It is with tremendous sadness that I share today’s story. Connections – the who, what, where and how of St. John – is closing after serving the St. John community for more than 40 years. This closing will undoubtedly affect those of us who live here and will change the dynamics of St. John life for years to come. Connections will officially close in May.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Connections, it’s the little pink building that sits on the corner near Cruz Bay Landing, the Lutheran Church, Longboard and Woody’s. It has provided mail services to countless residents over the years, business services like scanning, copying, a notary and Western Union, and a community bulletin board that has helped nearly every resident as some point during their time here. It was a place where you popped in to get advice, leads on a new place to live or work, or perhaps event a little island gossip by way of the Coconut Telegraph. And every time you walked through those glass doors, you were greeted by a smile.
Cid Hamling started connections in 1983 as a way for people to stay connected, hence the name Connections. The business started simply with a folding table and a working phone line, which was a pretty big deal in the early 80s. Back then you had to wait over six months to get a land line at home and it was next to impossible to secure a post office box on island. Cid provided a pretty simple, yet important, service – she enabled people to stay connected here on island and connected to their loved ones up in the States. She even brought St. John’s first fax machine to the island.
Cid continued to add services over the years, and in 1991, she opened a second location out in Coral Bay – Connections East. (She sold that location, which remains open, to Jennifer Robinson in 2015.)
As a newcomer to the island, the advice was always the same – check the wall at Connections, people would tell me. So that’s what I did. I would look at the community listings, which cost a mere $5 a month to post, to see if any new apartments listed for rent, to see who was hiring. It’s the place where I found my first island Jeep, the place where I printed my tax returns year after year, the place where I notarized my home’s closing documents. Take any big life event that happened here on St. John, and chances are that Connections was involved in some way.
After the storms, Connections continued to be the island’s lifeline by providing much-needed information to residents here on island and our loved ones up in the States. I will never forget the day that Bill Clinton visited St. John, five months after Hurricane Irma. Cid saw him outside of Connections, ran out and gave him the biggest hug I’ve ever seen. It was probably against former-President protocol (oops!), but it was a great moment to see.
As many of you know, I am a tour guide here on St. John, so it’s pretty common for people to ask me about the storms. But that doesn’t mean it’s always the easiest conversation to have. I remember asking Cid one day, maybe a year or two after Irma, when people would stop asking about the storms.
“When the next one happens,” she said to me with a smile.
Cid decided to retire in late 2020, but was certain to leave Connections in good hands when she did. She sold the business to Trista Sigler in November 2020, one of Connections’ Connectoritas!
Trista worked at Connections part-time, on and off, for many years and formed a great friendship with Cid along the way. When Trista lost her full-time job due to Covid in 2020, she returned to Connections, a position that soon evolved into a full-time gig. It was during this time that Cid asked her if she would be interested in buying the business. Trista was the perfect successor, a hard worker who loved Connections and understood its importance within the St. John community.
Sadly, Trista has only had the opportunity to carry on the business for a few years, as lease renewal issues have forced her to close. From what I have seen as a community member, Trista has done absolutely everything she could to keep the businesses open, but was unable to do so.
Connections is slowly ceasing services as it nears its closing date. Mail service will end on continue through the end of the month. And as I mentioned earlier, the business will close permanently in May.
If you love Connections as much as I do, or if you simply want to support a great business and a great businesswoman, you can purchase a tank, t-shirt or tote bag. You can purchase them online by clicking here. These items will be on sale online only through April 22nd.
I want to personally thank Cid, Trista and all of the Connectoritas who have helped me navigate island life over the years. Your contributions to this community have not gone unnoticed.
Not all change is good, folks. This closure will definitely leave a hole in our community.
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