The Traveler is on the move (but just down the street).
The wall colors have names like “Serengeti,” “cheetah,” “fez” and “curry.” The carpet color is “red eye.”
And while the Traveler hasn’t moved very far, owners Susan Taylor and Barbara Tolliver say their two-door hop to 265 Winslow Way has opened up a whole new world.
“It makes all the difference,” Tolliver said.
Both she and Taylor have travel in their blood and complementary backgrounds. Taylor, who has lived on the island since 1985, grew up in Bogotá, Colombia, where her father was a Presbyterian minister and later moved to the island to act as minister at Eagle Harbor Congregational Church. She worked at a travel agency for a long time and then went back to school in her 50s to study the spiritual dimensions of travel.
Tolliver’s first career was as a library administrator. An islander since 1975, she served as assistant director of the King County Library System.
By 1995, both were ready to try different careers and put their passion for travel to new use.
“One day, it just came to me,” Taylor said. “I wanted to do a travel store.”
The two opened the original Traveler in late 1995 on Madison Avenue South. There, they got their feet wet and learned to run a business in a manner that applied their shared core philosophy.
“It’s a business, but it’s also a passion,” Tolliver said. “That travel really does build bridges. And we’ve tried to exemplify that.”
“I’ve been impressed all my life without how travel has changed and broadened people,” Taylor added. “It opens your eyes to other people. It takes you out of your little world and makes you realize there are a lot of different ways of doing things, ways of thinking.”
They decided from the outset to donate 5 percent of all sales to the Bainbridge Ometepe Sister Islands Association, and they’ve organized two fund-raisers for the organization featuring noted Seattle travel host Rick Steves.
They’re also supporters of the Camp Siberia summer program and have partnered with the Bainbridge Public Library for a series of travelogues featuring largely local talent.
The one thing they couldn’t do until now was actually host these types of seminars, courses and talks.
“With my library background, it was a natural,” Tolliver said. “But we didn’t have room at the store.”
The Traveler’s new store has the same frontage but double the depth, which in addition to providing meeting space, has enabled the proprietors to expand their lines of clothing, travel accessories and luggage, from rolling cases to backpacks to laptop storage.
Their clientele runs the gamut, from tourists wandering in during the summer to local travelers who need serious gear.
And if accessories are the store’s arms and legs, the books and maps form its brain and central nervous system. Recent book orders have covered a world of locales, from Kazakhstan, Tibet and Dubai to Myanmar and Japan.
Tolliver and Taylor attend several trade shows each year and continue to travel extensively so they can try out products and report back to customers that “yeah, this really works.”
And while they’ve taken on what Tolliver calls “a few spicy pieces,” like the lightweight, leopard-print women’s reversible crepe jacket, one theme permeates their selections.
“This is a practical store,” Taylor said. “And that’s one reason that it’s one of the stores that’s as appealing to men as it is to women. Since the hardware store closed, there aren’t that many places men feel comfortable going into on Winslow Way.”
Tolliver wonders where else but Bainbridge a specialty store like the Traveler would thrive.
“What keeps us going are the people on the island,” Taylor said. “Bainbridge Islanders travel extensively, and they know a lot about travel. We’re learning things from our customers every day.”
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I’m a wanderer
Find The Traveler, Inc. at 265 Winslow Way, www.thetraveler.com. The store will hold an open house from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 25 featuring a a travel Q&A by Earthbound Expeditions’ Matthew Brumley. Call 842-4578 for details.
