Web retail shop expands with storefront in Burton

An island couple has moved their successful online retail business into the Burton Masonic Lodge, where they will open a small shop on Friday.

By NATALIE MARTIN

An island couple has moved their successful online retail business into the Burton Masonic Lodge, where they will open a small shop on Friday.

At the new Spiceberry Home, owners Kevin Strel and Gisele Delanoy will offer apparel and home items they’ve been selling online for years, as well as some items they will order specifically for the Vashon shop.

The couple has been selling what they call niche products online for decades through the web businesses Squish and Spiceberry Home, keeping inventory at their Burton home and other storage spaces. Running out of space for their growing operations, the pair was considering moving to Seattle when the old Masonic hall became available. They say the spot, which Bergamot Studio recently moved out of, has space both to keep their large inventory and to offer a small showroom and retail shop. They signed a three-year lease for the property.

“The space is just so warm and beautiful,” said Strel last week, as he and Delanoy worked to set up the store. The back portion of the building is filled with shelves of boxes, and by Friday the front will be full of  colorful Hawaiian shirts — one of the first products they sold online — custom textiles such as tablecloths, tote bags and quilts, and kitchen items, including Japanese and Korean specialty cookware.

Strel noted that some of their products aren’t normally sold together, but they have high hopes for the shop, which will supplement their online sales. They had a pop-up shop in Vashon town last holiday season, Strel said, and it was popular with shoppers.

“We hope it will grow to be a going place for retail,” he said.