Walk in to this tiny shop on Main Street of Antigonish and you are in the midst of a treasure trove of locally made items that engage all your senses.

The Made in Nova Scotia Store is not your normal tourist shop.  Everything here is hand made by known crafts men and women, artisans, cooks and artists.

Maple Products, Jams and Jellies

Taste the jams and jellies with the flavors of Nova Scotia.  Enjoy the colors and feel of locally grown wool, hand knitted and woven shawls, mitts and sweaters.  Explore the exotic hand crafted candles and soaps with scents of lavender, pine, and unscented if that is your preference.  Marvel at the jewelry designed with local stones and beach glass with intricate designs in silver.   The choices go on and on – Mi’kmaq porcupine quill ear rings, leather moccasins; framed photos and gift cards; hand made quilts, beach stone lamps, wooden frames made from old barn wood.  Every corner has unique and local items.   You can find body products, blue berries, carved wooden salad servers made from Bird’s Eye Maple and even enjoy home made baked goods or buy free range eggs.

Anna DeCoste, the owner of The Made in Nova Scotia Store says “I had

Anna DaCoste, owner The Made in Nova Scotia Store

been doing crafts for years and really just wanted a place to display my own things.  I have a lot of contacts with arts people in the area and the idea just snowballed in a very short time to setup the shop”.

Visitors to the shop are primarily tourists and visitors to Antigonish who are looking for gifts or mementos.  They comment that they are so pleased to find a store where they can buy everything local and to easily find such a variety in one location. Everything is made locally and you can learn about the person who made it. There are author bio cards and Anna knows the artisans personally and can give details about who they are and their backgrounds.  This is so different from the regular “tourist shop” where items might come from China.   Everything is made locally by a known artisan.   Local people come in to browse and bring in their visitors as a convenient location to find a wide variety of gifts.

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The Made in Nova Scotia Store is located on the ground floor of a handsome clapboard house that was built in 1857 by Alexander MacDonald, “Sandy the Carpenter” and was originally owned by Master Mariner and Ship Owner, Captain Dan MacDonald who lived here with his household of 13 people.  It is one of the charming buildings on Main Street that gives an old world charm to the town.

The store is a boon to the artisans of the Antigonish and surrounding areas.  This one-stop outlet gives crafts people a wonderful place to display their works all year round.

Winter shot of The Made in Nova Scotia Store

How to find it: The Made in Nova Scotia Store, 324 Main St. Antigonish NS, Canada (across from Shoppers Drug Mart).  Browse the website for products and shipping information. 

Links for more information

• www.themadeinnovascotiastore.com
• Click to read more about the HISTORY of the building
• Nova Scotia – Book by David Orkin. Nova Scotia tells visitors where to eat the best smoked fish, find the most stunning beaches and pick the plumpest wild blueberries. Delving deeper than any other guide, it reveals the best of the province both on and off the beaten track.

Article and photos (c) Denise Davies.  For information on republishing please fill contact davies@eckova.com .