Main Street Mavericks Day Four: Ashland’s Small Businesses

It’s Main Street Mavericks Day Four, where we head from Corvallis to Ashland — known for its internationally famous Shakespeare festival. It’s also known for having an exceptional downtown area with small businesses everywhere. This thriving community has seen a lot collectively — they recently weathered forest fires that threatened to destroy everything in its path, and many had to close shop to wait out the disaster. While the fire didn’t descend on downtown Ashland, some local cities north of Ashland were not so lucky.

Covid and the recent fires were topics of conversation for these small business owners, who are still rebuilding after a tumultuous few years.

Main Street Mavericks Recap

To learn who the Main Street Mavericks are and what road trip we’re on, head on over to our Day One Main Street Mavericks Blog to learn all about us and our adventures around Oregon! We are on a mission to meet as many small businesses in Oregon as possible on a six-day road trip across Oregon. We’re coming to Ashland from Day Three in Corvallis and Day Two in Cannon Beach.

Day Four: Ashland

Breakfast

We woke up in Corvallis and had a quick breakfast at Coffee Culture before hitting the road!

True Lavender Collective

This remarkable small business provides lavender goods to the community. True Lavender Collective sells pet products, home decor, lotions, tinctures, and everything in between — as long as it has lavender and smells like lavender. Owner Julie Harden has worked diligently to rebuild her small business after her main supplier quit and went MIA last year.

Read more in our spotlight on True Lavender Collective.

Lovejoy’s Tea Room

Muna Nash’s career in business was shaped by her successful San Fransisco tea room by the same name — Lovejoy’s Tea Room, a staple of tea service and quality finger foods, opened up in Ashland prior to the pandemic and has kept Muna on her toes ever since. We met with this small business and ate our way through her afternoon tea menu, so this also doubled as our lunch.

Read more about Lovejoy’s Tea Room.

Mix Bakeshop

From-scratch baked goods and Stumptown coffee greets visitors to Ashland’s Mix Bakeshop, located right on Main Street in downtown Ashland. The coffee shop with exceptional baked goods has been open for 18 years. We popped in and chatted with some of the workers there — and ogled the fruit tart.

Treehouse Books

Next up, we ventured up Main Street to talk to Treehouse Books and its owner, Jane Almquist. Our interview took place in their YA-book closet, surrounded by all the best YA book options available for readers of all ages. When we remarked on how cool the closet was, Jane told us it was designed by a set and prop designer from Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Branson’s Chocolates

Our final stop of the day took us to Branson’s Chocolates. Open for 18 years, owner Deena Branson has built a business with diverse income streams — retail, wholesale, and custom labels. We stopped here to talk chocolate (and taste some, too!) and learn about the ins and outs of this type of business.

Check out our business spotlight on Branson’s Chocolates.

Dinner

Kendall and I went to Puerto Mazatlan Mexican Restaurant for dinner, as Deena, the owner of Branson’s Chocolates, recommended to us. Fajitas and the most giant margaritas on the planet greeted us when we did.

Stayed At

A stay in the town famous for Shakespeare needed to happen at one of the city’s several Bard-themed hotels. We chose The Stratford Inn.

Join Us Next Time …

Our last two days were spent in Bend, where our CEO Amad joined us!