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The most up to date information, pictures, and items can be found on our Facebook page by clicking here.
 Bittersweet Blessings is a country gift shop with a focus on primitive décor. We have worked hard to create a pleasant shopping experience that is tranquil, yet exciting. Our shop features homey displays of country comforts such as candles, stitcheries , homemade soaps, antiques, linens, garlands, lighting, stationery items, Gooseberry Patch books and Robert Rothschild dips, to name a few……..We carry a few different lines of pottery, some from New Hampshire and one from the Midwest. We pride ourselves in our efforts to carry locally made items and our displays are full of items from local artists whose abundant talents greatly enhance our shop. These items include primitive dolls, furniture, jellies, maple syrup, dip mixes, table runners, floral items, wooden signs, etc.
We are conveniently located in Chester, near the Derry/Chester line on Route 102, an easy to find, well-maintained state road abundant with farm stands, orchards, and beautiful scenery. We are half-way between exit 4 on Rte 93 and exit 5 on Rte. 101. Set back from the road with ample parking, our shop is surrounded by picturesque woods with a quiet stream running alongside the property and a split rail fence borders the driveway.
We (co-owners Michelle Stein and Barbara Stein (daughter-in-law & mother-in-law, respectively) have enjoyed frequenting local country gift shops for several years. We both absolutely enjoy the quest for just the right accent piece to complement our homes, and like nothing better than to pile into the car with Colby (born January, 2010), country store register in hand, and head out to visit a few shops.
Our love of country furnishings and décor (not to mention shopping!) has inspired us to embark on the adventure of opening our own country gift shop. After Barbara’s home-based pre-school closed (after 22 years!), we realized the classroom space could be converted to a shop. The transformation has been a lot of fun, exciting and a lot of hard work as well. It has been a family affair , with Michelle’s husband Mike doing the landscaping and site preparation and Barbara’s husband Lenny, helping with the electrical and plumbing details.
We derived our name, Bittersweet Blessings from Barbara’s minor obsession with bittersweet vine. She has enjoyed decorating her house with it over the years, and her grown sons (fondly?) remember her making them ride around the countryside snipping the vines in the fall, while hoping they weren’t trespassing on someone’s land. The word blessings in the name were integral to our philosophy of gratitude and gratefulness for the many wonderful blessings in our lives, mainly our families, our friends, our health and those little comforts that make us smile.
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