Why a co-op
Most gift shops buy their stock by the carton. Giving Gifts & Company doesn't. Since 2013, it has handed its five rooms to local artists — more than fifty of them — and let their work fill the shelves. The shop takes a small cut; the maker keeps the rest.
It means the inventory is never quite the same twice. A potter sells through their run and a new one takes the bench. A card maker two doors down restocks the front room on a Tuesday. The work on these walls is the neighbourhood, literally — and that is the line the current website never gets around to saying.
"Every purchase supports a local artist." Five words. The whole shop.
This refresh concept is built around that single truth: a ledger of local hands, room by room, maker by maker. No stock photos of strangers — just the rooms, the objects, and the names of the people who made them.