It's hard to believe this time last year it was little more than a derelict suburban shopping centre.
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Aranda Shops has become a buzzing community, with cafe Two Before Ten moving in at the beginning of the year, and Bolt Bar following more recently.
Its newest addition is homewares store Meet Gather Collect.
Filled with pops of pastel, the light-filled space is packed with jewellery, bedding, prints, towels, ceramics and other homewares exclusively from Australian designers – just the place to know about as we enter Christmas shopping period.
It's the creation of husband and wife team Thea and Pete Bollington, who have just returned to Canberra after four years living interstate.
"We've been living in Melbourne so I came across a lot of beautiful products and always had a passion for lovely homewares," Thea said.
"My husband's a furniture maker. So we decided to just open a shop and bring it all back to Canberra," she said.
Meet Gather Collect takes up one of the final spare spaces in the Aranda shops building, with a yoga studio to open next door in the not-too-distant future. It joins cafe Two Before Ten and Bolt Bar, which sit upstairs.
