Dreams come true. Just ask Heather Jaynes.
She had a dream that Willow’s Naturally — downtown Winslow’s staple source for natural, organic and specialty health food and products — where her own homemade products were sold was, itself, for sale.
No way, she thought. Couldn’t be.
Still, the dream nagged at her, in that weird way that exceptionally vivid nighttime fancies can. So, she asked her friend, long-time owner Willow Follett, if, perhaps, she’d missed something.
Turns out, she had.
“I had written up a sales sheet and circulated it,” Follett remembered. “I started mentioning it to customers and I had a few people interested, but nothing that worked out. Then, about two months ago, Heather came in to the store, and I hadn’t seen her in a long time, and she asked me if I’d gotten her email and I hadn’t.
“She said, ‘I had a dream the other night that the store was for sale and I should buy it,’” Follett laughed. “And I said, ‘Well, as a matter of fact, it is for sale.’
“And we went from there.”
Willow’s Naturally, in its present location for the last 15 years since Follett first purchased and renamed the health food store beneath Town & Country Market in 1982, is located at 169 Winslow Way East.
“The store is dear to my heart and I am confident that Heather will continue that tradition,” Follett, who first got interested in the natural product market while working at an organic food co-op in Hawaii, said. “I feel fortunate to have had my business on Bainbridge Island. I have learned a great deal from my customers. They have been very loyal over the years and many have become good friends.”
It was through just such a customer/coworker friendship that Follett first met Jaynes, owner of Heather’s Natural Cleaning Products, which are perpetual customer favorites at Willow’s. Jaynes moved to the island in 1986 from Poulsbo, she said, and
has been working in the field of natural and organic products for many years.
“I have been studying and exploring energy medicine, healing and feng shui intensively for the last 10 years,” she said. “I have also been very involved in the local yoga community and have great connections with many of the local natural practitioners and healers. Many of them have offered their help to me, and I am touched by their excitement for the store as well.”
Willow’s has long had a special place in Jaynes’ heart.
“I have discovered that Willow’s is where my heart and soul feels most at home,” she said. “I love to be in service to others and to bring good energy into whatever I am doing. The dream that I had to ask Willow if her store was for sale was an opportunity to listen to my heart and to see what might happen.
“My intention has been to find work that I could feel that I was giving back in some way,” Jaynes added. “And when this presented itself, everything just felt right and it all clicked into place like magic. I cannot be more grateful.”
Jaynes officially became the owner on Nov. 1, but customers shouldn’t expect to see less of Follett, for a while at least. Follett has said she will remain on hand through the end of the year to aid Jaynes in taking the reins of the place and to personally thank her regular customers for their support.
“She is an incredible resource for me and I have so much to learn from her,” Jaynes said. “Willow will continue being a part of the store through the end of the year. I am hoping she will stay on longer.”
Follett said she is looking forward to more free time now. She is especially excited to hike more, travel and pursue local volunteer work, but is also pretty certain she’ll remain a regular presence at the store in the future.
“I may even work at Willow’s on a part-time basis,” she said. “After the New Year, I look forward to a less hectic and more relaxed pace of life.”
Jaynes said that she intends to bring some new touches in the shop, but will take nothing away.
“We will continue to offer the same service and products that Willow’s been so known for,” she said. “We will also be offering lots of new items in the store, products that complement a healthy lifestyle [like] nutritional supplements and healthy foods and snacks, including raw foods, foods for the Paleo diet and gluten-free options.
“We will have books, gifts, yoga mats and props and meditation supplies,” she added. “We will also be carrying a nice assortment of crystals in the coming year.”
Perhaps the biggest change coming to the store, Jaynes said, are the more frequent guest lectures and presentations she has planned.
“We have several health care practitioners who are already excited about hosting education programs on health and wellness,” Jaynes said.
Also coming soon is a store cookbook, featuring many of Follett’s famous recipes, with proceeds going to support the local food bank.
From a dream to a dream job, Jaynes said that owning her favorite store and getting to take over for and learn from her long-time friend has already been more rewarding than she could have hoped.
“I’ve always wanted to be in some kind of healing field,” Jaynes said, “something where I can be in service to others and be involved in my community in a real healing kind of way. So when I had the dream it seemed out there and odd, but I figured, ‘What the heck?’ It is what I’ve been interested in doing so I may as well ask.”
Visit www.willowsnaturally.com for more information, as well as a current calendar of guest speakers and workshops.