HOW TO GO
Name: The Gift Gallery
Address: 1118 Central Ave., Middletown
Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Opens Friday, March 15.
Owners: David and Melody Gall
For years, David and Melody Gall’s friends told them to take their passion to the next level — to open a business.
But life got in the way, so the Galls sold their craft items at Barn-n-Bunk in Trenton and at weekend shows. Then last year, the Lakota School District eliminated its industrial arts program. Because David Gall taught woodworking and small engines, he was out of a job one year short of full retirement.
“It was now or never,” Melody Gall said.
Then she added: “It was now.”
Several months ago, the Galls subleased a 600-square-foot storefront from Design2 Wear2, a T-shirt and embroidery business owned by David Gall’s brother-in-law, Ron Meadows. And ever since, the Galls have spent every available minute renovating the business and stocking the shelves with homemade wooden furniture, floral arrangements and scented candles.
On Friday, March 15, their dreams will be realized when The Gift Gallery opens at 1118 Central Ave. David Gall said the craft business “fits in” with the rest of the businesses in the rejuvenated downtown, across the street from the Pendleton Art Center and down the street from BeauVerre Riordan Stained Glass Studio.
The Galls are lifelong teachers. She taught eighth-grade English for 20 years in New Lebanon and was the designated decorator for all school dances and relatives’ weddings. David also taught there for 20 years until the Dixie district cut its shop program. He took the job with Lakota, which lasted for nine years, when Lakota also cut its shop program.
Now they’re ready for their next careers.
They graduated from Edgewood High School in 1975, and from Miami University a few years later. They moved to Brookville, where they converted a 1890s farmhouse into their home. Melody calls the couple “visionaries.” She said where most people see dilapidation, they see potential.
When David lost his job, they considered opening a craft business in Madison, Ind., or Waynesville.
But because his parents and her mother live in Trenton and three of their six grandchildren live in Centerville, they decided to remain local. They were drawn downtown.
“We love history and both of us remember when downtown was thriving,” she said. As kids, they came downtown, she said, to watch “picture shows.”
Now she hopes they can be what draws people downtown. She refers to the business as “that pretty little shop on Central.”
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