Kimberly Meadowlark
Local Supply founders Meredith Waguespack and Sarah Guidry
Nestled beside its sister-store Sweet Baton Rouge in the Electric Depot compound on Government Street, Local Supply wraps you up the moment you walk through the door, the handmade stationery, canvases, books, postcards, and accessories all twinkling under the lights. Every display is labeled with a card crediting its products’ local maker, with an icon of Louisiana’s boot identifying it as one of ours.
Like Meredith Waguespack and Sarah Guidry’s Sweet Baton Rouge t-shirt showroom, Local Supply celebrates all things Louisiana. The new retail space stemmed from the business partners’ Local Pop Up shop, which they have held annually at Perkins Rowe since 2017—bringing local artists and creators together into a single space.
Kimberly Meadowlark
“Fast forward to last year. That’s whenever we were like, alright, we don’t have enough space to do our holiday pop-ups here,” said Guidry. “And then, we looked through that little window…and were like ‘Okay, this space is open,’ which really got my wheels turning about the possibilities.”
Waguespack noted the satisfaction of watching the businesses she’s partnered with through Local Pop Up continue to grow and succeed. “To me, that adds a lot of value when you can see how they started small, and they’re slowly building their brands up and creating the following of people that want to come in and get that particular product from that person,” she said.
Kimberly Meadowlark
Since opening in January, Local Supply now features over fifty local artists, who will be rotated quarterly. Some artists have also been featured in Waguespack and Guidry’s Lagniappe Box, another venture that supports local makers and artisans via a monthly subscription box service (learn more about it in our “Go Local” special advertising section on page 46). “Everything that we try to do is trying to make a positive impact,” Guidry said.
Waguespack agreed: “And building the friendships, just through working with so many individuals and just being able to create that community with them.”
Kimberly Meadowlark
The entrepreneurs’ plans for Local Supply and Sweet Baton Rouge include “continuing to work in our relationships with all of our local members and makers—[and continuing] to spotlight their businesses inside Local Supply.”
Local Supply is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 am–6 pm, and Waguespack and Guidry, with their infectious smiles and passion for all things local, can be found walking between Local Supply and Sweet Baton Rouge.
