Part of the fun of a general store is the element of surprise, of discovery: that “aha!” moment that comes from seeing many different objects rubbing shoulders with each other, soaps and sardines and salad tongs coexisting happily, sometimes on the same shelf. Blanche and Mimi founder Hilary Sinauer once ran a traditional general store, but for the past 17 years her talents at finding and displaying beautiful and useful objects have been put to use at her Portland shop.
Sinauer didn’t start out as a shopkeeper. She recalls, “I was living in Boston. I’d gone to cooking school at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, and I was working at Formaggio Kitchen,” the famed gourmet food store beloved by Julia Child. “It was the perfect spot for someone just out of cooking school. But then I suddenly had the opportunity to open a general store in very rural Harrisville, New Hampshire,” she says. “We used to go to northern Maine when I was little, and I loved the old-school general stores, and this place was looking for somebody to reboot it.”
“I had a little cafe and general store. It was hard. I worked at least 80 hours a week,” Sinauer continues. “People were excited about the new energy, but boy, was I tired.” When it came time to leave Harrisville, she recalls, “A friend of mine had read about Portland and told me, ‘I think you should live there.’ So I moved here and started working for a catering company. But in the back of my mind I was thinking, ‘I still want to do my own thing.’”
Her sister had owned an antique store for years, and that example, combined with her experience of the general store, inspired Sinauer to create Blanche and Mimi. “I liked the idea of having a mix of vintage and new. I wanted people to feel like they could dig and find a cool thing,” she says. It was a busy time in her personal life—“While I was thinking about it, I got pregnant with my son,” she says, laughing—but the pieces fell into place, in particular a cozy space on Middle Street in the Old Port.
A former restaurant, it looked out over Tommy’s Park and contributed to the culture of small, independent shops that revitalized the Old Port. Sinauer named her new venture after her grandmothers. She says, “Blanche was an amazing cook, very intuitive. She’d go to the garden, pick cucumbers, and make a great salad. She was also a great baker.” As for Mimi, “She was an interior decorator. She was the tactile one.” Channeling these two women, Sinauer filled her small space to the rafters with a blend of vintage and new items for the kitchen and the home. She sold everything from antique butter knives to the latest cool handbags. “We were on Middle Street a little over 15 years,” she recalls, but the once-cozy space grew tight. When large-scale renovation started on her building, she seized the opportunity to find a new spot on Commercial Street. “I was a bit scared at first because it was so much bigger. But the space is so beautiful—I love the beams and the windows,” she says. “It’s a gorgeous spot, with the boats right there.”
It’s also very much on the beaten path for visitors to the Old Port, which has taken some getting used to. “There’s a lot more foot traffic. I need more employees, for sure,” says Sinauer. “I’m very happy to have the tourists; they’re great. But I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that I opened the store as a local store—I also want my locals to like what we have. In this new space, I have been able to keep growing, buying what I want to buy, and keep it interesting for myself, my employees, and my customers.”
In this new iteration of Blanche and Mimi, the selection feels ample but never crowded. One section is devoted to textiles Sinauer created in collaboration with Tensira, a Paris-based design house founded by a Guinean and Scandinavian couple. “It can be hard to find unique products that other stores might not have. When they suggested we collaborate, it was very exciting,” says Sinauer. “I just love their vision, because there’s a real weight to the fabric. It’s all hand dyed with natural dyes. And the stripes are so vibrant.” The stripes—on pillow covers, bedrolls, and aprons—pop against their neutral, textured backgrounds. Piled nearby are hand-blocked voile quilts from India, and turning around, we find vintage oyster plates from France sitting next to Erin Flett napkins from Gorham.
Across the shop, in a section that has more personal care items, there are toothpastes from Italy, soaps in the shape of antique cameos from the United Kingdom, and bath brushes from Japan. It’s an eclectic, global mix that reflects Sinauer’s balance between classics and novelty. “It is very exciting for me that I can spread my wings a bit here, you know, and not cram everything in. There was a point in which I really shouldn’t have been buying more lines, but to me, that’s what keeps it fun and exciting,” she explains. “There are also things that I’ve sold for years. I still love them. I have a lot of standbys now, but I also want to switch it up,” she continues. “We have return customers who come back once a year, and I really want it to feel like, ‘Oh, she didn’t have this last time!’ That’s kind of my goal: to have it feel different, but like home.”
Standing the Test of Time
Among the many treasures in Blanche and Mimi, Sinauer has a special place in her heart for the goods she carries that have long and often storied histories. “I love carrying items from companies that have been around for over a century,” she says. “They really prove my ‘test of time’ theory.” Here are just a few of the legacy brands that you’ll find in her shop.
- The Weck company was founded in 1900 in Öflingen, Germany, by Johann Weck. His innovative design, featuring a glass lid and rubber gasket secured by clips, became instantly popular with home canners because it eliminated the metallic tang associated with other jar styles. Weck jars, with their gently curved sides and distinctive tops, can hold anything from flour to baby food—and make it look beautiful.
- Already a successful restauranteur known for his sweets, Louis Sherry officially established his confectionery company in New York City in 1919 (with the advent of Prohibition, he thought he might see less business at his restaurant). The company he founded continues to manufacture premium chocolates and package them in their famous decorative tins, thus ensuring that the memory of the delicious gift will live on, adorning the dresser of the lucky recipient.
- Like the Louis Sherry tins, the bottles from Bienaimé perfumes are objets d’art in their own right. The firm was founded in 1935 by Robert Bienaimé, who had worked at the famous French perfumier Houbigant in the early decades of the twentieth century. After his death in 1960, the brand lay dormant until being revived earlier in this century by Cécilia Mergui. The beautiful bottles and jars are meant to be refilled and reused.
- With their distinctive patterned paper wrappers, Claus Porto soaps have been making bathroom vanities stylish since 1877. The company was founded in Porto, Portugal, and continues to use nineteenth-century techniques to produce their soaps. The result is a finely milled, durable bar with long-lasting fragrance: the perfect gift for your host or yourself.
