Author photo

By Garth Meyer
Whitman County Gazette 

Second Colfax Mercantile, "The Lief" to open

 

October 8, 2020

Roger Harnack | The Gazette

Shoppers look through goods during the Oct. 6 "soft opening" of The Lief.

COLFAX — A second Colfax Mercantile is to open Oct. 10 on Main Street after a so-called "soft opening" Tuesday.

Located in the former "Bully For You" building, 13 vendors will start it, to be named "The Lief" – after the giraffe that graced Bully For You.

Val Gregory and Allie Cofer will run it as a private business, two of the instigaters of the Colfax Mercantile, which was started last summer as part of the Colfax Downtown Association. It separated from the association recently.

The Lief, which already has a full waiting list, will feature businesses with names such as Pick-a-Pepper (salsa), Red Arrow Vintage, Old Gray Mares (both repurposed furniture) and Brassy Buffalo Co.

The back room will be known as "Picker's Paradise."

"It's kind of like a continuous yard sale," said Gregory.

Now under private ownership, the original Mercantile has jettisoned the previous rules that any vendor that was there for five years, or made $60,000 in profit in a year, would need to move out.

"We don't have that threshold anymore," Gregory said. "It was a great group of people that really clicked. Everybody's done great and we wanted to stay."

Would any of the businesses have gotten to that threshold?

"I would say two or three were close. Maybe not this year, but next year," Gregory said.

The Lief will be managed by Cal Gregory, Val's son, a business student at Walla Walla Community College.

Like the original Mercantile, businesses at The Lief will occupy spaces from five to 10 feet across and larger.

Hours will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturdays.

The Oct. 10 opening will feature 50 "The Lief" T-shirts given to the first 50 customers.

The original Colfax Mercantile was funded by a $30,000 grant from the county's .09 economic development program.

Author Bio

Garth Meyer, Former reporter

Author photo

Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.

 

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