an exchange of art ideas, and mutual support, and cooperation amongst artisan businesses.”
For these new businesses, connections happen in both the physical space and in how they work with fellow business owners.
“The best part of this whole process [is] there’s a huge array of collaborators,” Pendragon said. “I never dreamed there’d be so many fabulous people to work within a really new paradigm about business where it’s not solely focused on money as the function.”
Within Pendragon’s Labyrinth, he’ll showcase his original paintings alongside an array of other local artists and sell crafts like ceramics, jewelry, and essential oils from other local business owners. The back of the space functions as a tattoo parlor as well as a possible gathering place for small events, and in the basement lies a large storage space, which he’s hoping to work with the building’s management to utilize for more community events.
Pendragon sees that while a generational shift may have something to do with this new business ethic, there may be more at play.
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Nicholas Pendragon wants to open the space below Pendragon’s Labyrinth for an assortment of weird and wonderful events like puppet shows and performance art. Beacon photo courtesy of Derek Firenze [/caption]
“We’re starting with a different seed, and that’s really attractive to a lot of younger people especially, but I think we’re all at a point in our species’ collective awareness that sees some changes need to be made with more holistic ways of working with each other, and I think the economy has a huge role to play in that.”
To make sure they can keep the doors open so the community can access their gathering spaces, all three businesses are utilizing their own unique tactics.
Kalma tried a Kickstarter fundraiser before opening, and though it did not reach its goal, Hawkins got a number of investors to move their donations to her website, earning $7,000 to furnish the space.
“That was still a huge support to getting things started,” Hawkins said “That paid for the Memory Tree. That paid for the materials for the Grief Altar. It’s paying for new lights, the paint, furniture, air purifiers for COVID precautions, things like that.”
The Qamaras are working on permitting a small take-out food window in “The Hole in the Wall,” a narrow space squeezed through a door between Wallflower, their retail business, and a neighboring building. There’s still a small sign on the narrow door carrying that fitting moniker which the Qamaras want to repaint and bring back to life. People who buy food at The Hole in the Wall could then take it inside to the gathering space at Wallflower.
To make the gathering space and tattoo parlor pieces at Pendragon’s Labyrinth successful, they’ll be operated through a separate entity from his LLC called the Ministry Mysterium. “You can join and become a member of our ministry. It’s like a club and will give you access to other things we offer,” Pendragon said.
“This is a way that I felt I could compartmentalize and make the structure more dynamic for locals and visitors alike,” he added. “When I looked around Port Townsend, what I was hearing from the local community was that they felt left out. There wasn’t really a place for them to go. It was geared towards just tourism, so I wanted to have space for those folks and everyone else, too. Everyone is invited.”
