On De La Mare Avenue in downtown Fairhope, The Happy Olive has become many locals’ first stop for a gift. It sells premium extra virgin olive oils, aged balsamic vinegars and a counter’s worth of gourmet extras, and the staff clearly enjoys the work. Owner Sue Rusyniak, a former cardiovascular nurse, took over the shop in 2020 after years of listening to her daughter’s stories from behind its counter. Customers have been coming in to tell her their own stories ever since.
“It’s what you bring into your life every day that matters,” Rusyniak said in a 2023 conversation about the shop.
More Than Oil and Vinegar
Richard and Vickie Bailey founded The Happy Olive, and by spring 2023 it had been open 11 years. Its core products are premium extra virgin olive oils, often shortened to EVOO, and aged balsamic vinegars. They are good for cooking and make easy salad dressings when paired. The shop carries more than 100 oil-and-vinegar combinations and features a “pairing of the month.” The April 2023 pairing combined a blueberry-infused balsamic vinegar with an Herbes de Provence EVOO.
The shelves hold more than oil and vinegar. The Happy Olive also sells a wide range of treats and specialty gifts, including:
- Vietri, handcrafted Italian dinnerware and serving pieces.
- Etta B Pottery, made in Etta, Mississippi.
- Stonewall Kitchen specialty foods.
- Cocktail extras, including olives, cherries, sweet jalapeno relish, pickles and other gourmet garnishes.
Gift wrapping is free and done on the spot, and the staff puts together gift baskets. On one afternoon in the store, customer after customer described it the same way: “It’s the first place I come to buy gifts.”
“We are many customers’ go-to place for gifts, especially for foodies,” Rusyniak said.
Tasting Like an Expert
Olive oil has a long history. The ancient poet Homer is often credited with calling it “liquid gold.” It also comes with plenty of confusion, and Rusyniak and her staff see clearing that up as part of their job.
“We fashion ourselves as olive oil experts. We are knowledgeable and train ourselves on the correct way to taste the oil. We know how to describe and appreciate each one,” she said. The shop’s approach is simple: freshest is best. New oils arrive regularly from harvests around the world.
Freshness matters for good reason. Extra virgin is the top grade of olive oil. It is extracted mechanically, without chemical solvents, and has to meet strict standards for low acidity and for flavor free of defects. Unlike wine, olive oil does not get better with age. Heat, light and air slowly break it down, dulling its flavor and reducing the natural compounds that give good oil its peppery, grassy bite. Because olives are harvested in the fall and winter in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres, specialty shops can bring in fresh oil at different times of year instead of selling a single year-old batch. At home, the same rules apply. Keep oil in a cool, dark cupboard away from the stove, keep the cap tight and use a bottle within a few months of opening to get the best flavor.
Balsamic vinegar has its own traditions. The original comes from the Modena and Reggio Emilia areas of northern Italy, where cooked grape must is aged in a series of wooden barrels. The most traditional versions age for many years and grow thick, sweet and complex. Aged balsamics like the ones sold in tasting shops are made to pair with oils, fruit, cheese and even desserts.
A TikTok Moment
The shop carries one hard-to-find premium olive oil that is marketed for its health benefits. A few weeks before the 2023 interview, Dennis Lagarde of Ponchatoula, Louisiana, who runs Lagarde’s Whole Health Market, came in and was impressed. “You really know what you are doing,” he told Rusyniak. “Let’s create a TikTok video on this premium, healthy EVOO so people will know that you carry it.”
The video drew 50,000 views, and the shop took more than 200 online orders in the first month. For a single downtown storefront, it showed how social media can bring customers from far beyond the neighborhood.
From Rochester to Fairhope
Rusyniak grew up in Rochester, New York. Before Fairhope, she worked as a nurse in cardiovascular health and heart education. She married her husband, George, in Rochester in 1992. The couple later lived in Rome, Georgia, where George practiced neurosurgery with his colleague and friend Dr. Anthony Martino.
When Dr. Martino took a position at the University of South Alabama Medical Center, he urged them to visit. “He’s the one who suggested we should come check out Fairhope,” Rusyniak said. They did and loved it. After living in Utica, New York, and starting a family with daughter Alexandra, the family moved to Fairhope in 2008, and George joined Dr. Martino in practice.
Alexandra was in sixth grade at the time. Before the move, her New York classmates told her frightening stories about what Alabama would be like. The move went fine. She attended Bayside Academy in Daphne and was graduating from George Washington University’s law school in Washington, D.C., in 2023.
When the family first told relatives they were moving to Fairhope, Rusyniak recalled, “they didn’t know what to think. I can’t say there aren’t other places as nice as Fairhope, but I’ve never experienced any other towns that are as warm and welcoming.”
How a Part-Time Job Became a Business
The Happy Olive came into the family through Alexandra, who worked there part time in high school. “I would listen to Alexandra tell stories about what happened that day at the store. She would tell me what was selling, and I was intrigued,” Rusyniak said.
After Alexandra left for college, her mother started working part time at the shop herself. Her interest in olive oil ran deeper than retail. “My husband had a lot of Italian in him, and olive oil was in his DNA. We traveled to Greece and Italy, so, being a nurse, I started paying more attention to the benefits of olive oil for a healthier lifestyle,” she said. Olive oil is a cornerstone of the Mediterranean diet, the traditional way of eating in countries like Greece and Italy that nutrition researchers have long studied for its association with heart health.
The Baileys kept suggesting she buy the store. They were ready for a new chapter, and in August 2020 she did. The purchase came right after the shop had been closed for seven weeks because of COVID-19.
“I bought the store but didn’t have a business background,” she said. “I could never have done it without the staff that had been there from the start, and Richard helped me a lot.”
The timing turned out well. “We thrived during the pandemic,” she said. People who could not travel as usual came to Fairhope, ate at home more and cooked more, and the shop had what they wanted. “People made a point to shop local. Customers went above and beyond to support local businesses,” she said. Many small business owners around the coast have said the same.
A Shop That Feels Like Family
George died suddenly about a year before the 2023 interview. Rusyniak said she leaned on the people around her. “I’m lucky to be surrounded by great co-workers and friends that have supported me through this difficult time,” she said, adding that the shop feels like family. Having worked there for a couple of years before buying it, she was not new to running the store. “We have a wonderful business, and we all work hard, but it’s a fun place to be for all of us.”
She credits her staff, people who, as she put it, just want to go somewhere and have a nice day. “It’s hard work, but each person on our staff has a favorite item to talk about. They all use these products, and you get to meet the most interesting people, stay active, and enjoy what you do.”
The store is also a stop on the Taste of Fairhope food tour on Fridays and Saturdays. It has hosted special groups as well, including a spouse event for the University of Alabama business school’s Board of Visitors.
Shops like this are part of what makes downtown Fairhope work. The town began in 1894 as a single-tax colony, a utopian experiment based on the ideas of economist Henry George, and it grew into one of the best-known small towns in the South. It is known for flower-lined streets, its municipal pier on Mobile Bay and a walkable downtown of independent shops, galleries and restaurants. Locally owned stores on streets like De La Mare Avenue give the district its character.
For visitors, the advice is simple: taste before you buy, ask about the pairing of the month, and leave time to look around. As Rusyniak put it, The Happy Olive is a place people come to tell their stories, and many leave with a gift and a new favorite olive oil.