About Global Village Collection.

Global Village Collection is a Fair Trade, non-profit, volunteer staffed retail store featuring handcrafted items from around the globe! We are located in downtown Delaware, Ohio, at 37 N. Sandusky Street.

We have been promoting Fair Trade for over sixteen years. It all started in the 1980’s with some families at Asbury United Methodist Church who were interested in purchasing nativity sets that would help others. From there, and for several years, the effort gained momentum as a variety of items were ordered from SERRV International, a nonprofit organization with more 60 years supporting economic development of farmers and artisans. Also around this time, the Chaplain’s Office at Ohio Wesleyan University had been hosting the sale of UNICEF (United Nations Intenational Children’s Education Funds) greeting cards for the benefit of UNICEF directly. In the weeks before Christmas 1991, the two groups collaborated with the Ecumenical Youth Group of Delaware and its partner churches to open the first Fair Trade pilot store as a catalog showroom in the vacated mailroom of the former Memorial Union at Ohio Wesleyan.

The idea of a year-round store became a reality with the opening of the Global Village Collection. In November 1992, with the diligent work of over 200 volunteers, GVC opened a temporary store on West Winter Street in the current location of Bun’s. It was resoundingly supported by the community. The next year a permanent location was found at 37 N. Sandusky Street.

For more than 16 years, the Global Village Collection has witnessed to the value of Fair Trade and its mission to bring justice and hope to families in the world community. It is still a place to find distinctive items that do good, giving pleasure to the purchaser and honorable, life-sustaining work to the creative artisans.

In 2002, the Global Village Collection became a member of the Fair Trade Federation.