Meet the Founder

A look into the story of Alex Creswell, founder of Neighbors General Store.

  • My goal in creating Neighbors was simple: to curate a selection of products that elevate and simplify your day-to-day, with an emphasis on quality, simplicity, and community. Neighbors comes out of a desire to combine my values, experience, and skills into a career that aligned with my passions. I love dinner parties. And lunch parties. And brunch parties. Any excuse to get together with the people I love. The deep conversations that arise over lip smudged wine glasses, linen napkins, and a shared meal are the best moments in life. 

  • A bit about me: I live for all things cozy! When I was little I never had just one favorite blanket, because one was never enough. If you see me, there is a 90% chance I will be in a Everlane boxy shirt. I like to keep things simple because I’m messy! When I started Neighbors and was shipping orders out of our house, inventory and boxes were scattered and stacked all over. In fact, they might still be…. 

I grew up in Southern California and headed up to San Luis Obispo after high school to attend Cal Poly for photography. I fell in love with the area and stuck around for 10 years. After that, life led me to Portland where I lived there for 4 years and I miss it often. My now husband joined me in the Pacific NorthWest for a couple years, but the Central Coast kept calling us back. We headed home to CA in September of 2021 to be closer to family and put down roots.

I have learned so much from all I've experienced in my career. I’ve worked for jewelry companies, a wedding photographer, a hotel brand, a men’s brand, and my most favorite, a home brand (@‌schoolhouse!). I pinch myself because I still get to work with Schoolhouse on photo projects today. I’ve dabbled in a lot of creative fields including wedding and commercial photography, marketing, web merchandising, and photo styling. In May of 2022, I finally got to add shop owner to the list! The reality of Neighbors came to life just a few months after the launch of our online shop, when a spot opened in the village of Arroyo Grande, CA and carved a path for a physical home. It was truly serendipitous, as the name for Neighbors came from a late night chat on the porch with my good friend Amanda, owner of Mule Bakery. When she threw out the name Neighbors, it stuck. Little did we know that name would lead to us living out our dream businesses as actual neighbors.

  • My husband Alan is my favorite person on the planet. We were friends for 6 years before we started dating and dated for 4 years before we got married. He made me a patient person and it was all worth the wait. He’s as clean as I am messy and makes me laugh all the time. Neighbors is a dream made real because of all he is and encourages me to be.

  • Above all, I believe that being kind is the most important thing --  I want both my shop and home to be a safe space for all who visit.