The Store. At night.

I’ve never been all that good with tools. I guess it’s not that I can’t use them – it’s just that I don’t particularly enjoy using them. So that means I’m fine with not being good at using them. But I’m still capable of getting projects done around the house. Since moving into my own home for the first time about 18 months ago, my list of accomplishments, along with my tool collection, has grown considerably (and Menards is in possession of a respectable chunk of my change at this point). I guess the things I like building are a little more intangible than an attractive backyard fence or a deluxe cedar rocking chair with cup holders.

The Local Store is a very natural extension of what Volume One is already doing. Think of it like the pages of our magazine or website manifesting themselves in an actual physical space.

So, with an awareness of this general aversion to tools, you can imagine what my wife thought when I told her that a couple of guys from Volume One and I were going to build – completely on our own – an entire store in the front part of our office. We needed to totally transform more than 600 square feet of our office with a system of shelving, a stud wall, paint, lighting, some custom displays, and a counter – no wait – a very complex, multi-angled, multi-height counter wrapped around a giant, immovable support post. And we had just a few weeks to do it AND keep doing our normal jobs.

No contractors, no interior designers, no consultants. It’s not that we couldn’t have used their help – there just wasn’t any time if we wanted to get this store open by the holiday shopping season. So individuals from the Volume One team who normally work on graphic design, editorial, and advertising all pulled together to actually design, build, and lay out everything on our own (with just a bit of help from IKEA). So now it’s done, and frankly, I think we pulled it off quite nicely.

With that, we introduce to you The Local Store at the Volume One World Headquarters. Our home at 17 S. Barstow Street now displays apparel, books, music, art, and more – all with a local focus. The products available are all designed, made, or otherwise dreamed up by the people of this community. Or, the products somehow evoke a sense of place in the Chippewa Valley or Wisconsin in general.

 

Check out the merch online!

The music section features more than 100 releases from current and past local musicians (and even some local titles on vinyl). The bookshelves feature another 100 titles focused on Wisconsin and the Chippewa Valley in genres including history, recreation, food, regional culture, children’s books, and even some fiction – many of which were written by people of this community. The apparel wall features the popular neighborhood shirts, I Bike EC, and others, but we’re now going much further and are partnering with Aaron and Tim at Ambient Vision Inks out of Menomonie to print many more fun localized designs.

A variety of art prints that capture the essence of “here” will be on sale (coming soon), and through a partnership with the Chippewa Valley Museum the store will feature never-before-created posters of vintage local photos and more. The space itself is filled with the work of locals including some interesting plant layouts thanks to Beverly at Tropical Interiors, and of course the famous seven-foot-tall “Horseman” sculpture by artist Steve Bateman. There’s more, too, but you’ll just have to stop down to check it all out.

So now you have an excuse to visit the Volume One office if you’ve ever been so inclined. In fact, though our doors are officially open now, we’re having a grand opening event on Saturday, November 20 with some free snacks, office tours, and a sale on everything in the store (part of downtown’s Holiday Season Opener). It will be a great time to get some authentically local holiday shopping done (and if you can’t decide, we’ve got gift cards!).

In my view, The Local Store is a very natural extension of what Volume One is already doing. Think of it like the pages of our magazine or website manifesting themselves in an actual physical space. It’s another way to connect with the past and present of the community around you. And a place to critique the construction and finishing skills of a few guys who didn’t know better than to build the place themselves. We hope to see you soon!