Local-Made Crafting and Gifts Have a New Home

The business that went from a Facebook page to a store where dozens of Burlington vendors sell their handmade crafts has moved from the Wayside Shopping Center to a spot on Middlesex Turnpike.

Made in Burlington started on Facebook in 2020, when craft fairs were suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic, said Laurena Smith, the shop’s founder and owner. A year later the Facebook page became a pop-up craft shop in the Wayside Shopping Center that was intended to last two months but is still running three years later.

“We had so many customers that kept saying, ‘This place is great. You can’t leave. You can’t close,’” Smith said. She kept extending the lease as people kept coming to the shop. The latest contract ended in January, and the Wayside Shopping Center had another business interested in moving into the space.

Smith found a new spot in the Burlington Square Plaza at 101 Middlesex Turnpike, an area long-time Burlington residents will recognize as "where Tower Records used to be." The shop relocated quickly and began operations there on February 2. Vendors say they are optimistic that the new location on a busy road will help them sell even more products.

“I like to say that by supporting my small business you’re supporting 80 other small businesses,” said Smith, who hosts crafts from over 80 artisans from Burlington and surrounding areas in the shop. The sellers pay rent and a sales fee, but most of the profits go to the crafters, who set their own prices.

The shop hosts weekly workshops and classes where people can learn how to make crafts such as baskets, jewelry and resin art. The classes, taught by vendors, are mostly adult classes, but they have classes for children as well, Smith said.

The sense of community in the shop inspired Smith to create an entire craft section in the back of the new store that will be set up at all times so people can just come in to do crafts. The area will have tables set up and crafts on the shelves, ranging from a couple of dollars to $20, so people can pick out what they want to do, sit down, and do the craft for an hour or two for a $5 fee, said Smith. “We’re kind of rebranding as a handmade gift shop and DIY studio, so people can be creative whenever they want.”

One of the vendors, Jessica Perry, said while she loved the old location, she thinks the new location is great because it is a busy area with hopefully just as much foot traffic. 

Perry owns The Warped Loom, a fiber arts business that sells woven products like scarves, linens, and needle-felted pictures. A Billerica resident, Perry has been a vendor at Made in Burlington for a year and a half.

In addition to being a vendor, Perry said she is also a frequent shopper and has gone to a crafting workshop with her 7-year-old daughter where they made their own button pins.

Perry said she loves the community of customers and artists. 

“A lot of artists are very kind people, and the ones that I've met would share information on shows, fairs and festivals that are coming up and things like that,” Perry said.

Marieta Mirchev, owner of Purity Ave Candles, which sells all-natural soy candles, said she hopes the new location will bring more customers because it is more visible from the road and closer to the Burlington Mall. 

Mirchev has lived in Burlington for eight years and has been with the store since it opened. She said she teaches candle-making workshops every few months at the store, getting an average of 10 people per workshop.

“I like [Made In Burlington] not only as someone who sells there but also as a person from Burlington who has a family, knowing we can go there for the kids,” Mirchev said.

Mirchev said she prefers to buy gifts from vendors at Made in Burlington rather than from the Burlington Mall.

“We have a sign behind the desk that says, ‘When you buy handmade, an actual person does a happy dance,’ and it’s so true,” Smith said.

The refreshed and reimagined Made in Burlington store is now open at 101 Middlesex Turnpike, on the corner of Mall Road and Middlesex Turnpike.

This story is part of a partnership between Burlington Buzz and the Boston University Department of Journalism.