The Lopez Store was purchased by Bill Carpenter Sr. and Bill Jr. in the fall of 1959.

Bill Sr. and his wife Inez took over the store operation in the spring of 1960.

It was located in the space now occupied by the ice cream store with a small addition on the east side of the building which was the Lopez Post Office. Both were owned by Leroy P. Jensen.

The population of Lopez Island at that time, according to the most recent census was slightly under 500 people.

There were 65 children in the school.

The Galley Restaurant was a tiny tavern, the Islander restaurant and marina were just getting started.The main income on the island was fishing and farming and Bill Mc Cauly’s slaughter house.

My wife Bonnie and I took over the operation of the store when my dad, Bill Sr., retired in 1965. We moved , with our young son, from Seattle to Lopez Island, living in a small cottage located on the west side of the market.

Moving to Lopez was like stepping back in time. It was a great place to live. In 1999 a third generation of the Carpenter Family joined my wife Bonnie and I in the business when daughter Christine moved with her Navy Seal husband, Aaron Dye to the island. He switched careers to become a grocer, eventually ably taking my place as the operations manager.

In reality the Carpenter Family has been your grocer for more than 50 years. We could not have continued to serve our community’s grocery needs without our great employees. They have been a huge part in any success that we have had. We would like to acknowledge each one but after having been a major employer on the island for the last 50 years, and since we are now into third generations it would be impossible to thank them all.

2008 my son-in –law, Aaron our store manager, Richard Brown and I decided that our current store was just too small to meet the growing needs of our community. After decades and multiple expansions, we had no more room to grow where we were located . We decided to build a new building on its current site which I purchased a number of years ago for the purpose.

In building our new facility we have attempted to do everything that we can to ensure that our friends and neighbors will continue to get the best goods and services available at fair prices.

I have often heard that our prices are higher than the mainland. They are. However we must put two, 63 foot semi trucks on the ferry each week. That cost must be added to your purchases. We try to maintain our place as a Lopez Island style family grocery while doing our best to offer mainland style goods and service using weekly ads in the newspaper and online.

Change is difficult. We would like to ask for your patience and tolerance as we move forward. We will be learning all about the new store together. We hope that you will enjoy it as much as we have enjoyed serving you.