Williamstown will welcome a new business to its burgeoning Mill Village Historic District this week.
Wild Soul River, an herbal and healing shop owned by partners Justin Adkins and Rebecca Guanzon, will open to the public on Tuesday, June 1
Locals may be familiar with the building at 248 Cole Avenue, the former site of Leo’s Luncheonette, a popular diner that closed in 2014 after 42 years. But they may also be familiar with Adkins. He spent over a decade in the region, working at Williams College from 2008 to 2016 before relocating to Meadville, Pennsylvania, where he met Guanzon. Western Massachusetts, however, remained close to his heart.
“I had been interested in buying the building for years, then I saw it was for sale,” he said. “The area doesn’t have an herbal shop, so it was a conversation that became a reality.”
The duo moved into the apartment upstairs after closing on the property this January and immediately began working on opening the business.
Over 65 varieties of bulk herbs are in stock as well as essential oils, tarot decks, books, and other regional products including crystals from Diamond Mountain Mining in Little Falls, New York, and hand-dipped taper candles by Mole Hollow Candles in Sturbridge, Mass.
Guanzon will sell her own herbal tea blends, salves, and tinctures, and offer energy work and herbal intakes—an informal plan that utilizes herbs to meet health goals and manage internal and external stressors.
Having had an interest in herbs and “quick folk remedies” for most of her life, Guanzon received a scholarship about five years ago to study at The Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine in order to better understand botanical science. She then completed the school’s online Herbal Immersion Program, which boasts 1,000 hours of required course content. Herbalism remains an unregulated field in the United States with no certification process or official licensure, so many students lean on practice hours and mentorships to gain credibility in the community.
“The onus is on the consumer [to find a qualified herbalist],” she said.
“That’s one of the reasons why she’s so public about where she studied,” Adkins added.
Guanzon plans to work with her mentor Leslie Alexander, an herbalist based in Erie, Pennsylvania, as well as local herbalists, healers, and makers to provide remote and in-person workshops. “It’s an awesome opportunity to lift up other folks who don’t have capital for a storefront,” she said. “It changes the narrative from competition to collaboration.”
Community is integral to Wild Soul River’s mission and, in addition to partnering with regional suppliers and educators, the couple is building a community business from the ground up—literally.
They are working with Cricket Creek Farm to forage for naturally growing herbs such as spring nettles and mullein, and have relationships with two other Williamstown landowners to grow their own herbs to sell. Five raised beds have been installed around their building but the tulsi, calendula, yarrow, and marshmallow root grown in their garden will be for community use only.
“I’ve been an individual member of Herbalists without Borders for several years, but [in March] our business became a community garden site with them,” Guanzon said. Community garden members gain access to the organization’s eGuides, seed kits, and other resources. The herbs will be used in make-and-takes, or free workshops that teach participants how to make products such as salves, and leftover herbs will be added to Wild Soul River’s community herb pantry.
“The truth is that growing and sourcing locally is expensive,” said Adkins. “We recognize that, which is why we have supportive herbs for people at all income brackets.”
Adkins and Guanzon are also sensitive to land rights and have committed to supporting the Stockbridge-Munsee Community and its historic preservation program established in Williamstown last year.
“Those of us who are white and privileged have, over centuries, done harm to communities of color and indigenous communities,” Adkins said. “We believe we can make reparations as a business by paying people who work for us and giving back to Black and indigenous farmers.”
“We thought, ‘Are there herbs that we can send [to the Stockbridge-Munsee Community]?’ The land is important to them,” Guanzon said about the displaced Mohican Indian tribe. “How can we be free to live lives that are best for us while honoring people of color more broadly?”
The couple, who describe themselves as abolitionist apothecarists, champion diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) and social justice at all levels, in part because of their individual backgrounds. Guanzon has worked with sexual assault and trauma survivors for 20 years and Adkins, a transgender man, spent much of his career focused on DEI in higher education.
But many transgender and queer entrepreneurs have their own barriers to overcome including access to startup capital and government contracts, although broad data sets remain hard to come by.
While there are an estimated 1.4 million LGBTQ-owned businesses in the United States, only 1,678 are currently certified by the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, making it difficult to survey or advocate for this entrepreneurial segment.
“The numbers haven’t really ever been collected in Berkshire County,” said Ashley Shade, Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition board member. “Perhaps it’s time to do that.”
“Statistically, it’s a lot harder for LGBTQ couples to secure loans and financing,” she said. “Even though there are anti-discrimination laws in Massachusetts, it doesn’t stop people from discriminating. There’s a lot of educational work still to do.”
Aside from their mortgage, Adkins and Guanzon self-financed all renovations and startup costs, and are crowdfunding an ADA-compliant ramp which cost more than they expected due to increasing lumber and steel prices.
Still, they appreciate the flexibility and freedom they have as independent funders. “It allows for us to [create an accessible environment] in a much more thorough way,” said Adkins, which includes an ADA-compliant door, bathrooms, and level floor. They also placed inventory on lower shelves and will continue to offer curbside delivery to those who are not yet able to enter the store.
“We want to do everything right,” he said. “It’s important to us to go above and beyond to make our venue accessible for all people.”
