Even though e-commerce heavyweights like Amazon and eBay are carving up ever-larger slices of the holiday shopping pie, a tight-knit group of downtown retailers have found their niche, catering to visitors and locals seeking a time-traveler’s return to yesteryear. The mom-and-pop shopowners credit their success in the land of Norman Rockwell to the personal touch and unusual gift items not easily found online. Long-established Stockbridge merchants Alan and Teresa O’Brient have stocked their newest enterprise, the Seven Arts vintage gift shop, with what she called “hands-on, realistic merchandise, all the little gewgaws you don’t see everywhere else.” Read more about shops thriving in an e-commerce world >>
