The Picket Fence: Family's 108-Year Entrepreneurial Legacy Continues

When Beth Wheeler opened her gift boutique, , in the '90s, she felt right at home at the Malvern location. Because she was at home.

Four generations of her family have lived and worked in the King Street building. Her grandfather, Anthony Venditti, opened a shoe repair store there around 1903. When he relocated his shop down the street, his wife, Laura, opened an Italian deli, serving homemade hoagies and ice cream.

Today, the store is a colorful trove of jewelry, handbags, glassware, pottery and apparel. There is an entire room dedicated to infants' and children’s gifts, toys and clothing. Two other rooms are filled with various collections of household items and kitchen decor.

Wheeler remembers visiting her grandmother and enjoying spaghetti dinners served in the little room that now contains her kitchen collections. Her mother continues to pitch in behind the counter on weekends, and her two teenage children have grown accustomed to checking in with mom there after school.

The store carries flower motifs in prints and vases, plus clocks, signs with engaging phrases, candles, dip mixes by Country Home Creations, jewelry by Atlantis and Sorrell, scarves and unique Nahui Ollin handbags.

In the “baby room,” Wheeler provides tidbits of information to shoppers about what celebrities have purchased for their little ones. The Bunnies by the Bay Original Cuddle Coat, for example, is reportedly a favorite of Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and Gwenyth Paltrow.

But her audience is more than women and children. Wheeler also provides help finding gifts for men who like the kitchen, and caters to corporate clients who want large quantities of wrapped gifts for company events.

One shopper, Nicola, spoke of the exceptional service she receives. She left the store once delighted with a dozen individually bagged gifts.

“There is always a lovely selection, which is reasonably priced,” she said.