Sean C. Morgan
Periwinkle Provisions, which operated for 25 years, closed officially on Tuesday, and owner Brandi Hawkins said it’s “time to move along.”
She’ll remain in Sweet Home for a few more months before relocating to another area of the state.
Hawkins and her husband, Robert, purchased Periwinkle Provisions in 2004. They sold health foods and Christian books.
“We’re recovering Californians,” Hawkins said. “Basically, we saw jobs being outsourced in our sector. We saw the writing on the wall.”
Robert Hawkins was in information technology, and Brandi Hawkins was in payroll service. They had two children at home, Sarah and Haley, both of whom are now grown and moved away.
The couple began looking into buying a business in Oregon. On a website of businesses for sale in Oregon, they found Periwinkle Provisions. Robert was interested in the health food, and Brandi Hawkins was interested in the books.
They came to Sweet Home and met with owner Peter Smith, who said he had pulled the advertisement from the site.
Regardless, the Hawkins had found the ad anyway.
“We visited Sweet Home, fell in love with it and pulled the trigger on a house and the business that same weekend,” Brandi Hawkins said. She had never worked in a health food store in her life when she walked into this one.
“I was very intimidated by the knowledge of the previous owner,” Hawkins said. She had to learn quickly. She became certified as a nutrition consultant.
“It was a great place to raise kids,” Hawkins said. “I think about small businesses in Sweet Home as almost a farm tank for kiddos.”
She noted how Mike Hall worked at The Point growing up, and today, he owns it. The New Era has provided afternoon jobs and helped shape numerous children, including her own, as they grew up.
The past year, Hawkins has been through several changes. She and her husband separated, and she has become a busy political activist in the cause of liberty. Her daughter Sarah has moved to California, and Haley is working elsewhere. She has run the business alone.
“The business, frankly, hasn’t been there to support the staff,” Hawkins said. It’s also difficult to do because there is so much an employee needs to know.
It got cumbersome not having the opportunity to pursue her other passions, she said, and that has been a big deal this past year.
So she has closed her doors. She doesn’t know what’s next.
“I have no idea,” Hawkins said. She has had a couple of job offers in Josephine County, but her main goal is to remain politically active. She had to stop an Internet radio show she hosted for lack of time, but she has remained involved in the Heirs of Patrick Henry, and she is already speaking around the state about liberty-related issues.
She made contacts in Josephine County while joining armed activists to protect the Sugar Pine Mine claim against federal overreach through the Bureau of Land Management, which had issued a stop-work order against the mine.
She noted that running a small business in Sweet Home is hard. She has generally been breaking even, though not even that in some months. Friday, a customer asked her about a specific product, but it had been sold out. She told the customer she could order and drop ship it to her.
That kind of thing could be in her future still, Hawkins said. She can practice wherever she wants with her nutritional therapist practitioner certification. She has connected with another nutritional therapist practitioner in Josephine County and may explore opportunities there too.
“I’m not sure I want to stay in the industry,” she said.
She said she is excited about where her life may go, but she’s sad too.
“I have my moments,” she said. “I would hope I’ve contributed something.”
She has been active in Sweet Home during her time here. She was involved with the Chamber of Commerce and served as president. She has been involved with the Sweet Home Active Revitalization Effort and a member of Sweet Home Economic Development Group.
She hasn’t hesitated to speak her mind to the City Council regarding business and community issues. She was a member of the Ford Foundation leadership program.
She has developed roots and relationships throughout the Sweet Home community.
“The hope is always you maintain those relationships,” Hawkins said. “It remains to be seen. Some will and some won’t.
“I think that Sweet Home has potential. East Linn County has potential, but it’s from the top down. People need to be loyal to their community or they’re going to keep losing businesses. It’s unfortunate.”