Minglement, an interesting word too, with a life of its own, compelling us, the current stewards of this small health food store, to insure that this iconic island institution survive against a global trend toward sameness. Minglement is an exception to what is happening in the world, where super malls and mega-grocery stores homogenize the landscape and where it’s easy to lose your place and identity. You’ll find that we are a bit different/unique/unusual, but as in Ralph’s Pretty Good Grocery, from Prairie Home Companion, ‘if we don’t have it, you probably don’t need it’.
Minglement began on Vashon Island as an artists’ Cooperative on Bank road and when the collective decided to sell, the new owners relocated the store next to Sound Food Café and Bakery in the 1970’s. Minglement became a health food store, continued to carry the local island art, and remained in the same location for over 30 years.
In 2005, we decided to move the store into a venerable 100-year-old building located on Cemetery Road and Vashon Highway, where the town of Vashon originated. The building housed many island businesses over the years and is still home to specialty coffee and fair trade pioneer, Jim Stewart’s original coffee company, The Wet Whisker, which eventually became known as Seattle’s Best Coffee. We have successfully “mingled” the health food store into this historic coffee roasterie and coffee museum retaining the history, personality and ‘flavor’ of each.
Today, the Minglement’s ongoing story includes the Vashon Island Coffee Roasterie, where we find ourselves roasting coffee too. We blend a combination of rare, traditionally grown, organic, direct trade and fair trade coffee beans to create our fine Heirloom®Coffees. Minglement has always carried teas and herbs for health, and we greatly expanded those departments in the last nine years, adding even more unusual and exotic custom blended teas made from our extensive herbal apotheca. Many of these blends are created by the staff and me and are available nowhere else.
The people of the Minglement, owners, staff and customers alike embraced an early consciousness of the value of natural and organic food and products. We continue to support the green choices and healthy lifestyles of our customers and we are members of Coop America. The building is green powered and we actively recycle our waste.
The staff and I wish you good health, happiness and peace. ~ Eva
Note of interest: The island was once dotted with ten small, family- run grocery stores. There are now only two of us left; The Minglement and Sandy’s at Burton.
