Beloved Burlington Craft Store "Made in Burlington" to Close, Founder Promises Return

The founder of local-made craft store and maker space, Made in Burlington, Laurena Smith, announced yesterday that the store will be closing on June 21. The store, which opened after a successful outdoor local crafts market during the COVID-19 Pandemic, was only intended to be around for a short time but quickly became a fixture of the community — a place where people could get their holiday, teacher appreciation, and baby shower gifts, take classes, hold events, and more.

"We started as a two-month pop-up...and it has been three and a half years of you guys showing up," Smith said in a Facebook Live announcement yesterday, "and we want to keep showing up for you."

Smith assured the community that this is not the end for the store, which relocated just a few months ago from Wayside Shopping Center to Burlington Square. She said they're already looking into what the next iteration of Made in Burlington will be — but whatever that is, it will be after the team has had the summer to regroup.

The store has to close, Smith said, because the owner of the property is planning to combine the space with an adjacent space. This news came unexpectedly, less than three months after an all-hands-on-deck move, though Smith expressed relief as she was bracing herself for the compounded toll of rising costs and economic uncertainty plus the less-busy summer season.

"This is not good-bye," Smith promised.

The store will continue to hold classes for a few more weeks and expects to hold sales as well. They'll be open through the end of the school year and Father's Day so community members can continue to purchase locally-made gifts for the important people in their lives.