Shopping Small Has Large Impact

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Hyde Park, MA – Shopping small and local has never been more important than during this year’s holiday season. By choosing to shop local, consumers can play a critical role in supporting their neighborhood businesses, which in turn helps their communities thrive.

ETC Café and Gifts on Hyde Park Ave., in Boston’s vibrant Hyde Park community, is an example of a shop that provides a small and local experience, all while supporting an important non-profit mission. ETC’s retail shop showcases a variety of unique items, many that are handcrafted by local artisans of all abilities.

“ETC’s unique mission supports the training and employment of people of all abilities in artisan and retail skills, along with training in our food service side of the business, with a commercial kitchen that provides meals to local schools, corporate employee cafeterias, child and senior day care centers. Vocational trainees contribute to our community while mastering life skills,” says Dafna Krouk-Gordon, founder and president of TILL, Inc., the Dedham-based human service agency that operates ETC.

ETC’s professional artisans and trainees create unique crafts for the gift shop, with trainees honing their retail skills and earning a sense of accomplishment while engaging with the community. Shoppers can expect to find one-of-a-kind items, including jewelry, textiles, hanging mobiles and wall art, and handmade wooden accessories, including outdoor flower beds. The handcrafted wood items come directly from TILL Farms in Westborough, another vocational program site that grows and sells vegetables and operates a woodworking shop.

ETC also runs a small café inside its Hyde Park retail space, a favorite place for morning coffee, breakfast sandwiches, or its daily lunch special. At the start of the pandemic, ETC begin selling pizza kits to help keep families and their children entertained and well fed. The extra-large Pizza Kit, with fresh ingredients and choice of toppings, is a bestseller at $12.00 per kit and available for curbside pickup.

Krouk-Gordon says an important part of ETC’s mission is being a part of the local community and all that it has to offer. “Our goal is to serve our community while training and employing people at the same time. Our hope is to give as much to the community as our customers give to us.”
ETC Café and Gifts is located at 1300 Hyde Park Ave., Hyde Park, MA. Call ahead for holiday store hours and details on curbside pickup. Ask us about our cooking classes for community groups, volunteer programs, and catering options.

Link: Facebook

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