High Hopes Gift Shop, located at 62 Riley Road off of Williamsburg Road in Bunker Hill, opened its doors just two months ago and is filled with custom-made collectibles.
Run by the trio of Dianna Deaton High, Carol Magee and Anna Emel, High Hopes Gift Shop’s shelves are loaded with a variety of items.
“Most of it is things that we have made,” High said. “Most of the pottery is Carol’s pottery. Anna makes a lot of the crosses. We have some accessory type stuff that’s ours. Carol makes the jewelry. We have someone that makes the soy candles that we sell. We have 18-inch and 24-inch handmade doll clothes. The 24-inch clothes is really hard to find. There aren’t 24-inch clothes sold yet, so if there’s anybody interested in additional outfits. We have some bouquets and birdhouses.”
One of the aspects that makes High Hopes unique is they allow local artisans to store their art either on display or sold on consignment.
“We want to give some of the artisans around here who create art a place to display their work or sell it on consignment,” High said. “We do have two or three other artisans that are going to bring us different things. One is a potter, one makes some really cool things with cloth. We’re hoping some of the artisans around here — there are some that we know and others that we don’t yet — come and bring their stuff to leave on consignment to see if we can sell it for them.”
Another facet of the business is the gift shop’s large collection of books.
“We have a lot of paperback books,” High said. “People can trade two for one or buy them for 25 cents. That could bring some people in that don’t want to go all the way to the library.”
Many custom gift shops feature highly-priced items, but High Hopes isn’t one of them.
“We’re trying to keep everything reasonably priced, more than reasonably priced really,” High said. “The most expensive thing in here is about $20 except for a couple sculptures or some pieces of poverty that are excellent. Most of it is affordable.”
High decided to open the gift shop for a few reason, but mainly because she no longer could work and the local community lost a place it held dear to their hearts.
“Basically because I got disabled,” she said. “Just sitting around the house and feeling a bit useless, and they are always doing crafts, so we wanted to give it a try. Linda Guy had a little store around here and it was kind of the community gathering place. People would go out there, drink coffee and chat. Linda was just so friendly and a comforting person to be around. She passed very suddenly around a year ago and we have all missed having that community place. It would be nice if that could develop here. I don’t know if it will because she had a personality that could just pull people in.”
High added that the trio didn’t open the gift shop to get rich. They want to be able to offer locals a place where they could receive spiritual guidance and a gathering location.
“We want to create a happy place here,” High said. “It may sound silly, but we had that here in our community before and it helped a lot of people. People in the community miss it. Also, we have some ideas for some unique pieces that might be something that would draw people. We’re not depending on this for livable income, so we can really focus on meeting the needs of the people who walk in, whether it’s a gift or something else.”
High Hopes Gift Shop officially opened June 3, but is considering holding a grand opening when the summer heat subsides.
“We’re just kind of putting ourselves out there and Lord willing, people will stop in,” High said. “We’d like to become a community center for people to come visit, drink coffee, chat or seek guidance. We don’t know if that will happen; I think the Lord stirs that up and he stirred it up at Linda’s store because of her.”
High Hopes Gift Shop can be contacted by phone at (601) 441-0265 and on Facebook. While it is only open for three hours throughout the week, it will open its doors after hours by appointment.
“We’re only open from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. on weekdays, but we’ll open if someone calls and wants to come shop after hours any time they want to,” High concluded.
Pictured Above: Three friends, from left, Dianna Deaton High, Carol Magee and Anna Emel, run High Hopes Gift Shop in Bunker Hill. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
