One thing to understand about Colonial Williamsburg is the naming of the buildings is not by…read morecoincidence. John Greenhow was a merchant that operated a store on Duke of Gloucester during colonial days. The history of the man is as important to me as the current day store which I do enjoy browsing. John Greenhow was born in England 1724. He has been described as enterprising for the day, a real go getter. He operated a three man eight ton Schooner named "The Robert" along the James River from Virginia to Philadelphia carrying butter, pork, peas and lard to Pennsylvania. His return trips to the Old Dominion brought back coffee, chocolate, flour, bread, skillets, soap and even furniture. Williamsburg was not his only store as he operated a second location in Richmond. Mr. Greenhow passed in 1787 and is buried close to his mercantile at Bruton Parish Church. His stone is visible to this day. The present day store instills some of the old past of products like soap and housewares among lots of other items that may, or may not have been carried in the shop like home decor, clothing and even wine that seemed logical for the colonial time. Visitors can also purchase, or rent period wear. I have shopped at this store dozens of times in the past 30 years. I seem to always find something for purchase. The last time it was a few bottles of Williamsburg Winery Wine. Other occasions it's been soap which is fantastic. During Summer months when mobbed it can be a tad crowded to navigate. Staff typically is not in the floor to assist, but is more than willing to help when asked. It's no fault of their own, it's CW's staffing needs adjusted during the height of tourism. The clerks working the store are super friendly and knowledgeable about their goods and the history of Greenhow. It's fun to throw them a question, or two about the old day store. I would recommend a visit to The Greenhow store when strolling down DOG.

I'm not a shopping person and sadly I've become not much of a CW person but if you're in CW and if…read moreyou're going to shop, the Greenhow Store is not a bad place to do it. My Yelp brother JD did a great job covering the history of the man who's name is on the building. I have nothing to add other than the current store is not one of the original 88 CW buildings but it was built on the site of the original and on land that Mr. Greenhow owned. Back in the day you could easily see the yard over at Bruton Parish but FWIW this is the final resting place for Mr. Greenhow: makinghistorynow.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/mr-greenhows-tomb-bruton-parish.png Usually I'm in here because I've got people in my family who love the soap balls that they sell here (maybe they have them in other stores but usually I find the bars everywhere - not the balls), the vanilla beans, the musket balls and a few other odds and sods. The other reason I like to shop here is because of the one "sales interpreter" who normally works here. When you walk in he's usually at the register on the left side. He's a taller older guy who wears small round wire rimmed glasses. He's the one guy in the store who usually will engage you in sort of a quasi-in character demeanor. He's hysterical and I always enjoy seeing him and I remind him of that whenever I'm there. While this store is normally very crowded on my most recent visit we walked in to find we had the whole place to ourselves. Three employees in there with just us. After a few minutes another couple came in but that's how dead it was on New Year's Day. One brief negative note regarding that visit. While there were three sales interpreters there. Cluelessly, there was also a supervisor/manager present who kept having a little meeting with the group over in the one corner out front even though they could see that I was at the register ready to go. Experiences like that are the types of reasons people say "Never Again" to CW. It's small but it also shows you a small spot of where management's focus truly is at. That singular visit aside, normally it's a decent experience here and it's always worth a visit to see what they have when on DOG Street.

Looking for unique gifts with a historic connection? This is the place to go. Most of the…read moremerchandise available in Colonial Williamsburg shops throughout the village is collected here, in one place, making shopping much easier. The book selection, naturally, is oriented to Virginia history and offers everything from baby board books to reproductions of historic recipe books. They also carry local Virginia mead, wine, honey, Christmas ornaments and much more. Staff are very friendly and helpful. Products are high quality and unique to Williamsburg, priced accordingly.

Colonial Williamsburg opened a small bookstore in Merchants Square a couple months ago. They offer…read morebooks for all ages. The shop is located on the second floor above J. McLaughlin and FatFace. You can find compelling biographies and other nonfiction work, as well as children's books set in the pre- and post- revolutionary time period. It's the perfect shop to find a gift for the history lover!

Super cool place. Lots of treasures. Everyday books for good prices and rare books. Love this place.read more

This shop is a gem. If you're into thrifting or looking for…read morea gift for someone, you'll find something in there. One of the people I was with got prints of old planes as a gift for her husband, who loves them and I picked up some cute pins to add to my collection. It does get busy and crowded inside due to the amount of items and people wanting to stop and observe their findings.

This is a great little shopped tucked in the beautiful historic Colonial Williamsburg, VA area…read more It's a small, cozy and adorable small shop with a big heart and helping hands and a FREE Museum too!! The staff were very friendly, welcoming and helpful! I had the pleasure of unexpectedly meeting and speaking with John Fogarty, Burton Parish Church Comptroller, who readily gave me some insight on some of the items displayed in the museum and made me excited to visit their Church too. You are sure to find something unique in this store and the profits are used to do great work for communities. YES!!! I do recommend them to my family, friends, friends or friends and, NOW, the World too!!

While we have been to Bruton Parish church many times, (it's my favorite thing on DOG Street by…read morefar) currently the church is closed for tourist visitation due to the installation of their new organ. With that in mind I figured I would finally make the big one block walk down to the gift shop to see what they've got shakin'. The scene would best be described as part hospital gift shop meets a Hallmark store for the 70 and over crowd. So many little trinkets and nick-knacks everywhere. Also noteworthy is that while the shop has an excellent mission, the prices here are very steep. Deals you will not find and some of the clothing that they're selling has never been seen in public since the Golden Girls was cancelled. Dorthy Zbornak would have had a field day in here. In the back of the building is a small chapel which is very respectfully laid out even if it was odd walking by tables of "discounted" Christmas things right by the entrance. I bought my obligatory Bruton Parish fridge magnet ($7!) and had a nice talk with the one volunteer at the register about the current organ project and a few rumored things happening in the near future. She was really a great ambassador for their brand and truly showed that this is a living-breathing-vibrant Episcopal church. I'm not really a retail person so I doubt I'll be back but if you are into trinkets or curiosities then this place might be for you and at the least it's worth the short trip away from the CW buildings on DOG Street.

Quaint little shop with a large selection of postcards and other template letters (e.g. Thank You,…read moreBirthday, Get Well, Inspiration, et cetera letters) as well as other small antiques and gifts. Naturally most of their cards are based on Williamsburg and W&M so it is a great place to pick something up when visiting to send back to family and friends. Only small gripe is that the cards are somewhat on the expensive side , but definitely very unique.

Nice, rustic antiques at this Williamsburg shop. We found quilts and others textiles, brass and…read moreglass, mirrors and lamps, colonial furniture and clocks, tea cups and teapots, and more! This was a lovely store but most items were expensively priced. The lady at the front greeted us warmly and asked where we were from. I'd come back to browse, hoping I'll find a deal!

Great antiques shop in Toano, VA. Wonderful assortment of period antiques in a friendly atmosphere.read more

Family owned business thats been in Merchant Square since 1919!. Has a lovely selection of anything…read moreWillamsburg inside the store. Lots of great discounted clothing as well.

A store full of trinkets, souvenirs and gifts. They have just about anything. The staff was…read morefriendly when we were shopping. They had a lot of educational items especially in regards to presidents. They had shirts, sweaters ect. Lots of typos as well Pricing was reasonable especially for being in Williamsburg.

This was an uneventful shop for me. The street level store offers some retail items such as books…read moreand stationary. Often CW staff hang out at a bench in front that has a community board. Cool factor is that it is a functioning U.S. Post Office. Customers can mail and have letters cancelled with a reproduction Williamsburg postmark. They also have quill pens available for purchase to give your correspondence a old time look. The real action is on ground level where the printing press is located. They do provide a talk and demo of how they printed papers in the 18th Century. My rating reflects this shop.