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Something nostalgic. Something new.
The General Store is the anything-and-everything brand that closes the gap when it comes to finding something truly unique and special for someone else or even for you. We make basics better through a range of products from apparel to children's items, and even tools! Here, there is always something to catch the eye.
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A Raised Bed Homestead
GARDENING FROM THE GROUND UP
Sometimes, you just gotta get your hands in the dirt. That's what the in-house plant whisperer, Rashell, would tell you. She's another go-getter here at 80 Acre Market in The Pines.
Back in the Spring, the team knew that if they wanted to reap a Summer harvest, there could be no more beating around the bush about it. So, the plans were drawn to build raised beds out of their own milled lumber from the grounds and the seeds were nurtured week by week in the greenhouse to proudly bring them to this stage of the garden . . . the Raised Bed Garden.
Creating a homestead at home base is a dream for a lot of people, but often seems out of reach. However, it doesn't have to be. The team at Market sought out the raised bed project to share the knowledge of homesteading with anybody and everybody who comes to visit. Already on a small scale, the raised beds are supplying the food trucks at The Pines with hopes of eventually being able to supply their new restaurant on the horizon, Kitchen Table.
If you and your family come to visit 80 Acre Market, be sure to visit the Raised Bed Garden, get your hands in the dirt, and envision your own homestead while walking through. Summer is in the air and the cream of the crop is showing up all down the vine.
Print Shop
SUPER EASY DECOR
With a few clicks and pics, our online ordering process makes it super easy to take a photo on your phone and turn it into a cool piece you hang in your home. You know your style best. Let our Print Shop handle the rest.
Foodies Unite at The Pines
If you've got a sweet tooth or savory tooth, you're bound to find something to cure the craving. There was never a need to bring food to the table until 80 Acre Market was opened, but the people to carry out the mission happened to be in the right place at the right time for this group.
Like a culinary convoy, the food trucks rolled in, setup shop and started serving the guests at 80 Acre Market bi-weekly. From melt-in-your-mouth mac and cheese to steamy or cold coffee, there's at least something to try out around every corner. The culinary creators out here are aiming to craft the most fascinating creations while re-spinning recipes, new and old. The best part is the feedback from the guests. This feedback, in time, will help shape the menu for what is to come one day at The Pines, the first full dining experience called Kitchen Table.
There are big plans and conversations in motion around the table (Kitchen Table, that is), but for now the test run is food trucks and weekend gatherings with friends and family.
Print Shop
FINDING THE PERFECT PIECE
Searching for that one piece to hang on your wall? Perhaps, a conversation piece? We've got a variety of prints, and wrapped canvas, all with something special to bring to your home. It’s your art, your photos, and your style presented in your place in a quality kind of way.
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And the beat goes on...
Music is that thread that ties all of the 80 Acre Market activities into one smooth, cool rhythm. It's been a mainstay for a while, but now it’s being taken to the next level. They’ve brought in Meredith Crawford, an East Texas rooted songwriter and overall jack of all music trades, to foster the entertainment at The Market. She's currently working on the design of a new stage that will serve as the home and platform for 80 Acre Market music and its featured Artists.
So many talented Artists have come out of East Texas. Like hidden gems, they will appear when you least expect them. Deep in this area, you'll hear unique, spirited, and sorrowful, yet pure voices in the most strangest of places, like a Tex-Mex restaurant in a one-light town on a Thursday night. For any Artist, it's hard to catch a break in a crowd like that.
They might say it takes a village to raise a child, but it takes a community to support local music, East Texas and everywhere in between. With the mock-up of the stage design and creative efforts to move the music needle forward, the team is pressing on to make music more of a "feature" rather than background noise at 80 Acre Market.
Why the Bees are the Bees Knees.
A COLONY MOVES TO MARKET
Did you know that 1/3 of all food supply would not exist if it weren't for bees? They're the little unsung heroes of all ecosystems, but the 80 Acre team is especially akin to them at 80 Acre Market in The Pines. The bees found their new home here at the grounds in June of this year, but have come to do much more than just make honey.
The bees serve many purposes, but their unsung work is when they serve as pollinators. While scouting for resources to feed the hive, the worker bees actively spread pollen from plant to plant, thus helping the gardens thrive.
The resident beekeeper, Courtney, started working with bees when she was a teenager and carried on this love into her career. Now, she is a key-queenbee mover & shaker in managing the bees and their environment here at The Pines. The bees will play a key role in enhancing local plant health and permeating the theme of permaculture here, but harvesting the honey will not actually take place until June of next year. However, it's vital for her and her team to get these tiny creatures and their colony established at The Pines early on, especially when it comes time to plant the fruit trees.
So, if you come to visit Market and see a few little bees buzzing around, don't be alarmed! You've heard the age-old saying as a kid. . . "Bees are just as afraid of you as you are of them." They do create quite a buzz (no pun intended), but are here to serve an important role in nature, you best bee-lieve it.
Print Shop Custom Text Tool
Those were the days. There was a garage. Some frames were cut and nailed together by hand. Paintbrushes and rollers. Hand-painted text signs with a couple fonts. That's where it all began. You can't scale up painting everything by hand and there is definitely room for error and waste. Thank goodness for technology. At the Print Shop you can order custom signs with any message and a lot more fonts that can really tell a story about your home. Inspired. Meaningful. Even your name so people know whose party they crashed?? All kinds of fun stuff. And although there is a lot of technology around the Print Shop, there is a handcrafted part of the process that will never be lost.
Out and about.
The Design Team has settled in upstairs, but they're likely to go exploring outside eventually. Much of what this team does is curate products which make up the collections that are displayed in the windows of our family brands. It's a labor of love, and sometimes, you gotta shake things up a bit. This team makes a point to travel across the country and locally to build relationships with other designers. However, they're not looking to source just tangible products, but something intangible in nature, something that's real; the craft of its creator and the unique story beyond the product they make. Venturing deeper into the heart of other creators and the uniqueness of their craft, the attention to detail and respect for local and abroad artisans is evident as you explore and experience the various brands the Design Team fashions. Plus, it's a tale as old as time - two heads are better than one.
Taken by Storm
It's unsettling to look at, but this is the aftermath of a storm, unavoidable and harsh. Storms don't care if you've got an outdoor event lined up for the weekend and that's the exact predicament the team found themselves in mid-June. About this time come Summer, storms are notorious for striking down across the South and Midwest, and not one area gets excused from this geographical lottery. This time, it hit the East Texas Community.
At The Pines, the 80 Acre Market team had just finished setup for their bi-weekly Market event when the storms hit Thursday evening. With power lines down and massive trees blocking main roads, hundreds of thousands of people were left without power across East Texas and the team at 80 Acre Market was faced with the challenge of cleaning up the mess it left behind in time to open the doors for Market visitors. A spur of the moment decision was made to close up shop Friday, but open the Market for Saturday in case people in the area needed to get away from the fallout the storm caused. As tough as East Texans are, this community was still outnumbered in terms of clean-up, especially when it came to restoring electricity. However, they were in luck. Linemen from all over the country pulled their skill sets and their resources together to get the power back up and running. To express gratitude, East Texas locals gave everything they could in return, from water bottles to meals to short-term supplies. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, it's tried and true that whatever a storm ruins, a community of helping hands will always restore.
Way Back When
80 Acre Market has become a staple in the East Texas community, but it didn't happen overnight. The Market opened in October of 2021 with an initial plan to offer a unique brick-and-mortar shopping experience. However since its debut nearly two years ago, it's evolved to much more. Shopping, food, live music and fun for the whole family, the Market has expanded way past its initial vision. It's hosted over the weekend in The Pines of East Texas twice per month. The fun part? Not one Market is ever the same. With every Market, there's always a different group of food trucks offering a diverse menu for guests. There's always a fresh set of vendors offering unique and handmade products. There's always crafts and fun for the kids, and there's always a live music feature for up and coming Artists. It's a community affair, and it's cool as all get out.
Tale as Old as Timeless
We've all been there. Personalizing a space or making it feel like home can seem daunting. Better yet, time consuming. But even just a small touch of style here or there can add a lot more feel and fullness to your home. The Print Shop gets that. Statement pieces like black and white photos, layered with acrylic glass or a matte and finished out with a frame, can bring charming change to a space in minutes. All from just few clicks on your phone. Got a blank wall? Let's build it up.
Create Yours
The Pines
NEW HOME TO SMALLWOODS
When it came to the design of this building, several factors were considered. First off, it's nestled in 240 acres of East Texas land, rural land to boot, surrounded by tall Pine trees.
Design Studio
UP THE STAIRS
So you know about the Print Shop, but what about the family of brands that also works out of this building? Well, up the stairs of HQ there is a hidden mezzanine. It's called the Design Studio and it's gradually forming into the cornerstone of The Pines.
This is the creative space where the family of brands collectively will carry out their many projects through the people that will bring them to full fruition. Which brings us to another group of go-getters, the Design Team.
Inside HQ
OUT OF THE PINES
This organization started as Smallwoods, their specialty being custom prints and frames. You know those special moments that live on all of our phones, but never make it to the wall?
Print ShopThe Print Shop
From uploading your personal photo to their site, picking your frame, size, the whole 9 yards down to it being delivered to your door, THIS is their specialty - a pic on your phone to a piece of art in your home.
Start Creating
They call this operation the Print Shop, and it's where it all started really. They used to work off of card tables, painting signs in a garage. You could count their staff on one hand then. Now, they've grown into the hundreds. Before moving into HQ, they spent a good chunk of their past printing in one building, framing in another, and then carrying it over to another building to ship. Sounds like a lot.
Needless to say, a lot has improved since the card table days. With state-of-the-art printers and a new conveyor belt system right to the bay door for delivery, convenience and efficiency finally meet hand in hand for this group of East Texas go-getters as they step into the door of their new HQ.
HQ
OPEN HOUSE COMING SOON
There's a massive new building tucked in the pines, off a major highway in East Texas. But what's it doing here? Who works here? Who parks here? A series of questions often asked by any passerby. Welcome to The Pines. A place that houses a family of brands.
