SEQUIM — Exactly six years ago, Mark Ozias and Lisa Boulware moved from Seattle to start a new life in Sequim.
While working “day jobs,” they built their own nursery business, A New Leaf, outside their Happy Valley home.
And Sequim being what it is, the two started meeting people, people who grow and make things: lavender, organic vegetables, wearable art, goat’s milk soap, honey and jam and breads and cheeses.
Now, “we know all these people, and we love their stuff,” Boulware said. “We thought: Wouldn’t it be nice if we could bring all the things we love into one place?”
And so last fall, Boulware and Ozias — together 11 years, married for nine — decided to go for it.
Local, natural
Today, their one-stop shop for all things local and natural opens: the Red Rooster Grocery, a jam-packed store and cafe at 134 1/2 W. Washington St.
The Red Rooster aims to awaken Sequim to the abundance of local goods: grass-fed beef from Clark Farm, fresh flowers from The Cutting Garden; cheeses from Fairaview Farm; milk from the Dungeness Valley Creamery and veggies from Nash’s Organic Produce.
Then there are locally crafted products like coffee from Rainshadow Roasting and Princess Valiant; Yvonne’s Chocolates and Chocolate Serenade truffles; Bell Street Bakery pastas, bread and pizza dough, to name a few.
Bath and beauty products from Blue Moon Lavender, Galloping Goat Farm, Valley of the Sun and Smoothie Essentials will also fill the Red Rooster’s shelves, alongside preserves from Sequim Valley Products and wines from local cellars.
The store also has a counter with seats, where customers can linger over a cup of Red Rooster house blend coffee made with beans from the Rainshadow Roasting Co. of Sequim, or tea, with a macaroon or a cinnamon roll from the nearby Sunshine Cafe.
Soon, fresh soups will be added to the menu.
Community hub
Boulware and Ozias want their place to be a community hub where people stop in to exchange news, have a snack and pick up food for a picnic or for tonight’s dinner.
The grocery will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. weekdays, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays. So yes, Ozias and Boulware will work seven days a week.
They’ve been doing that for years already, running A New Leaf.
Plants from their nursery will be sold at the Red Rooster; the two businesses have been folded together, Boulware said.
On Thursday, less than 24 hours before they open their doors, the pair seemed almost relaxed, as they smiled at delivery men and to each other.
For them, this is a carefully planned dream coming true.
For many in Sequim, the Red Rooster is a tantalizing new kid on the downtown block.
For the past week, a half-dozen to a dozen people a day have peered in to ask, “Are you open?” Boulware said.
In order to be a full-service grocery, the Red Rooster will stock non-local products such as canned tomato sauce, spices and soft drinks.
Many are organic, Boulware said, adding that she sought out the distributor United Natural Foods Inc., for anything she couldn’t get from a local producer.
The variety of merchandise, then, makes the Red Rooster a market, not a farm store like Nash’s, the stalwart outlet of organic produce at 1873 E. Anderson Road in Dungeness.
“I think we fill different niches,” said Kia Armstrong, Nash’s outreach coordinator.
“We’re excited to be celebrating their opening,” by delivering some stir-fry mix, leeks, baby chiogga beets and other veggies from Nash’s, she added.
Nash’s Organic Produce will open its own expanded store and community center after renovating the former Dungeness Tavern at 4681 Sequim-Dungeness Way, Armstrong said, though it’s too early to know when it will be finished.
“We just got the permit from the county,” to move forward with remodeling, she added.
Boulware, when asked what gave her and her husband the guts to open a small business amid the recession — in a community with several discount food outlets — responded without hesitation.
“One of my favorite quotes is ‘There are many things in life that will catch your eye, but only a few that catch your heart,'” she said.
Boulware and Ozias’ hearts, minds and hands are in this.
“If you have an idea, and you feel strongly enough about it, you can make it work,” Boulware added.
Together, “We feel anything is possible.”
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladaily news.com.