By CYNTHIA WOOLBRIGHT

Staff reporter

It’s been a year of change for Bayleaf owner and proprietor Beth Graves. In June she moved her Coupeville Bayleaf shop to a new 800 square-foot space at 101 Coveland after spending six years on Grace Street where she began.

And now she’s opened a second Bayleaf location — a new ground-floor space at the Fraser building at the corner of Dock and Fidalgo streets. It will showcase wine, cheese and specialty grocery items.

There will be an open house celebration from 1 to 5 p.m. today, Sept. 23, at the Oak Harbor Bayleaf location.

Cynthia Mason, who Graves is entrusting as manager of the Oak Harbor store, said customers can expect the same great Bayleaf selection and service at the new location.

“We didn’t want the stores to stand out from each other,” Mason said. “Beth really worked to make it a place where customers would feel comfortable, no matter which Bayleaf they were at.”

Expect the Oak Harbor location to stock wines, cheeses, meats and a variety of specialty grocery items such as pastas, spices, chocolates and sauces. They are the hard to find items, some with an international flair, that Graves has found to be popular with her customers and key ingredients in the kitchen.

“We’ll definitely have items you won’t find in any of the large grocery stores,” Mason said.

Included in the selection will be fresh Screaming Banshee bread that will be delivered warm Wednesdays and Fridays to both the Oak Harbor and Coupeville shops.

Mason said she hopes to soon offer antipasta trays for lunch in Oak Harbor — it’s a treat that is already popular in Coupeville.

Graves says she tries to stock “really pure products.” She loves to encourage customers to taste and experience food.

“I find really cool products and I love it when customers try them and really use them to turn food into their own,” she said.

Graves said being at the new Frasers restaurant building is a perfect fit and sits nicely with her concept of why she named Bayleaf in the first place: Bay leaves are cross-cultural and a crown of laurel leaves was once given to scholars.

“I hope everyone is always striving to learn more about all the different worlds of food out there,” she said. “I want people to connect with food and for it to be accessible to everyone.”

Bayleaf

1191 SE Dock Street, Oak Harbor

Phone: 675-6600.

Hours: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday.

Web site: www.bayleaf.us.