Gather Gift Shop in Raleigh, North Carolina

Gather is an online shop (open by appointment only), a shared private office space with 7 offices, an event venue and a classroom space run by owner Michelle Smith in downtown Cary, North Carolina.

Our mission is to help others discover and create a beautiful inspired life through curated experiences, community, conversation and design. You can shop our online shop 24/7 at www.gathergoodsco.com and shop in person at our studio showroom by emailing us at info@gathernc.com to set up an appointment.

We host craft and business classes 3 times a month and you can find our updated schedule here. In addition, to our private office spaces, we also offer a once a month "community coworking" where the public can work and interact with the space.

Our event space & large backyard patio is suitable for baby showers, birthday parties, family reunions and other intimate gatherings. We post most regularly on instagram and you can find us at www.instagram.com/GatherGoodsCo

SHOP

The majority of goods carried in the online shop at Gather are made by micro artisan / maker entrepreneurs meaning goods made by emerging business owners who hand-craft or manufacture their goods in small quantities. Gather’s owner Michelle is herself a maker entrepreneur who specializes in textiles, and home goods. Michelle’s goal is to elevate the work of these makers so that Gather’s customers appreciate the value of the product they are purchasing and the time and care that went into the making of each piece.

LEARN & INSPIRE

Gather started out as a hybrid space that encompassed a brick and mortar shop, a coffee & tea shop, a classroom space and a female-focused coworking space in downtown Cary. We operated at of our initial space in downtown Cary for two years before transitioning to a micro shop in the Person Street area of Raleigh for another year. After some health issues, owner Michelle decided to "pause" the business and take a personal sabbatical for a year. That time off allowed her to clarify her vision for Gather and focus on the elements that truly felt most sustainable. After that year long break Michelle re-opened a modified version of Gather back in downtown Cary where it all began in a new but nearby space. The new version is only open by appointment only, but still an online shop, classroom and coworking space.

In these 4-5 years Gather has been in business we have hosted hundreds of craft and business classes to thousands of students, creating an additional platform and revenue stream for local makers and entrepreneurs, many of whom are the instructors for our classes. The classes also create a great forum for informal networking, community and friendship in real life versus on the computer or phone screen.

WORK

Gather strives to elevate the work of local and national artisans and creates ways to share their stories and their process through photography, video, spotlights, and selling their wares through Gather’s physical and online storefronts.

In addition to being an online shop and a classroom Gather is a thriving coworking space that features seven, almost exclusively, female entrepreneurs, who utilize the space as their individual offices.

 

COMMUNITY

Gather is passionate about helping maker entrepreneurs succeed and has hosted monthly guided meet-ups dedicated to creating community through shared resources and conversation. We are also working on a podcast to be launched soon giving further audience to these conversations that target this specific niche.

BACKGROUND

Passionate about promoting emerging artisan entrepreneurs, community and revitalization Gather owner Michelle Smith founded The Rock & Shop Market in 2004. The event which was one of the first of this type of market in the country, was an annual event featuring over 100 juried makers alongside bands, Djs and food trucks and attended by 1000+ buyers per event. She has also created pop-up shops, merchandised unused store fronts, and founded indieNC, a blog dedicated to promoting inspiring and creative happenings in North Carolina. She also served as the creative director of the short-lived, but inspired non-profit retail incubator, Kindred in downtown Raleigh.

A maker entrepreneur and commercial artist herself, Michelle creates textiles, home wares and gift products under the name Gather Goods. She also works as a professional stylist and photographer. Her work has been featured in Real Simple, Southern Living, Design*Sponge, West Elm, Anthropologie and more.