MĀVVEN Mercantile Joins Antioch Street With ‘Wellness Essentials,’ ‘Curated Homewares,’ Yoga, Soundbaths and More
By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief
Selling homewares and wellness essentials during the day, leading a series of workshops and classes in the mornings and evenings.
An added bonus? Showing their daughters the “importance of pursuing your passion and giving back to the community.
“Gathering and creative space” MĀVVEN Mercantile—which opened on Antioch Street in early March—is led by longtime Palisadian best friends Lisa Waters and Michelle Villemaire. The store, which offers “wellness essentials and curated homewares,” operates with a mission to “foster joy, growth and healing through connection to yourself and community.”
Waters, MĀVVEN owner and co-founder, has had a career in the health and wellness space that spans more than 25 years.
“I’ve done marketing and public relations for pharmaceuticals for big agencies and big brands, like very large pharmaceutical companies and biotech companies,” the Sunset Mesa resident explained to the Palisadian-Post. “I did that for a really long time … I turned 50 this year and decided I really wanted to try my own business. I’ve spent my life building businesses for other people, and I really decided I would like to build one for myself.”
She said she thought through all the things that she could do and got together with MĀVVEN Co-Founder and COO Villemaire, an interior designer, DIY expert, television personality and activist, who Waters has known since the age of 13.
Waters and Villemaire met in seventh grade in Florida, then went to college together in Boston. Waters moved to Los Angeles, then Villemaire moved out here as well. Both ended up settling on the Westside.
Villemaire’s work has previously been seen in the heart of town, when she “yarn bombed” the Village Green to celebrate Women’s History Month. She said over the years, she enjoyed doing it so much, “the idea of creating a brick and mortar space where people could come and find community really appealed” to her.
“In the olden days, a town mercantile was the place where you’d get your flour and stamps,” Villemaire said, “but you’d also run into all of your neighbors and maybe some local gossip. I wanted MĀVVEN to be like an old-fashioned mercantile, a place to pick up essentials, gather with friends and feed our souls.”
The two combined their experience to create MĀVVEN: Waters explained that design is Villemaire’s passion, while health and wellness is hers.
“It’s been kind of a lifelong journey to end up raising daughters in the same town, which is odd in and of itself—and lovely,” Water shared. “We’re chosen family.”
In fact, MĀVVEN is a combination of Waters and Villemaire’s daughter’s names—Mabel and Vivian. Waters said her daughter “literally walks over to the store after school in the afternoon,” while Villemaire’s daughter, Pearl, is working there part-time: “It’s very much a family business.”
“I want to cultivate that real small town feel where you come in, and you feel known and you feel seen, and you feel appreciated for who you are,” Waters said. “That people take time to listen to you.”
The name also “speaks to the definition of ‘maven,’” which is “one who understands.”
“Mavens are considered experts in a field,” read the website. “Yet one does not become a maven overnight—MĀVVENs are born from an accumulation of knowledge, experience and inspiration.”
Waters said she got into healthcare because she is a “do-gooder by nature.”
“I just really, truly thought that I was doing really good things my whole career,” Waters explained. “And I think in a lot of ways I was and decided I really wanted to do something more in the community, like give back to my own community.”
Waters described her and Villemaire’s style—as well as the space—as “very California,” “very laid-back” and “West Coast-y.”
When it comes to homewares and wellness essentials, MĀVVEN carries several local artists, including works by ceramic artist Stephanie Morton-Millstein, a resident of Santa Monica Canyon.
“That’s actually something that I’m very passionate about,” Waters said.
In addition, most of the homewares available are handmade. Waters said she “hand-selected” things that she would like and buy. Other items available include journals and baskets.
Waters also works with ceramicists around the country—including an artist named Gale Ray, who is based out of Charleston, South Carolina—and that she has sourced from travels.
The store was “founded on the belief that clarity comes from activity and engagement,” which is why it includes a “beautiful space to experience events in self expression and personal development, movement, breath, and sound.”
“MĀVVEN was created to function as a home where all who enter feel a sense of belonging,” read a post on social media. “Events to feed the soul and heal the heart are here in our safe space.”
MĀVVEN offers a full slate of events, all led by fellow Palisadian instructors: Nora Plesent will host “Longing for Belonging” on Friday, April 12, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. “Breath, Sound and Movement” will take place on Friday, April 19, from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m., led by Nish Fox.
“We’re going to have a set schedule of wellness activities and community activities,” Waters explained, “and then we will rotate in different experts, depending on what the community responds to.”
MĀVVEN will be home to a “gentle flow yoga class” every Wednesday at 9 a.m. with instructor Kim Harrington. There will also be a mid-level/advanced yoga flow class every Saturday and Sunday morning at 9:30 a.m. with Matty Whitmore, which will begin on April 27.
The community is invited to “join wellness and sound practitioners Lexi and Tim Hade for a soundbath meditative concert” on Sunday, April 21, from 6 to 7:15 p.m. The “Sunday Evening Soundbath,” which will take place once per month, will be “a combination of sound healing instruments” that will be “used to create a relaxing, healing experience,” designed to leave participants “feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.”
“The whole space is purpose-built, so all the furniture easily gets put away,” Waters described, “and then the mats come out or the meditation chairs come out.”
A month after the opening of the space, Waters said the reception from practitioners she has worked with so far has been “overwhelmingly positive,” that “they love this space” and “how it feels in the store.”
“We created MĀVVEN for the community,” Waters concluded. “We’re offering what we’re offering because we’re hoping that community reception will be positive—and it has been.”
MĀVVEN is located at 15326 Antioch Street, between Juice Crafters and Katie O’Neill’s Fine Art Studio. For more information, including a complete list of upcoming workshops, visit mavvenmercantile.com.
