Shop on the Shore: Oropa By Ellen Wagner

Ever since its Earth Day opening in 2016, Oropa has aimed to provide eco-friendly and socially responsible products to Duxbury, Massachusetts.

“Oropa” comes from the Sanctuary of Oropa in Biella, Italy, a World Heritage UNESCO site in Northern Italy where owner Sandra Meiggs’ mother was born. Meiggs has been visiting the sanctuary her whole life, and 800,000 people make the pilgrimage annually.

“It’s a very magical space in the world, and I wanted to draw from that inspiration and create a little magic in Duxbury,” Meiggs said.

After doing voiceover work for years, Meiggs wanted to move from a solitary job in a studio to a job where she could be out interacting with people, and was inspired to create a magical place in town where people could meet and gather.

Meiggs discovered the retail location when a coffee shop closed in Duxbury Marketplace, so she first opened Oropa as a boutique and coffee shop. When the COVID pandemic began, she closed the coffee shop portion of her shop and focused solely on gifts.

“Although you can’t sit around and drink a cup of coffee in there anymore, I like to think of Oropa as the happy, welcoming store in town,” Meiggs said.

Located in a coastal community in Massachusetts on the South Shore, Meiggs looks for high-quality products that are environmentally friendly or support worthy causes such as ocean conservation, musicians, homelessness, LGBTQIA+ groups, animals and more.

“I think in general, people who come into Oropa want to support socially conscious products and companies,” Meiggs said. “They want to choose products that align with their morals and their values, which is great.”

She also focuses on finding products from local artists that align with her mission.

“I love supporting the local community and the talented people,” Meiggs said.

She looks to get Oropa involved in local festivals, sports teams and events as well to give back to the community. “All small businesses — not just Oropa — are a big part of donating to the local organizations in town,” Meiggs said.

Most of her customers are people who are proud to live in Duxbury or are visiting their hometown and want to bring something back with them. She likes to help them find what they are looking for and, a lot of times, they leave with a gift for themselves, too, she said.

Oropa sells a lot of custom items — think mugs, candles, apparel, stationery and jewelry — for Duxbury and other towns on the South Shore. Now that people are getting out again post-pandemic, customers are also looking to buy gifts for party hosts, teachers and others.

“They’re willing to spend the money on the handmade, high-quality products that you just can’t get anywhere else,” she said.

Rustic Marlin — one of the store’s top-selling brands — is a local company about 15 minutes from Oropa. She said Oropa has sold their products since the shop first opened. During COVID, Rustic Marlin started a “Signs of Hope” campaign during the pandemic and created kiosks to sell signs that people hung up around the South Shore in the shape of hearts or that read “hope.”

“It was a way to raise money for local businesses and keep us in business during the time when people couldn’t go into our store,” Meiggs said. “It was pretty incredible.”

Other local products are provided by Duxbury Candle Company, Saltery and Green Koala. One of her favorite products is Sea Bags of Maine, which are bags made of recycled sail cloth.

“It helps the ocean because it’s recycled sails, and we’re a beach community — so it’s a perfect fit,” she said.

Meiggs’ favorites also include Natalie Therese’s cork handbags and wallets, Pura Vida and Dune Jewelry, which she uses in her everyday life.

“That was something someone told me when I opened the store: ‘Buy what you love, and you can never go wrong,’” she said.

Meiggs is also part-owner of Kedamé, a gift box company located in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, that was created last year. Meiggs and two friends created the company after discussing the lack of local companies in Cape Cod, especially among gift box companies. Although Kedamé mainly does corporate gifting to boost Cape Cod’s economy year-round, the products are also sold at Oropa.

“It was the perfect add-on to Oropa,” Meiggs said.

Over her eight years in business, the shop has grown to offer more unique products.

As the winner of the Best Gift Shop on the South Shore twice — most recently in 2023 — Meiggs said she sees Oropa continuing on its current path with its staple products, while also keeping up with the trends.

“You don’t want to get stale,” she said. “You want your customers to come in and be like, ‘Wow.’”

She plans to keep the shop at its current size in order to provide a higher level of customer service. Meiggs also wants to keep the personal feel of Oropa, with its staff made up of friends and family.

“I’m also very grateful for my customers, who keep coming back and entrusting us to have what they need, even if they didn’t know they needed it,” she said.