From the outside, The Hive, with its sheer curtains in the windows and lack of signage, doesn’t give a hint of its real purpose: keeping beekeepers outfitted with bee frames, bee pollen patties and bee education.

 

"I really like honeybees and think they are endlessly fascinating, and I really like how through beekeeping you just become a little bit more aware of what's going on in your environment," says Naaman Gambill, one of the store’s two managing partners. "Pollinators in general are so tied into our food systems.”

 

The Hive: Chicago’s Beekeeping Supply Store helps keep the food chain humming by providing supplies for beekeepers and hosting events and training. As bees gather pollen and nectar, they pollinate fruits and vegetables such as apples and broccoli, which helps the produce grow.  

 

Gambill, who has worked with bees since he was a kid, and John Hansen, a friend and fellow beekeeper, decided to open up a store in the Near West Side of Chicago that would help beekeepers in the region. The Hive provides supplies for beekeepers and hosts events and training.

 

"Honeybees and humans have a nice relationship,” Gambill says. “The role of the beekeeper should be helping out the honey bees, and then as our reward we can take a little bit of honey.”

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Gambill grew up in Terre Haute, Indiana, where he began working with bees on his family’s farm, helping his father with the hives. When Gambill’s family found out that he wanted to keep bees in Chicago, they thought he was crazy.

 

“They thought—and still think—it is hilarious that I’m beekeeping in the city,” says Gambill, who has taught high school science.

 

With The Hive, Gambill hopes to employ people in the area and make a positive impact, he says. The Hive has consulting services for beekeepers and offers classes and programs to people of all ages who are just interested in knowing more about bees. Gambill has worked with organizations including the Shedd Aquarium and the Lincoln Park Zoo for beekeeping educational projects.

 

Back at the store, beekeeper and employee Jefferson Shuck cuts pieces of wood that are used to build honey bee racks as part of the store’s carpentry products, called supers.

“Through beekeeping there are skills you can learn, whether it be carpentry with the woodenware that we can fabricate or food handling skills and retail service,” Shuck says.

 

The staff at The Hive is a close-knit bunch—members of a community of beekeepers in the Chicago area.

 

Sydney Barton, the store’s manager, met Gambill through beekeeping and mutual friends.

 

"You're in beekeeping circles for years and years and that's kind of how it happens,” Barton says. “You get to know who people are. Even though you may not know them, you know what they do.”