Town Pride opened its flagship store in Yarmouth, Maine, on November 18 with a grand opening celebration featuring a fundraiser for the Yarmouth Food Pantry. As a wholesale company over two years, Owner Tamara Moran decided it was time to create a retail division in the business’s hometown while still providing quality service to wholesale clients locally and across the country, according to a press release.
“I get asked all the time if items can be purchased individually,” says Moran. “So, it’s a message to me that there is a market for our merchandise to be available on a direct-to-consumer level.”
Town Pride USA launched its wholesale operation in Yarmouth, Maine in May 2021 with its curated quality goods created, designed, and finished in the USA by woman and family-owned makers. Town Pride USA offers everything from knit sweaters to candles, stationery, drinkware, serveware and jewelry, and regularly adds new products that are always on trend, the press release says.
The 1,300-square-foot store located in the Hannaford Plaza is a key business and community hub in Yarmouth, says Shawna Chigro-Rogers, retail operations and events manager for Town Pride.
“People do their grocery shopping, banking, drop off their mail and have conversations with friends, neighbors and colleagues in the produce section,” she notes. “We draw a lot of foot traffic and the plaza is located on a main thoroughfare.”
Reaction from the community has been positive, with many shopping for loved ones who now live far away but still remain loyal to Town Pride, Chigro-Rogers says. Meanwhile, out-of-towners yearn for a similar experience in their home towns, using expressions like, “We need one of these in [our town],” she points out.
As a pleasant surprise, the store is drawing customers from towns near and far to purchase Maine and East Coast items, says Chigro-Rogers. As a result, merchandise with neighboring towns and Portland will be added in the coming months to satisfy customer demand, she explains.
And all the while – Town Pride will be focusing on its core values that have made the company successful.
“We focus on making custom easy,” Moran says. “Building relationships with our approved shopkeepers is very important to us and we pride ourselves on collaboration, quality, creativity and consistency.”
Custom merchandise from Town Pride USA can be found in specialty stores in every state as well as in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The flagship store will serve as the hub for testing new products as well as supporting wholesale clients with product reviews and orders while offering retail customers quality apparel, decor, and gifts in the theme of local love.
For more information, visit www.townpride.com.
