While Keep Me Posted at Cocoloba shopping center in Coral Bay made its reputation as a go-to place for shipping, stamps, Internet access, and more, the store expanded its offerings to including gifts, T-shirts and many other items.
“It’s all locally made,” said Clare Weaver, who owns Keep Me Posted with husband Doug Weaver.
The products include post cards, cards, gift wrap made of recycled paper, ribbon, locally-made hot sauce, spice rubs, Dave D’Alberto’s One-Horned Buttfish calendars and T-shirts, all perfect for sending to stateside friends and family when gift-giving occasions arrive or for tourists looking for a special take-home gift.
“Most of it’s $20 and under,” manager Anna Adams said.
Weaver and Adams envision a place where people can shop for gifts and get them wrapped and shipped right there in the store, since it offers gift wrapping services.
The store offers monthly and per-piece mailing rates, which is helpful for visitors who want to ship down items they’ll need on vacation. It saves local residents a trip to the Cruz Bay post office, since it also mails packages.
Keep Me Posted also carries a small stash of office supplies such as paper, pens, glue sticks, and invoice books. They’re items folks can’t find on St. John. It also provides laminating services.
The Internet service is popular, and Keep Me Posted has computers for people who need access as well as a place to set up personal laptops. Additionally, travelers can print out their boarding passes using the computers, their laptop and their phones or tablets.
While faxing isn’t as popular as it used to be, the mail service still does it. And its staff can also scan and send documents by email.
The Weavers bought Keep Me Posted in 2012 from George Belcher, known around St. John as Refrigerator George for his prowess in fixing appliances. He and his wife, the late Ray Sullivan, owned it since 2004.
Born in Cambridge, England, Clare Weaver, 38, was teaching school in London when she came to visit a friend whose parents had a house on St. John. She connected with people involved with Gifft Hill School, then Pine Peace School.
She said the school sponsored her if she would agree to teach for three years. She did, but by then she and her husband had wed and opened Donkey Diner. When Doug Weaver’s mother on the mainland needed some assistance and with son Audie, now 3, on the way, the two sold the restaurant.
Weaver, a 13-year St. John resident, now keeps tabs on Keep Me Posted, home schools her son and works a couple of days a week at Skinny Legs Bar and Restaurant. She’s the Coral Bay Yacht Club secretary and has taught sailing at the Kids and the Sea program.
Adams, 38, sailed into St. John, and now lives with her husband Steve Weinel aboard the 39-foot Rafiki III, a well-known boat previously owned by the late Chris Angel and his wife, Elsa.
She cut her mail center teeth at another mail center.
She has two children, Zacharias Wilson, 5, and Lilith Ann Weinel, 2.
Lately, Adams has been active in the push to keep Guy Benjamin School open because she sees it as the heart of the Coral Bay community. Her son was one of the students who now attends Julius E. Sprauve School because the Education Department shifted Guy Benjamin’s kindergarten to the Cruz Bay school.
She said bus transportation was difficult, so she now drives him to and from school.
While the future of Guy Benjamin School may be in question, both Weaver and Adams are sure that Keep Me Posted will continue to grow along with Coral Bay.
“We are steadily getting new clients,” Adams said.
Keep Me Posted is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
Those interested can call 1-340-775-1727 or visit online at www.keepmepostedstjohn.com.