It is a place that is about as far removed from mass-market mall department stores as a person can get. There’s nothing sterile about Wild Women Traders in downtown Moscow, Idaho.

To say that it feels like a welcoming home, inviting, caring — a place that takes you back to the years when life was full of wonder and promise, when turning an unfamiliar corner awakened your senses to all sorts of new possibilities — that and more is how those who have “discovered” this store feel about it. It is a place where people go to get their “Wild Women” fix and be reminded of what is good and precious about life.

That atmosphere is due in no small part to the vision and commitment of one of the store’s co-owners, Sandy Russell. Her partnership with Julie Kerr has created a magical oasis in a community that appreciates and treasures such food for the soul.

Community, whether it be the college town cradled in the irregular rolling hills of the Palouse in northern Idaho, or community in the larger national or international sense, is important to Russell.

“People here are open and caring. We share common goals of creating a better life for ourselves and our children. In our store, we strive to contribute to our community by supporting the arts and the events that make this such a special place.”

Another special place is wherever Russell’s two granddaughters — Megan, almost 4, and Hannah, 2½ — are. Right now it’s on a five-acre spread in the lake country north of Moscow that features a huge organic garden. A garden that keeps “Grammy” and Megan and Hannah and their mother and several deer and other creatures happy and healthily fed.

“I’ve been serious about a lot of things in my life, but I can’t think of a role that has ever made me as happy as I am being a grand-mother. Megan and Hannah are wild and inventive, lovable, bright, curious. It’s a real challenge keeping them stimulated and engaged. Being around them, watching them grow and learn is so fascinating and such a pleasure.”

Involvement has marked Russell’s life from her days as a college student at Washington State University in the early ‘60s. Then she felt destined to be immersed in city life, the Peace Corps, any place significantly away from the rural Northwest where she was born and raised. “After college I went to San Francisco. I loved the city. John Kennedy inspired me; I felt my work with SNCC (the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee) during the Civil Rights movement was very fulfilling. Kennedy’s assassination was devastating, but it politicized me.”

What followed was involvement in the anti-Vietnam War movement, a relocation with husband and daughter to the Palouse, social and community activism in Pullman, Washington. And then involvement in her first store, The Old Mole. “I was afraid of letting my involvement in volunteer causes overwhelm my family life, so I took on half-ownership of a small handcraft consignment shop. Over a 25-year period, I watched the store grow and blossom into a sophisticated boutique that featured exotic jewelry, clothing, art and handcrafts from around the world.

“In 1998, my partner and I were determined to retire so we closed the store. I wasn’t retired very long; Julie and I opened Wild Women Traders soon thereafter.”

First-hand experience with the tribulations of small business ownership has made Russell especially empathetic with other women attempting to launch their own businesses. She’s worked with MaryJane for many years, helping finance various projects. As a proud stockholder in her company, Russell feels awed by Butters’ enthusiasm, energy and imagination. She especially enjoys MaryJanesFarm. “It’s beautiful to look at, informative to read, hard to put down and obviously a real labor of love. When I got my first issue, I stayed up until 3 a.m. reading it.”

“The guiding philosophy of my life is to do what I can to make things better for us and for the world we live in.” For a myriad of causes through the years, for two special granddaughters, for all those who find Wild Women Traders a welcoming, nurturing place, there is agreement that Russell is succeeding in her quest.