Have you ever visited Laurel Mercantile? If not, you should totally take a trip to visit this precious little shop!
If you’ve watched the show “Hometown” on HGTV, then you know what store I’m talking about. 😉 If not, the show is about a husband and wife duo that restores old homes in their hometown of Laurel, Mississippi. Erin and Ben are such an adorable power couple and they’re so genuine. I love that they have revitalized their hometown and are breathing new life into the city. They also own the Laurel Mercantile in their hometown and it is such a fun shop. You can visit the Laurel Mercantile’s website HERE. By the way, this is not a sponsored post, I just loved the shop and what it represents and think you should put it on your list of places to visit. 🙂
Erin is an artist and her sketches of what their clients’ houses could look like are amazing and so inspiring. She is on the opposite end of the design spectrum than Jo. Erin’s style is more Bohemian and uses lots of bright colors, textures and patterns in her designs. Erin has more of a Vintage Boho Chic style that I also love! Okay, so Jo is my BFF…but so is Erin…and Nicole Curtis. They just don’t know it yet… 😉 I mean, I could talk to them all day about design and historic houses and life over a cup of coffee.
The Laurel Mercantile
A few months ago, Mr. Southern Oaks and I took a little trip just so we could visit the Laurel Mercantile. When we pulled up to the Laurel Mercantile, my heart squealed with excitement. A gorgeous, historic building turned into a mercantile full of vintage and new heirloom merchandise… one of my favorite things. I was like a kid in a candy shop, carefully eyeing all of the pretty “candy”. 🙂 We quickly met Erin’s Aunt May May and she was the kindest gem. I loved chatting with her about the town of Laurel, where we were from and about the show.
In true Southern fashion, everyone at the Laurel Mercantile were so kind to each customer in the shop. They talked to each customer and asked where they were from and what brought them to the store. We came in as strangers and left as friends! We even showed them pictures of our dog, Lila Blue and cat Louella Mae. They all agreed that our sweet fur babies had the cutest Southern names! We felt right at home at the Laurel Mercantile and that this was our hometown, too.
Made in America
The Laurel Mercantile carries all kinds of vintage inspired goodness to shop for. The best part was that the merchandise they carry is made right here in America. This is something that Erin and Ben feel strongly about. Which is keeping work in small-town America helps to revitalize the economy in the town. Mr. Southern Oaks even found a hammer that was made in HIS hometown of Rockford, Illinois at the Laurel Mercantile! Of course, we had to buy the hammer since it was made in his hometown….but he has to forget about it until his birthday. 😉
Visit Laurel
They gave us a map of other shops to visit in the town and places to eat. I wish we had stopped in before lunch because I would have loved to try out some of the local recommendations they suggested. After we bought all the things at the Laurel Mercantile, we drove around Laurel trying to find the houses from the show. We found the cutest street filled with historic houses. We took pictures of the beautiful houses and tried to look cool… I mean, don’t you walk down the street and take pictures of old houses, too?! 😉
To sum up our visit to the Laurel Mercantile: SO FUN!!! We will definitely be back to the Laurel Mercantile and next time we’ll visit the other shops and local eateries of Laurel. The Laurel Mercantile was such an exciting trip and we felt right at home. I believe that is the goal Erin and Ben wanted to achieve when they opened the mercantile: to make every visitor from near and far to feel right at home, like this is your hometown.
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