For over 100 years, Shaw has had a store — and since 1924, the store has lived at its present location, serving as the island hub: folks congregate, catch up, chat, check the mail, do the laundry (well, once there was a laundry facility), buy chicken feed (well, once they did…), or buy excellent island produce and fine local brews (now).
painting to the right by Cindy Margritz
The first store on Shaw was at the head of Blind Bay, starting in the early twentieth century. In 1924, Eugene “Gene” Fowler established the store at its present site, with the post office in the back. The Fowler family ran the store for almost 30 years, with Gene’s daughter Mabel Fowler Crawford working in the store and also eventually serving as Postmaster from 1943 to 1963. (Mable also kept a shelf of books in the store for checkout, the first “library” on the island.)
To the left, the store in the 1930s, before the upstairs was converted into an apartment. Photograph used with permission of the Shaw Island Historical Society.
In 1953, the Fowlers sold the store to the Yansens, who sold it to the Leidigs in 1959, who sold it to John and Geb Nichols in 1971, who sold it to Henry Ellis, who in 1976 helped a small order of Franciscan nuns acquire the property. For 28 years, the nuns ran the store and the ferry, and they had a small chapel in the warehouse building.
Mother Kateri with her dog, Kane, at the ferry ramp; painting by Dan Olsen.
In 2004, Steve and Terri Mason and their children bought the store and have tended it and the surrounding property lovingly.
In this pandemic year, their daughters Rebecca and Chloe have done a spectacular job keeping the store stocked with excellent (and way too tasty) items
and helping everyone on Shaw stay healthy and well fed.
…
Over time the owners and the kinds of items for sale have changed, but the store has always been central to Shaw Island life.
Left, the Masons in 2004, when they accquired the store