Last Saturday saw the Dovetail Artisans celebrate its 12th anniversary under the ownership of Elayne Aion. This, the great weather, and the free wine and cheese provided my wife and me with the perfect excuse to drop in for a visit.
Above: Current and former owners respectively, Elayne Aion and Donna Donohue together celebrating Elayne’s twelve years in operation.
The Dovetail offers an array of mostly hand-made gifts to a market more concerned with quality and value than mere cost. Popular items here, according to Elayne, are the jewelry, soaps, the scarves, and the pottery, but she told me that she sells a lot of greeting cards.
“People drive for miles just for the cards,” she says, and the selection is as eclectic as it is impressive. Your birthday boy, girl, man, or woman will not likely get a duplicate of anything you find here, nor will they be more delighted by a card from someone else.
As a guy, I have to admit to having a less-than-cozy relationship with the gift store than members of the fairer sex typically have. Should a female acquaintance ask me what to gift the man on her list, I tell her a man generally wants something that:
- plugs in
- lights up
- makes noise
- Bonus points for something that does all three and can make something happen over the horizon.
Looking around that day, I found myself the only guy in the place.
“On the days before Christmas and Valentine’s,” she reminds me, “this shop is filled with men looking for that ‘perfect gift’ for their significant other.”
So true! I realized. I too have found myself desperately seeking help on those occasions. A shop like the Dovetail has often rescued me from a fate worse than death — the what were you thinking? expression on my wife’s face.
Never mind dogs. Dovetail Artisans may truly be man’s best friend.
The Dovetail Artisans shop began as the Dovetail Forest, when it was opened 38 years ago by its original owner Donna Donohue, who also celebrated with Elayne last Saturday. The store is located at 105 E. Glenside Avenue in beautiful downtown Glenside. Find more information at the website here or call 215-887-2220.
We love walking the walkable communities, so GlensideLocal will take a stroll and present our readers with the people that give us all these great stores, restaurants, and other small businesses that make Glenside and Jenkintown such attractive places to live, work, and visit.