Stop by the new shop Jennings & Allen in Seal Beach and you’ll encounter more than just handcrafted goods from all over the world. You’ll learn the stories behind the artisan products and witness how they help communities in need.
“Everything that we sell we have a personal connection to and we have a story that goes with it,” said Colvin English, who owns Jennings & Allen with his husband, Steve Armijo.
Armijo and English have filled their shop with home decor and gift items handpicked from their travels and work around the globe.
For example, stone hearts handmade by artisans in Haiti help the Hand/Eye Fund, a group English and Armijo work with that is rebuilding an area destroyed by an earthquake in 2010.
The colorful hand-blown glassware that sparkles throughout the shop is made by a group of artisans in Oaxaca, Mexico, an area English has visited.
And you can’t miss the scent of lavender in the store which comes from Los Poblanos, an organic lavender farm outside Albuquerque, New Mexico, near where Armijo’s relatives live. The farm makes body care products including a lavender salve that’s a bestseller.
“Somebody can come into our store and talk to myself, or talk to Steve, and we can tell him exactly how this is affecting a community because we’ve been there,” English said. “We know that small purchases here … can make a big difference in a community somewhere else.”
English has worked with artisans from more than 50 countries during a 20-year career in the handmade goods market. He currently runs a consulting business that helps artisans connect with buyers. Now he’s connecting artisans to Seal Beach.
Setting up Shop in Seal Beach
Opened in December 2017, Jennings & Allen is tucked behind Brita’s Old Town Garden on Main Street in what English describes as a “funky little space next to the stairs.” While the location may seem hidden, he’s confident “people in Seal Beach know where that is. And nowhere else would you find that sense of community that gets that.”
That sense of community is exactly what drew the couple to set up shop in town. “We looked in various other places and they just didn’t feel right,” English said. He had previously lived in town in the 1990s and early 2000s. “Seal Beach still has the sense of community of a small town and the sense of being neighborly that we were looking for.”
English sees Main Street as an ideal location for his store as it attracts people looking to wander and explore and maybe listen to a few stories. “They don’t mind taking an extra few minutes out of their day because people don’t rush around Main Street,” he said. “They’re here to relax and enjoy this wonderful little town.”
English is already feeling neighborly support from Seal Beach shoppers. He shared the story of one customer who bought a Haitian-made papier mache fish ornament but came back to the store later and said she had lost it. English promptly gave her a replacement at no charge. A few days later, the store received a letter showing the customer had made a donation in the store’s name to Heifer International, an organization that helps combat hunger and poverty worldwide.
“That doesn’t happen normally,” English said. “It’s just been remarkable, that sort of sense of community and, again, neighborliness. It’s just really, really nice.
