Local Grocery, Gift, & Honey Shop Opening in Lakewood on April 18

On April 18, Homestead in the Hood Mercantile will celebrate its grand opening in Lakewood. Located at 1385 Carr Street just a block off West Colfax Avenue, the shop will stock locally sourced goods, groceries, gifts, and more, with Homestead in the Hood’s own hive products taking center stage. Homestead in the Hood Mercantile is a part of The Victor shopping center, a community oriented, horseshoe-shaped building with a common courtyard housing interconnected businesses Mint & Serif Coffee House, All Its Own gift and plant shop, and Moose and Frankie skin and body care shop.

Founded in 2019 by husband-and-wife Matt and Sarah McLean, Homestead in the Hood produces honey and hive products from 80-some hives around the Denver metro area. The pair have sold their wares — which includes popular flavored and creamed honeys, beeswax candles, personal care products, and more — from their website and at various area farmers’ markets for years. 

“The opportunity to open the mercantile came about organically at the perfect time,” Sarah says. “A few years back, we met and became friends with Aurora and Spencer Hendrix, who own this building and the neighboring Mint & Serif Coffee House, after Matt caught a swarm at their house. When this space opened up, we felt it was the perfect opportunity to create our own shop and honey extracting and bottling kitchen. We love the other small businesses at The Victor and feel like our offerings are the perfect complement.”

Inspired, in part, by Evergreen’s Black Fox Provisions, which stocks Matt and Sarah’s honey, the 520-square-foot Homestead in the Hood Mercantile stocks an array of goods from Colorado vendors, including: Quarantine Project Hot Sauce, Women’s Bean Project, Colorado Popcorn Company, Roaring Fork Spice Company, Yatri Chai Company, Chin Dribblin Sauces, Mile-Hi Provisions, The Chocolate Therapist, Pasta Jay’s Pasta Sauce, Sfoglina Hand Milled Pasta, and more. The Mercantile will also offer sourdough bread drops from Aunt Letha’s micro bakery, Honey Mocha Clay Earrings and Czech Out the Rock pressed flower jewelry, fresh-cut flower bouquets from Sleepy Bee Gardens, books, and games from Puzzling Pursuits.

“Our focus at the Mercantile — outside of supporting pollinators and our local ecosystem — is getting back to the things that matter,” Matt says. “We’ve aimed to select products that support homesteading, slow living, and creating moments of connection with family and friends.”

Homestead in the Hood Mercantile also hosts a walled-off commercial kitchen, where guests of the store will be able to look on through a window as Matt and Sarah extract and bottle their honeys and create their scratch-made, sustainable products. The focus on education comes naturally to the McLeans, who both worked in academic settings prior to beekeeping and offer hive tours and beekeeping mentorships. 

On April 18, the Mercantile will host a grand opening celebration from 8-3 p.m. featuring live music from Nic Clark playing the blues harmonica and the Crestone Jazz Trio, barbecue fresh off the smoker until it runs out, vendor samples, giveaways, and more. 

About Homestead in the Hood Mercantile

Homestead in the Hood Mercantile is a grocery, gift, and honey shop in Lakewood, Colorado. Founded by the husband-and-wife team behind Homestead in the Hood, (HITH) the store focuses on fresh honey and beeswax-based products from their 80-some Denver metro area hives alongside Colorado-produced gourmet goods ranging from hot sauce and spices to beverages, snacks, bread and fresh-cut flowers. Visitors to the mercantile can get an up-close look as the HITH team extracts and bottles their honey products in store, underscoring HITH’s commitment to people, bees, and the environment. Homestead in the Hood Mercantile is open seven days a week. Learn more at homesteadinthehood.com.

About Homestead in the Hood 

Founded in 2019 by husband-and-wife team Matt and Sarah McLean, Homestead in the Hood’s (HITH) mission is to connect people, care for honeybees, and love on them both. What began as a beekeeping hobby grew into a thriving business that encompasses 80-some hives across the Denver metro area, a range of fresh honeys and beeswax-based products, educational apiary tours, mentorship and consultation services, and a Lakewood mercantile. Learn more at homesteadinthehood.com.