Couple from Marshall Islands open store offering slice of Pacific Islands

You don’t have to travel far to get a taste of the Pacific Islands. You just need to brave the work-in-progress on North Monroe Street.

In May, Sherlynn Mito and her husband, Ausdon Joel, opened Mary’s Pacific Islands Store.

“We saw the site before there was any construction, and we didn’t want to wait to open until it was done,” Mito said.

Located in the Hoban building next to MSD Irish Dance Academy, the shop features handmade home décor’ and jewelry, as well as clothing and food with the flavor of the islands.

Lightweight dresses in colorful floral prints hang in the front window and Polynesian print muumuus are stacked on shelving.

A glass case holds jewelry made of seashells, and the wall behind it is filled with decor made from coconut and pandanus tree fronds.

Woven handbags line the shelves next to headpieces made from shells or flowers.

Mito picked one up.

“These are flower crowns. You wear them on your forehead,” she explained.

Then she picked up a handful of individual silk flowers.

“These are to wear behind your ear,” she said, tucking one into her hair.

Originally from the Marshall Islands, the couple moved to the United States 20 years ago and to Spokane in 2013.

Joel’s family owns a store in the Marshalls.

He said when they moved here he took jobs wherever he found them.

“I worked everywhere – farms, factories,” he said. “But I wanted to have my own business.”

The “Mary” in Mary’s Pacific Islands Store comes from their 14-year-old daughter.

“It’s her middle name,” Mito said, smiling.

Spokane has a growing Marshallese population, and the couple said islanders miss the flavors of home.

That’s been proven by the way traditional staples fly off the shelves at their new store. They’re finding it hard to keep breadfruit flour and taro root in stock.

Tuna jerky is another favorite.

“It’s yellow fin, a little bit spicy,” Joel said. “Very popular. All my people come buy it.”

Seafood is an island basic. Joel pulled a whole amber jack fish from a chest freezer and described several ways to cook it. Packages of salt fish were stacked on a nearby shelf.

“It’s very strong. You just eat a little, tiny bit with some breadfruit,” he explained.

Canned goods like spam and tuna, packed in oil, not water, also line the shelves, along with huge bags of rice.

“We eat rice every day,” Mito said.

Traditional treats like coconut candy are also available, and so is homemade ice candy.

Mito said the frozen confection served in small cups is made with coconut and sweetened with honey and is their biggest seller, so far.

While they have many customers from the Marshall Islands, the couple are proud to introduce their culture, crafts and foods to those unfamiliar with it. They plan to participate at the Emerson-Garfield Farmers Market located just across the street from their store.

“We want to show you stuff from our home country, but we also want to help out the community here in Spokane,” said Joel.