Confed Centre craft emporium saying goodbye after 55 years

It could only be described as a treasure chest filled with untold stories and items you didn't know existed but now undeniably need.

Wind chimes made from delicate silver spoons hang from the ceiling. Jewelry created from the combined force of copper and electricity dangles on display racks. Colourful cards painted with P.E.I. landmarks like the famous Teacup Rock in Thunder Cove line the walls. 

"There's an interesting mix of products," said Sandra Jeffery, the manager of The Showcase Gift Shop. 

"We really do try to have something that you can't find everywhere."    

55 years of history

The Showcase opened back in 1965, as the Gallery Gift Shop run by the Friends of the Confederation Centre of the Arts Women's Committee. Ever since, it has served as a fundraiser for the Charlottetown cultural centre. 

Over the past 55 years, it has sold items ranging from wood-turned bowls to potato soap to bottles of Island sand and everything in between, much of it handcrafted in the Maritimes. 

Now, as the Confederation Centre undergoes a renovation to make way for a new lobby, the shop will be closing on Sept. 6. 

But not without a storewide 50-per-cent-off sale that had people lining up down the street earlier this week. 

"The Showcase is a special part of the centre and has been greatly appreciated by the community," Steve Bellamy, CEO of the Confederation Centre of the Arts, said in an emailed statement. 

"As we begin imagining a new retail operation for the centre, we will work hard to ensure it continues to serve our community with as much care and commitment as we've had for so many years."

'Not just a bar of soap'

Every display tells a story — like the colourful bars of soap neatly stacked in a small wooden box labelled, "Recovery is within reach."  

"It's not just a bar of soap," said Michael Steele, the office manager with Reach Foundation.

Sales of the soap contribute to initiatives to help Island youth recovering from mental health and addiction issues.

"It's the future of a young Islander who's trying to get out of a rough spot and to better themselves." 

Do a 180-degree spin and you'll be facing items from Seaclay Pottery, created by Jamie Germaine using a technique she learned in Italy almost 20 years ago.

"A lot of what I do has a lot of texture on the outside and [is] sort of reminiscent of the things you would find on the seashore," she said.

Walk around the corner and necklaces splashed with metal might tempt your curiosity — the works of Turquoise Trixie. 

"I use Island honeycomb, and if I go beachcombing, I use sea glass that I find," said Stephanie Howatt. She then submerges these items in a conductive solution before using electrical currents to cover them in copper. 

And no, she says with a laugh, "I never took chemistry."  

Other shelves have been scoured completely clean, a reminder of the people who stood in lines starting on Monday to ensure getting their hands on the original items they wanted to take home. 

"I thought, 'Well, we'll have some people off and on,'" said Jeffery. "I was really amazed at the response." 

'We are devastated'

News of The Showcase's closing follows word of two other local artisan venues also closing their doors. And that has dismayed the folks at the P.E.I. Crafts Council.

"It's been around forever and it features some of the best artists we have on the Island," executive director Ayelet Stewart said of The Showcase. "It's sad to see another location closing.

"We are devastated."  

Stewart said for some Island artisans, the closures hit especially hard. While many artists have managed to find ways of selling online, some members of the older generation have long depended on in-person sales. 

"This is what they rely on and it's a big loss every time a shop closes," she said. 

"The pieces have a lot of thought and workmanship and experience put into them and it's important to keep this tradition going and allow craft people to make a living."

Moving forward

It's the end of a chapter for The Showcase but the book isn't finished quite yet. According to Jeffery, some kind of new retail operation will open in the fall of 2021 when the renovations are finished. But she won't be behind the counter. 

She's retiring. 

"I've been here 34 years," she said, reminiscing over the actors who have walked through the gift shop over the decades ("like the man who played the innkeeper in the Anne of Green Gables movie — he was in one day and I thought: 'My gosh, that man looks familiar'"). 

"I think I'll be rather emotional that last day I walk out that door," Jeffery said. 

"But I'm ready for my new phase."

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