Boston General Store draws inspiration from the past by selling items that “last forever”

By Kate Merrill

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    DEDHAM, Massachusetts (WBZ) — In an era of cheaply made and easily discarded consumer products, there’s a store in eastern Massachusetts looking to change the game.

In the last ten years, the Boston General Store has grown from a website to a store in Brookline and now a second location in Dedham.

What’s in the Boston General Store?

“We look for utilitarian goods that last forever, things that you’re not going to want to replace within a year or two,” owner April Gabriel told WBZ-TV.

Her entire business is built with her grandmother in mind.

“She had the same products her whole life and I think that’s what inspired me most about having a shop like this,” Gabriel said.

Who is Doris?

April’s grandmother Doris owned a farm in Great Barrington and when the weather turned warm, April would come up from Texas to live and work there.

“She had the largest raspberry patch I’ve ever seen in my life and I was basically her harvesting partner every summer,” Gabriel said.

It was Doris who gave her the seed money to start the business.

“She’s a huge inspiration for everything we do here, Gabriel told WBZ.

From refillable soap to stainless steel shavers to puzzles made of recycled materials, all of the products are meant to be reliable and sustainable.

“The goal is to have the least amount of packaging as possible,” Gabriel said. “A lot of things are made cheaply and to be tossed out pretty quickly. So, we have to hunt for those products that are made well.”

And that hunt takes April all over the globe, searching for the best of the best for her customers.

“Story behind the product”

“I want them to go away knowing the story behind the product and feeling just as passionate as if they made it themselves,” says Gabriel.

A focus on customer care and a dedication to our planet’s future has the Boston General Store thriving.

“I’m always reminded when I was a kid and they told us to reduce, reuse, recycle. We are of the mindset that it should last a lifetime.”

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