About Winston's General

If you've ever wondered how Winston's General came about, this is the story for you! 

Let's set the scene, it's early/mid 2020-- already very exciting, I know. We were in the throes of the pandemic, I'm running handmade. la conner and things are pretty crazy. Luckily, being a soap maker in a pandemic where everyone is finally washing their hands the amount they should be was paying off. We were not hurting for business by any means, but dealing with the maximum amount of supply chain issues.

My landlord was not having the best time, as I was the only tenant in my building that was consistently paying rent as expected. I live in the building too, and the shop that was in the space directly below my apartment decided to move out of their space. My landlord made a comment to me about how it was going to be tough to find someone to take their space in the middle of a pandemic, when in person business was taking quite a back seat. 

When I heard the news that the space was going to be available, I could not have been more excited to say I'd take it. Did I need the space? No. Did I know what I was going to do with the space? No. But that didn't stop me from just going for it. My landlord was a bit hesitant, but I had been slowly taking more and more of the building as space has become available since I moved there in 2013. We worked out some details, I signed a lease, and then I was off to brainstorming! 

What did La Conner need? What did I wish La Conner had? What could I reasonably do with 750 square feet that wasn't attached to any of my other space? There were many ideas. Some good, some not as good. A refill station for handmade. la conner products? A space for classes/events? La Conner's 17th coffee shop? My favorite one I won't go into at all because I'm crazy enough to still make that idea come to life one of these days.

But what I settled on was a little general store. Nothing too specific, whatever I want it to be. Whatever it becomes will be just fine because I'm not putting any hard lines on what it needs to be. But a space full of things that are really well packaged, delicious, useful, fun, gift-able, and more. Things that if you were wandering a cute, small waterfront town you'd want to pick up. Maybe a special little treat for yourself, a game to play on your boat trip, a baking kit to take back to your airbnb, a quick beverage, a new houseplant, or everything you need for a little charcuterie to take to a wine tasting. 

Of course, naming it after the world's cutest/most annoying little brother was an easy choice. Henrietta has her own line of dog grooming products, and it was a natural choice for Winston to start paying for his extremely expensive dental work in some way. 

While it took a LOT longer to get things put together, we opened December 4th, 2020. It still feels like a dream-- but I'm so glad I was just crazy enough to jump into something totally different in the midst of the most insane year of my life. I cannot wait to see how things grow and change over the years. 

 -Robyn