Sites like the Beavertail Lighthouse, Fort Wetherhill State Park and East Ferry landing have long made Jamestown a favorite Rhode Island destination. Still, Jamestown remains quiet, quaint, at odds with its more touristy neighbor to the east, Newport, and home, according to the 1990 census, to just about 5,000 people. A tranquil, residential island, Jamestown is also home to an innovative business community.
A singing fish welcomes visitors at Stonecraft Sterling, a jewelry and gift store at Jamestown’s tiny “mall.” The store has been open for two years; its owner, Cynthia Wolfe is a lifelong Jamestown resident – “all except for seven years,” she said.
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Wolfe’s shop literally glitters in the light. Its fare – mostly sterling silver jewelry with semi-precious stones – includes rings, brooches and pendants made of silver and polished purple Quahog shells (hard shell clams), which are indigenous to the Jamestown area, Wolfe said.
“The Indians from this area used to make the shells into beads and use them for trading,” she said.
The shells are cut and polished by Wolfe’s father and then sent to be fashioned into jewelry by two members of a Santo Domingo tribe in the southwest.
Wolfe’s store keeps longer hours in the summer to accommodate tourists.
“It’s pretty much a residential summer business,” she said.
Still she admits, business can be slow.
“It’s not like we get a busload of people every day,” she said. “And sometimes, they’ll come in off the street and ask me ‘Is that all there is?'”
To anyone who spends a little time in Jamestown, however, it’s obvious there’s a lot more going on than meets the eye.
Baker’s Pharmacy
The weathered gray building that houses Baker’s Pharmacy has been home to that business since 1987; its owner, Tim Baker, and the business have been in town for 24 years. It is the only pharmacy on the island, and, according to Baker, one of only 30 remaining independently owned pharmacies in the Ocean State.
“Running a business here is a unique situation,” he said. “It’s a small, limited market area. It doesn’t attract large chains. But that’s the way people want it.”
What are the advantages of owning a business on an island?
THE HISTORIC Beavertail Lighthouse on Jamestown.
“For me, it’s getting to know all our customers. We get to know people really well. For a pharmacy, that’s a big advantage.”
Are there any disadvantages?
“A lot of the local people don’t want anyone else to be here,” Baker said. “It’s hard for the businesses because we don’t want it to be touristy, a T-shirt town.”
Customer loyalty is not a problem for Baker – although many islanders do go to the mainland for shopping. Baker’s customer base was able to support an expansion into a new building in 1987.
“We thrive on doing real personal service and knowing everybody,” said Baker.
Chopmist Charlie’s
Joe Gabriele has managed Chopmist Charlie’s for owners Chuck and Trish Masso since the seafood restaurant’s opening four and a half years ago. The Jamestown native praises the island’s loyal customer base.
“It’s a very nice, close-knit community of people,” he said. “The people of Jamestown are very dedicated to their businesses.”
Gabriele said returning tourists account heavily for business as well. On a summer night, Chopmist Charlie’s dimly lit dining room, decorated with mounted fish, lobster traps and other marine memorabilia, can draw crowds of up to 300 people. The feeling among Jamestown’s businesspeople, according to Gabriele, is one of camaraderie.
“It’s not competition,” he said. “We all help each other. If we ran out of something, we could go to another restaurant and borrow it.”
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Financial Services
Joe Piotti’s tie-wearing days are over. On this day, the financial advisor sits at his desk in a printed cotton shirt, shorts and sandals. A Jamestown resident since 1989, Piotti used to run a securities firm in Boston, commuting from the Providence area. In 1993 he brought his business to the island.
“I don’t think you have to be in any geographic location to do business,” he said. “It became apparent to me that being in Boston didn’t enhance my business.”
He credits technology – Piotti can track market activity, as well as that of his clients via computer – with allowing him this luxury.
“Years ago, this was an impossible proposition,” Piotti said. “Today, you can be anywhere.”
Piotti has clients – primarily self-employed business people – throughout New England and in 24 states around the country. How do you attract clients around the country from a small island?
“I think if you want to build your client base, you develop your client relationships,” he said. “I focus on what I do. If I tend to my clients’ needs, that question will address itself.”
The Secret Garden
Jamestown’s flower and garden center is a family affair of serious proportions. The business, founded by three sisters, employs the trio’s children as well. The sisters divide the business’s duties: Holly Howard grows the plants, Helena Fountain acts as florist and designer, and Heidi Lessard keeps the books.
“We were a close family to begin with, but I was a little nervous at first,” admitted Lessard, who finds the treatment of the island’s businesspeople unique.
“I don’t think there’s another place in Rhode Island where you own a business and then go somewhere and people know who you are,” she said. “It’s different here.”
Being the only florist serving a small community has its advantages.
“It’s easy to keep up with events,” Lessard said. “It helps us plan.”
Business picks up in the warmer months.
“We do get tourist business in the summer,” she said. “Sunday seems to be the day for that. We get lots of calls from Newport, but the majority of customers are here on the island.”
The island’s laid-back atmosphere allows the sisters time for fun, such as the Secret Garden’s annual sunflower growing contest. Customers are given sunflower seedlings to plant; entries are judged on Labor Day weekend. Prizes go to plants with the largest head and longest stem. (Past winners have boasted 13 feet, ten inches in height and a bloom of 18 inches.)
“Those kinds of things we wouldn’t be able to do as well in other places,” said Lessard.
Jamestown Hardware
At the end of Narragansett Avenue, Jamestown Hardware has a little bit of everything.
“We have every department imaginable,” said Scott Sherman, son of storeowner Steve Sherman who’s enjoying a day off. “We have lawn and garden, marine, electrical, paint, hardware, plumbing. We have a screen repair business we do upstairs, we fill propane tanks for customers.”
“Since Jamestown is a low-lying area, we’re not supposed to pump it,” Sherman explained. He takes the tanks across the bridge to Wickford to be filled.
“One of the biggest things we do is provide service,” he said. “Tomorrow I’m going to East Greenwich to pick up a part for a gas grill that somebody needs.”
But it’s Sherman’s father, who started the business 11 years ago and later bought out his partners, who deserves the credit for developing the business into Jamestown’s ultimate source for service, according to his son.
“My father’s been the true hero here,” Sherman said. “We were in here one day a quarter past six and somebody comes knocking at the door needing a part to finish some project he was working on. So, my father opened the door back up and let him in. He does stuff like that.”
Steve Sherman started the store so he could work for himself. Son Scott quit his job at Home Depot eight months ago, and commutes from his home in Glocester so that he too can enjoy life in the slower lane.
“It’s the best change I ever made,” he said. “Home Depot cares about the customer and not the employee. Over here we care about both.”
