New Shop Showcasing Artisans Comes To Mill Street

A new shop with connections to existing Bristol Borough businesses held its grand opening last Saturday.

Artisan House, owned by Andrew and Karla Sloan, is the newest addition to Bristol’s Mill Street. The business runs on a similar model to the couple’s first Mill Street business, the Bristol Antiques Market. Different vendors will rent out space in the store where they can sell their own items. Where Bristol Antiques Market focuses on anything the sellers want to sell, Artisan House is focusing solely on handmade and artisan items.

The store at 327 Mill Street came together when the Sloans noticed the space sitting empty for awhile. One day, Karla got the idea to put something there and that concept became the Artisan House.

A lot of artists do not have a space to show off their work and items for sale. The goal of the new store is to give those artists a place to display their work. Artists from Bristol Borough, Levittown, Croydon and Philadelphia have spots in the store, Karla explained.

The shop holds a number of different types of art. Bird houses, bird feeders, paper artwork, woodworking, mugs, and glass artwork are just some of the media presented at the shop.

“It’s always nice, you know. you only have so much room in your house to house your art,” said Alice Kelly, who creates artwork out of paper.

The sentiment provided by the artists who are at the shop is that it is great to have a place where they can know their work is for sale.

“The community here helps a lot,” Karla said.

With the new businesses coming to Bristol and the potential for more people to come to town, new businesses are good for the entire community, Karla  said.

“We believe that the town does have a lot of potential, and we want to be a part of it,” Andrew said.

“This summer is going to be great for everyone,” Karla added.

Artisan House is at the top of Mill Street, in the building right next to the Bristol Antiques Market.