Hi, I’m Barbara Gardner, owner of Barbie D’s Gifts. I opened my shop in July of 2000. That’s seven years of serving the public in New haven and the surrounding area. In 1999 I purchased and restored this building on Main Street that dates back to the early 1800’s. There is so much history here, Barbie D’s Gifts is the only wood building left in the downtown area. After the big fire of 1913 an ordinance was passed that all downtown buildings would be built of brick.

As a child growing up in New Haven, I remember this building as the Hutchins Store. They sold shoes, clothes, stoves, and appliances. Our family’s first TV came from the Hutchins Store. The Hutchins family, father and sons, owned the building for around 70 years. In earlier years, around 1905, it was the Redmond Building, before that the Ford Building, and in 1859 it was known as the Brown Store.