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Win/Win, located in the heart of downtown Easthampton, is a different kind of gift shop where, quite literally, everyone wins.
“The name Win/Win came to me as a concept because of what we do within the community by supporting local, marginalized artists and doing mutual aid raising money for important causes,” Jay Weingarten said about their queer-owned shop.
“Win/Win is a fun thing with people feeling positive about winning, have a winning attitude, and being involved in a world and environment where everyone can win. Our customers win by being able to purchase some really cool objects, our artists are winning because they are getting paid for their art, and important causes are winning because of our donations to the good work that they do for others. It’s our ethos,” Weingarten added.
An insurance appraiser by trade who works for a local insurance company in Easthampton, Weingarten, has organized many local artist markets in the past and has even run and owned a few galleries in Northampton, Holyoke, and Easthampton. They attended Hampshire College and later graduate school at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to study poetry.
“So, my experience is well-suited to run an art consignment shop,” Weingarten said.
The shop owner noted the idea to open Win/Win had been long in coming.
“After putting so many pop-up markets, I was ready to have my own personal space where I could showcase some of these artists. I’m talking about artists who are queer, people of color, and those with just weird objects not so much represented in the current art consignment scene. So, I created a space for artists to showcase their weird, unique, interesting works,” Weingarten said.
“There are certain challenges to being a queer-owned business beyond basic discrimination. Sometimes, non- LGBTQ folk feel uncomfortable shopping in queer-run places because they feel it’s not for them, but we very much welcome them, and certainly, a number of our artists identify as straight,” they added.
Some of the art in Win/Win has been created specifically for the store.
“These are artists who feel they now have a reason to create again. They may have had some great ideas about things they wanted to make, but no reason or impetus to do so for the lack of spaces to sell their creations, which some labeled as unconventional to sell. But now, with Win/Win they know they have a welcoming environment to showcase them,” Weingarten shared.
Among the unique — and they are unique — treasures to be found in the store include jewelry, ceramics, handmade clothing, home décor, pocketbooks, candles, books and zines, handwoven water bottle holders, items made by children such as stickers and zines, and so much more.
The store’s slogan found on their website is “fantastic goods and good luck.”
“Our theme of win-win in the shop extends to the word lucky, and customers will find lucky-themed objects as part of what we sell, such as earrings with certain crystals like citrine, green aventurine and pyrite which support happiness and prosperity, homemade painted pants that the artist calls luckies instead of dickies, and a lotto scratcher that I make that has an Amazonite on it which is called a gambler’s stone,” Weingarten said.
The shop also carries a line of herbal products made with herbs that are claimed to have winning properties.
“I make a Winning Spray infused with essential oils and more designed to bring the user luck, and we also sell Winning Soap and winning Bath Powder from Ethereal Hive Crafts, and I am working on making incense with herbs that have winning properties or that bring abundance and good luck. We also sell money-attracting products made by Money Witch,” Weingarten said.
But while Weingarten and some of the artists in the shop refer to the weird nature of what they are selling, everything is beautiful in its own way and many could be found in other shops, there is some downright weird stuff.
There are pocketbooks made from plush animals, mugs with lips and eyeballs, handbags printed with naked body art, laminated bookmarks made from found candy wrappers like Skittles, M&Ms, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and Mounds, unusual candles, exaggerated jewelry such as a necklace made of cigarette beads, strange hand-made stuffed creatures, finger spoons, and more off-the-wall stuff.
Bobbie Shuster, a multidisciplinary trans artist who lives in Easthampton, is just one of the many underrepresented artists whose art can be found in Win/Win.
“I have known Jay as a friend in the wider queer community after first becoming a fan of their work as a poet, and have grown closer to them as a friend in the last few years. Jay is immensely talented. I was excited to hear that Jay would be opening a store that would feature local queer and trans artists. Jay asked me if I would be interested in selling my music cassettes and then later my jewelry as I began making necklaces and bracelets,” Shuster said.
The artist creates intricate necklaces and bracelets with “lots of little beads.”
“I have no plan when I sit down to create, I just let the beads go where they go. I sometimes use little lizardshaped beads which I incorporate into some of my jewelry, or just plain weird beads that I find. Sometimes I even cut up old costume jewelry to add to my creations.,” Shuster said, who also makes their own Croakies, strings which hold your eyeglasses.
While Shuster is focusing more on their jewelry today, Win/Win is selling their cassette tapes — for those who still own a cassette player — which Shuster describes as “ambient-leaning dream pop in the vein of Enya, Brian Eno and Perfume Genius.”
“I released these tapes a number of years ago with a small Greenfield record label called ‘Flower Sun.’ You can also hear my music on Spotify and iTunes. It can be very dreamy and meditative,” Shuster said about using an electric guitar, small synthesizer, and voice slightly manipulated and looped in layers to create the unique sound.
“I think it is cool that Jay is showcasing very unique artists with interesting points of view. Sometimes these things are very cooky, but that are always awesome in a big way. And my stuff is perfect for the store,” Shuster added.
Much of what is sold in the store is priced on a sliding scale which further supports the win-win nature of the shop.
“Our goal is to sell our goods at prices that are acceptable to the artists and can be affordable and accessible to those who don’t have as much money to spend, with the idea of being able to move these items into the community and bringing more awareness to the artist. For example, one of the stuffed animal purses has a price tag of $70 to $100. You can pay $70 if that is all you can afford, or up to $100 if you want to further support the artist,” Weingarten said.
Visitors to the shop will also find a small corner in Win/Win of curated vintage clothing and objects.
“Our angle on vintage is unique as opposed to other places that might have some very serious vintage sellers with very high-priced items. What we are talking about at Win/Win are some really cool items from someone’s personal collection that they are willing to part with such as frames, antique creamers, glassware, brass mirrors, and other unique household objects,” Weingarten shared.
Continuing the shop’s mission to assist marginalized people, Win/Win hosts a monthly raffle to donate to the mutual aid effort that the store is currently supporting.
“We have been supporting QUIC which is a direct mutual aid organization in their efforts to relocate Ugandans, specifically those LGBTQ+ who face violence and imprisonment after the country passed anti-LGBTQ+ laws back around 2013,” Weingarten said.
“The way it works is that after making a donation, you spin a wheel in the store, which indicates how many tickets you will receive toward winning a raffle basket of goods from artist vendors and my own Win/Win products,” Weingarten added.
Weingarten also uses their experience in and knowledge of the arts market to consult with the artists represented in the store who need assistance in how to further market their products. They coach their artists in such areas as tax deductions, bookkeeping and self-promotion.
If you are an amateur or professional artist who wants your works of art seen and purchased, either on commission to the store or wholesale, there is a vendor/artist inquiry form on the Win/Win website. The application form comes with several admonitions including “We are open to wares we are not currently selling,” “We are looking for innovative and interesting items that show character (we like weird) and also make great gifts,” and “Please try to visit the shop before sending your inquiry so you can get a feel for what we sell.”
“I invite everyone to stop into the store to see our weird wares, relax for a bit on our couch and talk with others, sometimes an artist who might be in the store. We also have tarot readings,” Weingarten said. “The tarot readings are done by Amber Rounds, a local reader and astrologer. People come in with questions about what direction they should take their lives in and get some guidance around that.”
LOCATED AT 2 PINE ST. IN EASTHAMPTON, WIN/WIN IS OPEN THURSDAY AND FRIDAY FROM 4-7 P.M., SATURDAY FROM 1-7 P.M., AND SUNDAY NOON TO 6 P.M. IF YOU PLAN ON VISITING ON SUNDAY, NOTE THAT FROM NOON TO 1 P.M. IS A MASKS REQUIRED HOUR. THE STORE IS WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE AND THEY HAVE A FREE PARKING LOT.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT WINWINWINWIN.ONLINE, CONTACT HI.HELLO.WIN.WIN@GMAIL.COM OR CALL 413-282-8808.
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