This is the kind of store you would expect to find in New England. It’s called “Gather” and it’s located in Ivoryton, Connecticut.

The owner, Deanna Pinette, is cute as a button and loves her little town and is nurturing it with the help of what she has made at Gather.

Her store is housed it what was a General Store built about 1870. It’s a big spacious place with wonderful rich hardwood on the floor.

To say this place feels like a throwback would be an understatement. There are food items made locally and the coffee is on in the back near a piano with vintage sheet music on its rack.

There is locally made jewelry and stuffed animals too.

Deanna is having a ball with this store which opened about a year ago,  and she’s getting a kick out of hiring her friends to help her run it.

It’s not just a store, it’s a place to gather and that’s why it is named as such.

Deanna is all about local. “Local is the new global” you know, and she feels like I do that we better start supporting local small business owners or all of this quintessential new England loveliness is going to disappear.

Deanna sells t-shirts in red, white, and blue to support that localness. She told me last year she tried to deck the whole town out in them to just bring that feeling of togetherness  to a fever pitch at the Fourth of July parade.

Deanna was raised in Norwich, Connecticut where her family had a jewelry store. She says there is now just one independent jewelery store in town. Do you see what I mean, we’ve got to get busy and take care of these places by supporting them.

Another way that she supports the town, is by having a farmer’s market on the weekends. In the wintertime it’s held indoors by the coffee and the penny candy. When the weather turns nice, it’s outdoors and people do come to “gather” for that.

Her store is aptly named: Gather, a store for making friends, memories, laughs and traditions.

It’s the kind of place you will want to check in on, because things are always changing inside and you can always count on some kind of gathering.

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