Mercantile 1888
If there is one word that summarizes the story behind Mercantile 1888, a zero-proof bar and retail store in Collingswood, NJ, it would be “connection”. Amanda Lewis and Stephanie Kinney created a space that serves as a social hub for connection, and it took connection with the community to bring their vision to life.
Amanda and Steph’s paths first crossed when they worked together in a school setting; Amanda was a teacher and Steph was a counselor. When COVID hit, they were working from home, and they were looking for things to do outside of work to fill time during the pandemic.
They began antiquing and refinishing old items and became more and more interested in the world of architectural salvage. They loved knowing the story behind the items they found. “Everything has to have a story. If we use it to decorate, we have to know the background of who had it before.” They started selling in a store in Franklinville called The Estate Shoppe, and they credit the owners, Kim Lenkowski and Pat Norris, for really giving them their start. They also vended at a store in Medford. “We learned everything about what to do and what not to do in business from those two places.” They eventually decided to open their own storefront in Haddonfield called RS Home Company (Rusted Salvage). They mostly sold retail items and had a small non-alcoholic drink section. At one point, they dreamed about knocking down a wall and opening a small cafe section, but unfortunately, after only a year, “everything fell apart with the building”, and they knew they could not work there any longer. The future of the business felt very uncertain. “We were so discouraged. We knew we had to move or we had to close.”
It was Steph who discovered 765 Haddon Avenue in Collingswood. “One day I was driving down Haddon Ave, and I saw a building that had a ‘For Rent’ sign on it. I slammed on the brakes so I could get the phone number." Steph immediately called the landlord and expressed interest in the building. They met there a couple hours later. At first, it seemed like he didn’t want to risk having a small business move in. “It’s risky. They want to make sure you’ll be able to pay the rent… but he decided to take a chance on us.” He ultimately told them that Collingswood was going to love their idea. Until this point, Amanda and Steph had not had the most positive experiences with landlords. However, “We could not say more great things about him. He is the most genuine, nicest person. We could not be more grateful.”
Their store was set to open in 2023 on the day of May Fair, a yearly event in downtown Collingswood. Steph unfortunately was away at the time, so Amanda was in charge of setting everything up. She was unaware of how well attended this event is every year. “I thought all of the pictures of May Fair were stock images from some big festival in Philly or something. But that’s actually what May Fair is. I didn’t realize.”
Only two weeks earlier, they had met Lisa Kasilowski, from nearby Heart and Dove. Lisa saw Amanda prepping to open for May Fair and “panicked for us.” The night before the event, Lisa was in Cape May but was texting Amanda at 1am saying, “Hey… how’s it going?” Amanda sent Lisa updated photos of her progress, “and the next thing I know, she got her husband to drive her back from Cape May at 2am. She helped me pull an all-nighter, and we finished down to the actual second of 10am opening the next day. We didn’t even know her that well at the time.” Others showed up at the last minute too. “One of our friends came to help. Our realtor helped us. Random people showed up as workers and donated their time. It organically turned into the community space that we didn’t even intend or know that it was going to be. That’s how we opened.”
This was only one of many stories that highlight how the community came together to make Mercantile 1888 a success. Originally, Amanda and Steph planned to sell only a few non-alcoholic beverages, as they had in their past shop. Their 10-year plan was to potentially open a non-alcoholic bar, as their new location was zoned for a cafe and retail space. “We thought, ‘Maybe we’ll do something really basic, like cans and kombucha. Let’s wait to see how it goes.’ And then after the first week, everyone kept asking, ‘When’s the menu going to come out?’ So we thought, ‘Ok, I guess that’s what we’re doing.’ Neither of us had any experience with drinks or bartending.”
As it so happened, Carla Camerieri came in to purchase a bar tool and said, “I’m a mixologist, if you ever need anything, here’s my card.” At the same time, Dave Murray was opening Gouldsburger’s in Haddonfield, and he had inherited bottles upon bottles of non-alcoholic spirits from The Fare Porter, who owned the space before him. “He reached out to us and said, ‘Hey, I’m going to throw these out, I have no purpose for them, do you want them?’” As fate would have it, Carla told them, “Actually, I worked with the Fare Porter, I’m familiar with all the spirits that they had, and I can help you get started.”
It was a string of good luck. “Having the bottles of spirits and Carla’s help, we thought, ‘Ok, I guess we can do a lot more than we ever thought.”’ They started to find their roles in this new space. “Amanda’s good at creating the vibe. Most of the things we carry, Amanda does a good job of curating.” Steph works mostly on the business side of the store. “She’s incredible at business,” says Amanda. “She thrives at it.”
They also have amazing things to say about their employees. “We are very lucky to have the employees that we do. They want to be here. All of our employees are defined people who also want to follow their passions and connect with others.” It is important to Amanda and Steph that their employees are mindful of each person who walks into Mercantile 1888. “When someone comes in, every one of our employees has to know - hey, this person could be freshly sober. They have to be sensitive to these things.” Luckily, “our employees value these connections just as much as we do. And when we’re not there, we don’t worry at all about what’s happening. They just know what to do; they know what to say. They’re irreplaceable to us.” So irreplaceable that Steph and Amanda do everything they can to make sure that they never have to lose one of them, even when money is low. “We don’t pay ourselves. We’ve never had a paycheck.” Amanda and Steph both work full-time jobs outside of Mercantile 1888; Amanda as a science teacher, Steph as a therapist. “We work our regular jobs, we have kids in school, but we will run around to make sure that our employees are taken care of.”
Amanda and Steph say that while there is some competition out there, they mostly feel like the small businesses in their surrounding area are all trying to support one another. “We figure out ways to help each other out… We’ve met the most genuine people. We’ve been really, really lucky.”
The connections that Amanda and Steph have found through opening Mercantile 1888 have not just included their small business peers, but also to Amanda’s family history. Their current location was home to a former historic bank of Collingswood in the early 1900s. Amanda quickly found out that her great-aunt worked in the same building nearly a century ago, when it was a bank. The entire area of Collingswood is full of many memories for her grandfather’s family, from the house her great-grandfather built behind Haddon Township Square to the shop that her grandfather used to sleep in as a little boy when it was owned by his family (then “Doyle’s Sales and Service”, now “Weinstein’s Bath and Kitchen”). To honor this history and Steph’s family history as well, they framed black and white photos of their great-grandfathers and placed them on a shelf in their store.
Steph lives a sober lifestyle; Amanda does not. They want people to know that everyone is welcome at Mercantile 1888, and all can have fun. “We don’t judge. It’s not like we are anti-drinking, it’s just a place to hang out that doesn’t revolve around alcohol.” Steph knows what it feels like to be sober and not have a good spot to spend time socially. “I can’t and don’t really want to hang out at a bar. A lot of people are in the same boat as me. An adult who is sober or doesn’t want to drink for that night for whatever reason needs a place to go.” They started coming up with free alternative activities to host in their space, such as craft night. “COVID kind of broke everybody, but we are becoming social people again, and people want to do things. We are also all becoming more health conscious.” Over time, their space became more and more popular. “It organically evolved. We started out with just 4 seats at the bar. We now have 16 permanent seats.”
It’s clear that Mercantile 1888, and its founders, Amanda and Steph, are well-loved by their community. When I shared that I was going to be including them in this project, the messages started rolling in. “We love them!” “I love them!” “It’s awesome!” “Their drinks are *fire emoji*”Amanda and Steph say that they’ve learned a lot about each other and themselves through the process of opening up Mercantile 1888, especially over the past year. “When we had our holiday party this year, we made a mini toast.” Amanda announced, “I think our word of the year is connection.” “It’s the word that always resonates,” she said. “It’s shown up so many times.”