Longtime Resident Stocks Boutique With Unique Items
This & That Gifts owner Nancy Cartolano just smiles when people stop in her store, thinking they’re coming for tea. Located in the former home of the Pickwick Society Tea Room, Cartolano still gets visitors who don’t know that Pickwick moved west down Kansas Street.
But that’s OK. She likes the foot traffic.
“I’ve only been open a few months, but it’s going good,” she said of her fledgling business, which she described as a unique gift shop that fits the charm of downtown historic Frankfort.
Cartolano, who has lived in the community for 24 years, said she loves to shop and decorate. She’d thought for a while about opening a gift boutique but was busy raising her kids. Then her kids grew up.
“My husband said, ‘Really, you want to jump into this now?’ But I thought if I didn’t do it now, I never would,” she said.
Cartolano opened her gift shop late this spring after two years of research and planning, attending trade shows, finding the perfect building and then renovating the inside. She also joined the Frankfort Chamber of Commerce and the Frankfort Historic Business Association at the same time, encouraged by the growth she saw in downtown Frankfort and the good working relationship between the chamber and the village.
