Jacksonville’s Kindred Market a perfect place for all your gift, home needs
Story and Photos by Kyla Hurt
Kindred Market has moved into a downtown Jacksonville storefront. The previously named Just Good Trade at 72 E Central Park Plz. now shows off new signage on its facade.
New owners. New name. Still great fair trade options locally.
Kindred Market is co-owned by Clara Hamel and Cris Patrick. Hamel handles things locally while Patrick, Hamel’s sister-in-law, plays the role of a long-distance partner. Residing in Washington state, Patrick will handle online sales when they get that going.
In-store, though, you’ll see Hamel’s face in addition to other staff. “Monday through Thursday, I have a private practice doing mental health therapy, and my mother-in-law is running the store during that time. Then, on Friday and Saturday, I’m in the store,” shares Hamel.
Hamel is from Central Illinois, a very rural village named Lovington. She attended University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to earn her bachelor’s degree in psychology, then received a master’s in social work from Mizzou.
Still, her interests in fair trade have always been present. Previous owner Rhonda Kircher had put up Just Good Trade for sale in the summer of 2023. Hamel says she’d always liked shopping at Kircher’s store, even before they moved to Jacksonville. Once she knew it was for sale, Hamel says, “I kept watching, hoping, that it would get a buyer. Then, when it came down to the wire, I told my husband that I was worried that it wasn’t going to stay open.”
I told him I was thinking about [buying it], thinking he would talk me out of that.”
However, Hamel says with a smile, “He said, ‘I think that’s a great idea.’”
They made an offer at the end of May and officially took over ownership at the end of June. There was a soft opening August 18 and a grand (re)opening on September 16.
In the interim, Hamel worked on the store. “I wanted to bring in just more home goods products that reflected different types of artistry … and had the vision of presenting goods that might not be typically ‘known’ items. I loved what Rhonda had in the store and wanted to expand on that.”
Kindred Market continues to carry the coffees, chocolates and quill cards of Just Good Trade — items which Hamel recognized people still want. Hamel expanded the store with a new clothing line and several new home goods lines including pillows, quilts, ceramics and blown glass. Additionally, she created a new partnership with Elm City Roastery, carrying their fair trade fresh roasted coffee in-store.
Regardless, everything is still all fair trade. Hamel says about fair trade, “To me, it’s really just about conscious consumerism, thinking about how what you purchase is affecting people and the environment. … As a society, we can be very focused on cheap, fast goods — and there’s a human cost to that, and an environmental cost to that.”
Fair trade has standards, generally being made from natural or reused products.
Some of Hamel’s favorite products they carry are the Kantha robes and quilts, adding that they’re “the perfect weight.”
She also really enjoys their spice line at Kindred Market: “It’s all single sourced, so from small farms in areas that farmers are typically not paid fairly. So, it gives them a chance to produce at a fair wage. Also, because they’re single sourced, they’re extremely fresh.”
Hamel says she has had positive feedback to the store. They changed the layout of the store some, adding wall-length open shelving for display. There are even some personal display pieces, including a now table made from her dad’s old shop workbench, which visually carries reminders of past projects etched into it. There is now a 10-foot-long table that was from the library at McKendree College and a pew from Market Street Antiques locally. Everything reinforces the idea of reusing.
Visit Kindred Market at 72 E. Central Park Plz. In downtown Jacksonville. The fair trade store is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. Additionally, check out Kindred Market on Instagram or Facebook.
