OYSTERVILLE The Closed sign has been on the door of the Oysterville Store for half a year. The red velvet drapes in the display windows block out even a glimpse of the goings-on inside the building. And, in the west window a plush, lop-eared bunny stares fixedly from his basket, giving not a hint of what is in store for residents and visitors when the venerable old building is opened for business once again.

    Were planning for the official grand opening on Memorial Day weekend, says new owner Greg Rogers. But Im hoping to surprise myself and have a soft opening much earlier.

    That the building will continue to serve the Peninsula as the Oysterville Store is a certainty. That it will continue to sell souvenirs and beer and wine is also a given. That it will have a woodstove and old-fashioned display cabinets and will provide a warm welcome to residents and visitors, alike, is also part of Rogers plan.

     But there the similarities to the store we remember no matter how far back our memories go will probably begin to morph into something else. Rogers eyes dance and the words fairly trip over one another as he begins describing the new Oysterville Store.

    I want it to feel like a really good gift shop at the end of a great museum visit, he says.  The museum hes referring to, of course, is not any traditional sort of bricks and mortar building where objects of significance are stored and exhibited.

    Rogers is speaking, instead, of the village of Oysterville, itself a sort of open-air museum. And the museum visit is the self-guided walking tour through the Oysterville National Historic District that thousands of tourists take each year, guided by the map and information in the free brochure from the historic Oysterville Church.

Cult of Oysterville

    I see the store having lovely souvenirs things you feel might have come right out of the historic homes you were just admiring. Well carry books by local authors and cards and scarves and pottery and food products all local, all quality, all things that speak to a real or imagined Cult of Oysterville. Well carry products that are so well made that they will have the feel of being old, Rogers laughs.

    I want it to be humorous, fun, light, he says, with a Northwest Coast feel. I want to carry the old hackneyed souvenir items like spoons and trivets and tea towels but done by modern artists. I see objects made from driftwood or old fence posts a Pop Art feel and a hint of the Oysterville lifestyle.

    Part of his plan is to honor the first owners of the store, Bert and Minnie Andrews with enlarged photos of them on the walls and items for sale like Berts Buck-a-Cup coffee. There will be a table and chairs near the woodstove where people can warm up and spin a yarn or two.

    Already Rogers is talking about a hundredth anniversary celebration for the store in 2019, six years from now. Hes collecting stories about the Andrews family about how they built the post office and gas station first and then Bert, who had the first automobile in town, would offer to pick up a few things for his neighbors when he went into Nahcotta to meet the mail train each day.

    Soon Bert realized that he could provide a better service for the village if he began keeping some staple supplies right on the premises. And so, the store began.  Greg is eager for his new incarnation to feel like a continuation of that long-ago Andrews Store old-fashioned but with a regional flair and a fun attitude.

New Direction

    The venture is a totally new direction for Rogers, but for the present he says, I wont be giving up my day job. By profession he is a designer of furniture, lighting, and cabinetry. Now an independent contractor with clients throughout the United States, he continues to work with KNA Designs in Los Angeles with whom he has been associated for the past nine years.

    Rogers brings an exceptional professional portfolio and a diverse set of interests to his position as Product Director at KNA Most important however is his sense of perspective With masterworks on multiple continents to his credit Rogers is a proven interior designer.

    Through my work with them, I visited the factories of China and India, teaching the workers how to adapt their techniques to manufacture my designs not to be imagined experiences! To watch the craftsmen who are restoring the Taj Mahal create incredible beauty with tiny tiles and bits of mother-of-pearl as their ancestors have done for centuries fabulous!

    Rogers has worked with Manhattan architects Peter Marino and Victoria Borus and has designed products for residential and commercial properties for well-known names such as Chanel, Armani, and Dior. His work included experiences with artisans, auction houses, restorers, and museums.

    My goal over the past 25 years has been to obtain a wide variety of experience from the best interior/architectural firms in North America. Ive been very, very fortunate, says Rogers.

Northwest Beginnings

    He began his career in Seattle in 1984 after graduating from Western Washington University with a degree in interior design (which is actually from the Home Economics Department! he laughs) and a minor in art history. There he worked with the late Jean Jongeward, known by clients and colleagues as Seattles Queen of Design.

    She was tough, really tough, Rogers remembers. She was the perfect mentor literal to a fault, eclectic, elegant, no-nonsense. She is known for developing what has become the color palette of the Northwest the tones and textures of tree bark, light-dappled moss, and milky mountain streams.  But she couldnt draw. She said that she only knew two interior designers who could draw; I was one of them.    

    Of himself, Rogers says on his LinkedIn site: At heart I am an object-specific person I am mostly known for my unique hand-drafting skills, my ability to visualize and to verbalize, to excite others

    And how did he manage the gigantic leap from the design houses of Manhattan, the palaces and museums of Europe and the artisans factories of China and India to the Oysterville Store?

     I wanted a change. I left the high concrete buildings of Manhattan thinking to get a house in a neighborhood somewhere, maybe with a garden and a garage, and I headed back to California where I had grown up. But I found that I didnt know anyone there anymore and I was returning to a temperature zone, not to a lifestyle.

    I grew up in Newport Beach great address, but actually we lived on the wrong side of the tracks. My folks were both artists and we had no money. Mom was a graphics illustrator and my dad was an industrial designer. I inherited interests and abilities from both.

    His father was now in the Northwest, so Rogers returned to the Seattle area where he got in touch with his old friend Bradley Huson. They had met in the late 80s and had stayed in touch. Over dinner, Bradley regaled him with stories of the little coastal village where he had recently bought property: Oysterville! He told me there were only thirteen people living there and thought I should consider becoming a storekeeper, Rogers laughs.

Introduction to Oysterville

    Just about a year ago Bradley introduced him to Oysterville and to Jean and John Smith who had their house, store and acreage on the market. Rogers took possession shortly before Christmas and is now in the midst of renovating first the house and then the store.

    One of his dreams is to have an artisans workshop in the back room somewhere. But asked if he will build some of his own furniture designs he says, God, no! I would just cut myself! Long ago my dad said, I love you son, but stay out of the shop. I draw. Other people produce.

    And, its draw the old fashioned way for Rogers. I use pencils, erasers, and white out. His drawings are all about contrast and dimension. Not like what is generated from CAD (computer-aided design) programs, he says.

    When my drawings are sent to the factories in China or India, they can see the product far better than with a CAD printout. Manufacturers can see, really see, what the product will look like from my drawings. In fact, according to Bradley (himself a designer), Rogers may be the only top designer on the planet who still actually draws.

    He has drawn his vision of the Oysterville Store interior. It may not all come together immediately, he says. But Jimella [Jimella Lucas of the Ark and Jimellas Seafood Café renown] tells me that its okay to have empty shelves.

    Somehow, as he spins his ideas and dreams, the words spilling over themselves and rushing to give his thoughts form and substance, its hard to visualize Greg Rogers Oysterville Store empty in any way for long.

    Meanwhile, Oysterville is looking forward to officially welcoming Mr. Rogers to the neighborhood!