West Seattle sighting: Free Range Mercantile mobile store-to-be

If you’ve driven Fauntleroy Way SW through Fairmount Springs in the past day-plus, you might have noticed that green bus labeled Free Range Mercantile. Kaela did, and sent a note wondering if we knew the story behind it. We had only just noticed the bus ourselves hours earlier, but after a little sleuthing overnight, we tracked down the info: You’ve heard of food trucks? Meet a retail truck! West Seattle entrepreneur Mary Summers, who you might know from CAPERS, is launching a mobile store. Reached via e-mail, Mary told us, “I’ll be selling sustainable goods, domestically sourced and fairly traded. Still filling in a few categories, but all useful items: brushes, brooms, tools, laundry soap, dish towels — home and hardware. This was my first weekend off after having worked at Capers for 16 years. A whole new adventure.” Mary hasn’t set an opening date yet for Free Range Mercantile – she just got the bus painted and found that “parking space” – but she expects to announce the date soon.

10 Replies to "West Seattle sighting: Free Range Mercantile mobile store-to-be"

  • Tom July 9, 2012 (10:39 am)

    What a great idea! Good luck, Mary!

  • coffee July 9, 2012 (10:58 am)

    Way cool! Just a bit of feedback, I first thought it might be a medical bus given the color and name on the side.
    I can’t wait to shop there and see what they have!!!!

  • add July 9, 2012 (11:45 am)

    So funny, I just passed this about 15 minutes ago and wondered what the story was behind it! Sounds like a cool venture. Good luck to Mary!

  • Lea July 9, 2012 (1:07 pm)

    What an unusual and cool idea! I love it! Can’t wait to shop on the bus!!

  • Suzy July 9, 2012 (1:21 pm)

    Cool – hopefully she reaches out to new local craftspeople!

    http://www.etsy.com/shop/IndependentWoodworks

  • Jayma July 9, 2012 (1:52 pm)

    What a fabulous idea! Good luck!!!!!

  • Jim P. July 9, 2012 (4:47 pm)

    Whatever happened to the “mini-market” in a shipping container that was being floated early this year or last year?

    Did that fold? It’s nice to see original ideas like these but all too often they are still-born.

    I wish the bus a lot of success.

    • WSB July 9, 2012 (5:18 pm)

      Jim – That’s Stockbox Grocers. They were doing a test over here, and it ended after a few months. They are opening a new permanent store in South Park in the middle of August. – TR

  • karen July 9, 2012 (6:07 pm)

    They had one of these in Nizas, a little village in France we stayed at once–it was awesome

    They also had a gal who came once s month and gave haircuts

  • Joy July 29, 2012 (4:52 pm)

    I have passed by this every day for the last few weeks and wondered what it was. I look forward to its opening and checking it out!

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