By Elijah McKee
December 5, 2021 (Lemon Grove) – Lemon Grove has several new businesses that you may want to check out when doing your holiday shopping including a boutique and art space, a coffee shop with health and wellness gifts, and a brewery.
Shopping locally not only brightens the holiday season for local businesses and those on your holiday gift list, it also puts some sales tax jingle into the city’s coffers to help fund projects that benefit the community.
This is part 3 in our series on new local retailers in East County.
Welcome Home Boutique and Art Space
7963 Broadway, Lemon Grove
https://www.welcomehomelemongrove.com/
Ever wish there was a place where you could find affordable clothes, high quality home goods, unique local products and renowned artwork while also supporting a non-profit? Look no further than the Welcome Home Boutique and Art Space, a community-based shop located at 7963 Broadway in Lemon Grove. The new storefront opened in June and has co-founder Mark Lane, a Lemon Grove native, excited for what’s to come. “It’s the perfect space for what we needed to do,” said Lane.
The intent behind the shop is to extend and support the work of the Minority Humanitarian Foundation, a non-profit steered by Lane and co-founder Jules Kramer to help asylum-seekers and refugees on a global scale. From immediate medical and housing needs to travel, legal and employment aftercare, MHF strives to be of assistance for people every step of the way. 
To help them do so, the new storefront is serving as both a triage center for new arrivals and a place to obtain free basic necessities. They are open for donations, as well as collaboration — in fact, their inventory is full of local makers of things like candles, plants, and buttons, as well as a gallery of artist Mario Chacon’s work — but what’s even more helpful is coming in and buying from their eclectic offerings. Shoppers can get a revamped wardrobe, homemade candle, or professional painting, while the funds go directly towards MHF’s mission of getting people the help they deserve.
The shop is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10am to 6pm and can be followed on social media. They will soon be on a paid holiday break to support their employees, and they aim to hit the ground running in the new year with a new mural project, more gallery showings, and outdoor food truck events.
The Hamlett
7801 Broadway, Lemon Grove
Right now, in the window of 7801 Broadway in Lemon Grove, named coffee cups hang from a Christmas tree — they represent the community behind The Hamlett, which is now open despite their windows being smashed twice and the difficulties of starting a business during the ongoing pandemic.
The shop, which is fully family-owned, offers a unique mix of fair-trade coffee creations, artsy teapots, healing apothecary products, and a supportive community fueled by hope and unity. Envisioned by Zachary Hamlett as he graduated high school and su
pported by his sibling Shacole Hamlett, mother Nicole Johnson, and over 300 kickstarter donators, The Hamlett addresses the need for more Black-owned businesses in San Diego.
Yet it also serves as an incubator space for Black-owned health and wellness brands, through a display of local start-ups that covers one wall of the storefront, and through the actual sale of their products at the shop during events like the holiday bazaar this past weekend. Fitting for a store with young leadership, t
his event featured many young creators, such as Nanie’s Lash Vault at 21 years-old and holiday puzzles made by a local teenager.
Coming up for The Hamlett are more community events such as game and karaoke nights. But above all, they hope to make those who come in want to come back and participate in growing community around high-quality local brands and social change — all with the Hamletts, at The Hamlett.
13 Point Brewing Co.
8035 Broadway, Lemon Grove
Two weeks before the pandemic hit, 13 Point Brewing Company at 8035 Broadway in Lemon Grove was celebrating its one-year anniversary. They had no idea they would have to be either shut down or at partial capacity until this past June. “We’re a three-year-old brewery but it feels like we’re only one and a half,” said Robert Bessone, the Head Brewer and co-founder of the brewery.
Before the shutdowns, Bessone felt there was some real traction being made for the brewery as a neighborhood hangout spot that is only now being regained. His menu is full of blondes, sours, stouts, IPAs and seltzers that are made fully in-house, while the spacious building can also be a music venue — but for many long months, only to-go growlers could be offered and only a pitched-tent patio could hold a gathering.
To make it through, neighboring restaurants partnered with the brewery so they could give out food tickets, which for some months granted them more capacity. Still, Bessone saw the to-go growlers hardly covering electricity costs. Luckily, the brewery’s largest investor happens to be their landlord, and they made it long enough to re-open and start up again.
They are now fully open for business with gift cards and merchandise available for the holiday season, and they aim to get their event licensing back and start holding shows again next year.
Know of a new retail business in East County that we missed? Please post information in our comments section below.
See also:
Need gifts? Shop these new retailers in East County: Part 1 – La Mesa
Need gifts? Shop these new retailers in East County: Part 2 – El Cajon