News & Events

From kangaroo jerky to a haunted bookshop, you’ll find that and much more at OMV!

There are five new establishments at Olde Mistick Village, a quaint 40-store shopping arena that boasts individualized businesses. You won’t find any chain stores in this sought-after venue that is always at 100 percent capacity.

The new additions comprise Beef Jerky Experience, which sells every type of jerky you could ever dream up; The Bees Knees, a unique boutique/mercantile shop; CROP, a full-service hair salon; Manufaktura, which boasts sustainable stoneware that lasts a lifetime, and Alice’s Haunted Little Book Shop, which is not your ordinary bookstore, it is much, much more.

Olde Mistick Village Property Manager Chris Regan said the infusion of new business is exciting. “Change is good. These new stores bring with them value that will please our visitors,” Regan said. “We are so proud of our stores that offer products and services you can’t find anywhere else. We welcome them to the family of Olde Mistick Village merchants.”

Shannon Hanrahan, co-owner of the full-service hair salon CROP, said that they decided to move from downtown Mystic in Februaryto OMV for many reasons. For one, the size of the new salon is triple the size of their old space. “We like how it’s family-friendly and dog friendly,” Hanrahan said. “And we LOVE that Joyce is very pro-woman business,” Hanrahan said, referring to Olde Mistick Village Founder and developer Joyce Olson Resnikoff, who still manages the village.

Resnikoff, who along with her twin brother Jerry Olson, built this major tourism venue, said when they started out 49 years ago, it was a difficult time for women in the workplace. “Women didn’t have a credit card in their name back then. They couldn’t get a loan without a male co-signer,” Resnikoff said. In the 1970s, Resnikoff was the only woman serving on the board of the southeastern Chamber of Commerce and the only woman on the board of the Bank of Mystic.

Shannon Rogers, inventory manager at Alice’s Haunted Little Bookstore, which opened on April 6, said that the store carries books that you won’t find in a “big box bookstore.”  From weird history cookbooks from the 1970s to old ghost stories and Gothic works by Edgar Allen Poe and others, the bookstore carries books for all ages. The atmosphere in the store has a Gothic feel. “The ambiance of the place is as if it were forgotten in time,” Rogers said.

Elle Englander, of Manufaktura, said that the store, which openedMay 7, specializes in Polish stoneware. She said that stoneware and pottery are both made of clay, but not all clay is the same, and hers is the type that lasts a lifetime and doesn’t chip. The items from Manufaktura are a “good representation of old European handcraft,” Englander said. “So many New England residents have European roots. Our products fit the area so well.”

Bethany Perkins, the owner of The Bees Knees, said the mercantile, which is expected to be open on May 13, will be like a general store, carrying sundry items, as well as jewelry, clothes, home décor, gift wrapping, and much more. “You will never know what you are going to find,” Perkins said. Perkins, who lived in Massachusetts growing up, would visit OMV as a teen and loves the idea of being back here now as an adult businesswoman. “I remember how much fun it was as a teen. There are so many activities here. It has really come alive.”

Cory Leggiero, owner of the Beef Jerky Experience, said his eclectic store is the type that you will not see in every mall in America. “We have wall-to-wall jerky, from mild to wild,” Leggiero said, of his store which is expected to open on Memorial Day weekend. “Old Mistick Village is a New England staple of unique things and we have a unique store. We felt it would really fit in with the vibe of Old Mistick Village,” Leggiero said. “We love the concept of Olde Mistick Village, and Mystic is a beautiful place.”