Jumpin Java Gets New Barista-In-Chief

Rebecca Ryals first started hanging out at Charles Town’s Jumpin Java when her home internet connection failed. She had heard the Washington Street coffee bar offered free Wi-Fi, so she dashed over to telecommute to her Frederick, Md., job while enjoying a cappuccino. Before long she was telecommuting more than driving. Then she struck a deal with the owner, Mike Tepper, to display and sell the colorful silk scarves she makes and markets to bellydancers.

When the scarf business began to expand she started looking for space in Charles Town to rent or buy. That’s when Tepper told her he was thinking of selling Jumpin Java.

“Between breakfast, lunch, and three cappuccinos a day,” says Ryals, “I was spending so much money at the coffee shop that for a few hundreds dollars a month more, I could buy it.”

And so she did. She took over in early August and is now serving up coffee, baked goods and lunches instead of buying them. “When I bought the place, I lost my best customer,” she said.

It’s only October, but Missy’s talking about Christmas, which starts November 1 at Needful Things. She gathers holiday decorations, gifts, and accessories all year and unleashes several thousand square feet of it. “What we don’t sell, we donate to local charities, which distribute the gifts and decorations to needy families,” she said.

Needful Things is a rare find of a secondhand store that gets featured in travel guides and insider’s guides for thrift shoppers. You can spend hours browsing the CDs and other offerings.

New Shop Is So Good Natured

Martinsburg entrepreneurs Pam and Jim Smith are recreating the old-fashioned general store for a sustainable planet. Their new store, Good Natured, opens October 1 at 209 South Raleigh Street. The shop will offer an eclectic collection of green cosmetics and personal care products, ecologically safe paints safe for children’s rooms, solar-powered air conditioners, and “about anything you might need in your house on a daily basis,” said Pam.

They’ll also offer up fingernail  polish, mascaras, rice-based cosmetic powders. “We want to help people eliminate synthetic ingredients that are in most soaps and shampoos from their homes,” she said. “Most people don’t realize there are paraffin or petroleum products in a lot of their cosmetics. Or that the federal government does not regulate cosmetic ingredients.”

Also in the plans are a coffee bar and coffee by the pound—all organic, fair trade varieties. “Plus, we’ll have some foods, mostly organic convenience and snack foods for people in the neighborhood.”

Jim and Pam both worked for National Public Radio for many years. Jim is still an audio engineer who owns a recording studio called Muddy Hole Studios, which has been recording the comedy troupe Capital Steps.

So, what do you call a store that sells jazz and alternative music disks alongside solar panels, green cleaning supplies, organic cotton clothing, and dog toys made of wool? “A green general store,” said Pam.

The only thing that could top it off would be an all organic café. “Oh, yeah. We’re going to have that too.”