Global Village Collection

The GVC Story

Global Village Collection is a fair trade, charitable, volunteer-supported retail store featuring coffee, tea, chocolate and handcrafted items from around the world.

The idea of a year-round store became a reality with the first temporary retail establishment opening in November 1992. Ohio Wesleyan University and churches in the area were some of the founding partners. Then, as now, teams of volunteers were responsible for a good deal of the work needed to set up a store.

In 1993 a permanent location was found at 37 N. Sandusky Street. There the store remained—educating the community, selling merchandise, and supporting fair trade initiatives—until November 2011. At this time more volunteers, as well as store staff, relocated the store just down the street to 27 N. Sandusky, adjacent to Beehive Books.

The legacy and mission of Global Village Collection is twofold:

• We work hard to maintain a successful retail entity so that we can continue to provide impoverished framers and artisans from around the world with a fair income and safe working environments.
• Secondly, we provide educational programming to increase understanding regarding unfair trading practices, reasons fueling this injustice, and different ways informed consumers can make a difference in the lives of people around the world. These education efforts are consistent with the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Global Village is the only Fair Trade Certified fair-trade store in the state of Ohio. In addition to the retail operation, GVC now offers opportunities to travel to other locations around the state to set up temporary sales at churches, schools and other organizations.

Global Village is a federally recognized 501c3 non-profit charitable organization run by a volunteer board of directors. The mission is to:

1. Successfully operate a fair trade retail store, based on the principles of fair tradeto:
   1. Improve the economic welfare of people around the world
   2. Promote human dignity
   3. Preserve cultural diversity
2. Educate the community about the reality that we need to think globally and act locally
3. Encourage intergenerational interaction
4. Promote and support local organizations and individuals relating to the fair treatment of all people