Coastal meets farmhouse at Bluffton General Store opening soon

Shoppers of the new Bluffton General Store will have plenty of different items to select from at 12 Church St., according to the owner, Jana Qualey.

The newest addition to Old Town Bluffton shops will have a soft opening beginning April 15, but the official grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony will not be until April 27, Qualey said. She said she loved the name of a “general store,” because it doesn’t pigeonhole her shop and the products she offers.

“When choosing that name, I’m able to have eclectic stuff,” she said.

And eclectic it is; from freshly wrapped bouquets and cards to local art, jewelry and vintage-like souvenirs, the Bluffton General Store will have a little bit of everything. Bluffton T-shirts and hats designed by local artist Kelly Graham, circa1910 jewelry, capri BLUE candles popular at Anthropologie, and even hand-potted bowls out of Raleigh, N.C., will be available, Qualey said.

While the store will offer a variety of goods, she said everything has a certain look to it.

“When you walk in, it’s almost like coastal meets farmhouse, because it all seems to be working together,” she said.

Qualey said her goal is for customers to have a complete experience without having to stop at various shops in the area to find everything they need.

“If someone’s buying a wedding gift, they can get a card and get it gift wrapped,” she said. “They can find it in my shop and walk away with it completed.”

The Bluffton General Store will be open roughly from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

“(We’ll be open) Sunday by chance, because sometimes there’s a lot of people walking around downtown and sometimes it’s very quiet,” she said.

It’s always been a dream of Qualey’s to open her own store, and with the help of her husband Jack, she said it’s become a reality. She said when people walk into her store, she wants them to experience the blissful feeling she does.

“I want them to be comfortable, I really do — a lot of peace and joy,” she said. “That’s how I feel already when I walk in.”

This story was originally published April 13, 2017 at 12:59 PM with the headline "Coastal meets farmhouse at Bluffton General Store opening soon."