‘Downtown Perk’: New store offering groceries and coffee opens in Winston-Salem

Fran Daniel/Winston-Salem Journal

Washington Perk and Provision Co. opened its downtown store Friday on Fourth Street.

Owners John and Jayne Johnston call it “Downtown Perk” and describe it as a downtown market.

“We are happy to be downtown,” Jayne Johnston said.

The couple currently offer groceries and operate a coffee shop. They hope to open a deli and have a grand-opening party in mid-May.

Grocery items include organic foods, products from North Carolina, pet food, soaps, candy, nuts, chips, milk, bread, eggs, juices, craft beers and wines.

The Johnstons’ original Washington Perk and Provision is on Acadia Avenue in the Washington Park area. They also have owned a bar called Swaim’s Grocery on Acadia Avenue since 2004.

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We spent a lazy Saturday visiting one of my new favorite local hangout spots- Washington Perk & Provision Co. It’s very “Asheville”, but much more convenient, nestled in the Washington Park neighborhood of Winston, just a hop and a skip from downtown Winston-Salem at 228 Acadia Ave.

Owners John and Jayne Johnston opened the joint in July, 2010, next to the neighborhood pub they also own, Swaim’s Grocery. Washington Perk & Provision Co. is a lot of things: part boutique grocery, part coffee bar, part deli and cool hangout with free WiFi, a great selection of local and imported beers, wines and a huge deck which is perfect for the weather we’re having this week.

Their grocery has a wide selection staples, plus organic products, local grass-fed beef, poultry and eggs. I flipped for these colorful eggs – see the aqua ones!?! I am in complete awe of these eggs. Owner Jayne told me these are the “Easter egg” variety of eggs from Meadows Family Farms in Julian, NC, where they also get their grass-fed beef, pork sausage and poultry.

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It could be said that Swaim’s Grocery is a bar with an identity problem.

You see, it’s not owned or staffed by anyone with the last name Swaim — it’s owned by a couple named Johnston. And it’s not a grocery store — it’s a bar. The grocery is next door, and it’s called Washington Perk. Not “Park” — as in the neighborhood in which it’s located, Washington Park — but “Perk.” As in coffee. But it’s not just a coffee shop, it’s a grocery, but not Swaim’s Grocery….

Oh, forget it. You get the point.

Don’t let the name fool you. Swaim’s Grocery is definitely a bar — a quaint little throwback to the days of old. That’s actually where the name came from. According to Jayne Johnston, who co-owns Swaim’s (and Washington Perk) with her husband, John, the name dates back to the late 1930s.

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