If you're looking for Gibbs Cove on a map, you may have a little trouble finding it.
That's all right. Most good places take a little effort to get to.
Gibbs Cove sits tucked among the ridges and creeks of Alabama, where the roads still curve around the mountains instead of telling the mountains where to go. It's the kind of place where folks wave when they pass you, somebody probably knows where you're headed before you get there, and news travels considerably faster than the internet.
At the center of town you'll find The General Store.
That's where you'll usually find me.
I'm R.G. Creates—proprietor, storyteller, occasional inventor, habitual coffee drinker, and, according to the Store Cat, the fellow responsible for keeping his food bowl full.
Welcome.
Pull up a chair.
More Than a General Store
The General Store is a little unusual.
We sell real things here. Good coffee. Useful goods. Things made by people whose work we believe in. There's even an online door now, which Tommy Reed assures me is considerably more convenient than expecting everybody to drive to Alabama.
I'm still partial to the front door myself.
But commerce has always been only part of what a good general store provides.
For generations, stores like this were gathering places. Folks came for flour, tools, coffee or whatever else they needed, but they also came for conversation. They exchanged news. They argued about the weather. They solved problems. They told stories.
That's the kind of General Store we're building here.
Because every person who walks through the door brings a story with them.
The Folks Around Gibbs Cove
Spend enough time here and you'll meet a few of them.
Clara Mae Turner runs the Gibbs Cove Café and possesses strong opinions about coffee, pie and nearly everything else. She's usually right about at least two of the three.
Elias Thorne can repair just about anything worth repairing. He doesn't waste many words explaining how he does it.
Miss Eleanor Whitaker taught school for 39 years and has apparently decided retirement gives her additional time to correct the rest of us. If I remember a piece of Gibbs Cove history incorrectly, she'll let me know.
She usually brings documentation.
Tommy Reed is seventeen and works part-time around the store. He understands computers, phones, social media and various other contraptions that seem determined to remind me what century we're living in.
Then there's Nadine Brooks, founder of the Gibbs Cove Coffee Company.
Nadine believes good coffee doesn't need a speech. It needs another cup.
I happen to think she's onto something.
And there are plenty more folks around here you'll meet eventually.
Even the Store Cat.
Especially the Store Cat.
He considers himself management.
There's Something Brewing in Gibbs Cove
Coffee has become an important part of what we're building.
Not because the world desperately needs another bag of coffee with a fancy label on it.
There are plenty of those.
We're interested in something more personal.
We taste the coffees. We talk about them. We argue about them occasionally. We figure out which ones we'd actually want sitting beside us on an early morning, a long afternoon or one of those evenings when there's still work left to do.
Those coffees become part of the Gibbs Cove Coffee Company, and you'll hear more about them here in the Journal.
Some are straightforward working coffees.
Some might surprise you.
And Clara Mae has already demonstrated that given enough milk, sugar and pastries, a coffee tasting can turn into an event.
We're still testing.
That's part of the fun.
Why Gibbs Cove Exists
There's another reason I wanted to build this place.
I spent a good portion of my life believing you eventually reached an age when you were supposed to have everything figured out.
Career.
Money.
Purpose.
Where you were going.
Who you were supposed to become.
Turns out, I was wrong about that too.
Life doesn't move in a straight line.
Sometimes you build something.
Sometimes you lose something.
Sometimes the road you thought you'd be traveling disappears completely and you're left standing at a crossroads wondering what comes next.
But I've learned something from the people around this town.
You can change course.
You can learn something new.
You can start something.
You can build something with your own hands—or a laptop you barely understand.
You can take an idea you've carried around for twenty years and finally give it a chance.
You can fail and try differently.
And you don't need anyone's permission to begin.
Around here, we have a way of saying it:
It's Never Too Late to Become Captain of Your Own Ship.
That idea is at the heart of Gibbs Cove.
Not getting rich overnight.
Not pretending life is easy.
Not telling people we've discovered some secret formula for success.
Just ordinary people trying things, building things, helping one another and figuring out where they want to go next.
That's enough.
Welcome to The Gibbs Cove Journal
That's what this Journal will be about.
You'll find stories from around town, adventures from The General Store, coffee tastings from Nadine's Coffee Company, occasional wisdom from Clara Mae and Miss Eleanor, whatever Tommy is trying to convince me to do with technology, and probably a few ideas dreamed up upstairs in the Story Room.
We'll also introduce you to products and businesses we genuinely think are worth knowing about.
Some articles will teach you something.
Some will tell you a story.
Some may simply give you something worth thinking about while you drink your morning coffee.
That's how general stores have always worked.
So look around.
Visit the store. Meet the neighbors. Pour yourself a cup of coffee.
And if you're somewhere in your own life wondering whether you've waited too long to start whatever comes next, remember:
You haven't missed the boat.
Maybe you're just getting ready to leave the dock.
Welcome to Gibbs Cove.
Stay awhile. You're part of the story now.
— R.G. Creates
Proprietor, The General Store
Want more stories from Gibbs Cove? Follow along on Facebook at RG Creates — where the conversation continues and the coffee is always on.