Kalama’s Etc Mercantile offers mailboxes, shipping and home gifts

Calama – Shoppers looking for that little something extra or alternative mail delivery options can visit a one-stop-shop downtown instead of looking outside of Calama.

On March 20, Emily and Tim Sweat opened Etc. Mercantile in a former antique store between Metro and Willie Dick’s First Street Tap House. The store offers private mailboxes for rent, delivery services and gifts for the home.

Sweets said he felt the community needed a small business alternative to franchising for mail and shipping, as well as printing and scanning services.

“We’re family owned, and we’ve been part of the community,” says Emily Sweat. “We want to keep that community feel and feel.”

The couple lived in Kalama for 12 years. Tim Sweatt teaches at Kalama Middle School, and Emily Sweatt recently left teaching to move on to something new.

After wanting to start a small business for a long time, those dreams became stronger during the Covid-19 pandemic, says Emily Sweat. But those years weren’t the best time to open, she said.

When the downtown storefront became available last year, the couple jumped at the “perfect” spot, Sweat said, and got the keys on New Year’s Eve, which happened to be the couple’s 21st anniversary.

“We had dinner, and then we started painting that night,” Sweatt said.

During the nearly three-month renovation, the couple replaced light fixtures and flooring, painted it, added walls and installed mailboxes. After some Internet searching, Sweat said, she found 210 vintage-style mailboxes from a seller in California.

The mailboxes are small, but customers can deliver large packages to the store, Sweatt said. Most of the mail delivered so far is packages, for residents who have a PO Box but don’t have a home address to receive delivery, Tim Sweat said.

The Mercantile offers shipping via USPS or UPS carriers, including Amazon returns with a printed label. Customers can print, copy or scan documents.

Emily Sweat said the idea for the business started with mail and delivery services and grew to include retail to fill the larger space.

On the retail side, Sweat said they want to offer items sold in big box stores like Walmart, Target or Fred Meyer, which people can’t find in Calama. The store includes office supplies, greeting cards and home decor such as art prints, frames, pillows and plants.

Sweet Kalama said she wants to sell T-shirts and is working with the Kalama Artists and Makers Association to add to the tableau of local artisans. Mercantileau said they will gradually add other products as people want them.

The business has received positive feedback, and the community is welcoming and kind, Sweatts said.

“People like to have another option and a retail location on the street,” says Emily Sweat.