We are Chuck & Amy Allen, the proud new owners of The Community General Store! 

We moved to Niverville in July of 2021 from Winnipeg and have felt really embraced by the community already!  We both grew up in the US but Chuck has lots of family across southern Manitoba. 

We have 3 kids together, 4 in total ranging from 11-21. (You'll likely see a couple of them in the store when they're not in school!) We moved to Canada in 2013 and absolutely love it here, so much so that we now all have dual citizenships! For her full-time work, Amy works from home for a US-based Financial Tech company in the e-commerce space. But most evenings and weekends are filled with our growing family entrepreneurship ventures.

You may recognize Chuck from the vibrant Manitoba maker scene as the craftsman behind Earth and Hide. We decided to buy the store to complement, and as an extension of Earth and Hide. Chuck's leather goods are so durable, they'll last a lifetime! We knew we couldn't support a storefront with just the leather goods - we needed some consumables to keep people coming back. The flowers, bath and body, and other consumables are great ways to keep people coming back for more! 

More than just selling products, we wanted to find a way to serve his amazing, loyal customers. Until buying the store, he's been operating Earth and Hide from our home and by going to popup markets across Canada. That creates a barrier to interacting with customers. We wanted a place where people can come whenever the doors are open and be involved with what's going on in the shop.  With Earth and Hide, my life's work is to inspire hope through the therapeutic benefit of craft work.  The store will allow a space for that.