TAUNTON — Looking for a local handmade gift for Christmas? Taunton has just the thing.
The Trescott Street Gallery at 8 Trescott St. in Taunton opened a new gift shop this Saturday. The shop features items made by local producers, ranging from kitchen magnets to crocheted items to skincare, and everything in between.
“There’s not a lot of gift shops in our downtown, so we wanted to activate [the art gallery] as a retail space,” said Colleen Simmons, the executive director of the Downtown Taunton Foundation. “We feature over twenty individual businesses. So it’s giving them an outlet to sell their wares.”
Local producers can either rent space in the gift shop or give the gift shop a commission on any items that are sold. In exchange, the gift shop runs the store and takes care of the checking out process when customers want to purchase goods.
“We’ve been working on it since the summer,” Simmons said.
When is the Trescott Street Gallery open?
The hours for the gallery and the gift shop are:
- Wednesdays from noon to 5 p.m.
- Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 5 pm.
- Fridays from 10 a.m. to 8 pm
- Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 pm.
The gift shop will also be open on Sunday, Dec. 22 and Monday, Dec. 23 from noon to 4 p.m.
Gift shop supports local artists and small businesses
Downtown Taunton Foundation Program Manager Eileen Kelleher said one of her favorite items in the gift shop is crocheted items made by a local business called Sandy Crochets.
“These take so many man-hours to make, and the details are just fantastic,” Kelleher said.
Kelleher said that shopping local at places like the gift shop is a meaningful way to support local businesses and local artists.
“I think that’s what makes it special, you’re supporting small local businesses when you shop at a place like this,” Kelleher said.