Islander Kathleen Fitch is selling Essentials 4 — her office, school, travel and art supply store — after 14 years in business on Vashon.
“My life is full, too full,” she said in an email to The Beachcomber. “So I’m looking to streamline some parts.”
Fitch came to know and love Vashon after her parents retired to the island in 1979, and she took time away from her job as an executive with American Express a few times each year to visit. But it was what she observed during her frequent travels and moves for work that eventually spurred her own island move.
“Work had me moving all over the country, and that’s when I watched the loss of the small, neighborhood retail stores that I had come to cherish,” she said. “But when I moved to Vashon in 2001 from New York, I realized the economics of scale still provided a window for a small retail store to survive.”
So when the old Aldrich store put its office supply business up for sale, Fitch decided to give it her best shot and purchased it, opening her first shop in February of 2002. Initially selling travel supplies, office and school products and stationery, Fitch added an art supply section after Aldrich closed its art store.
Over the years, Fitch focused on mentoring new employees, most of whom began when they were young teens in high school, and said she felt those experiences were positive both ways — for her as well as her young workers.
“I enjoyed their creativity, work ethic and their aspirations in life,” she explained. “And I was privileged to teach them all the aspects of running a business.”
In 2010, Fitch decided to improve the store with a move to its current location in town at the corner of Vashon Highway and 174th Street, where it has dedicated parking and a reader-board sign.
E4, as it’s commonly referred to, hasn’t been the only project on Fitch’s plate, however. In 2006 she founded a nonprofit called Sustainable Tourism on Vashon (STOV), a web-based venture focused on promoting local activities and programs, assisting in developing artistic, agricultural, ecological and historically conscious island exploration packages for residents and visitors. And in 2008, Fitch said she discovered the Vashon Island Chorale and joined right away.
“What joy this family of singers has brought me,” she said of the group. “It is a positive experience every time I participate in an event with them.”
Fitch is selling E4 as a turn-key opportunity with full inventory and up-and-running point-of-sale (POS) system, for $149,000, and a four-year or longer lease available from the current owner of the building.
Moving forward, Fitch plans to make STOV and the chorale bigger parts of her life stating “the island calls to me.”
Fitch’s STOV project can be found online at stov.us.
