ALEXANDRIA, VA – Today’s Cargo is open for business at 117 North Fairfax Street in Old Town, across from Market Square, practically where it started over 50 years ago.
The now famous jewelry and unique gift mecca started as a flea market stand in Alexandria’s Market Square in 1973 when a military wife named Gladys Irvin, with a love for jewelry, got bitten by the entrepreneurial bug. Because of her husband’s job, they had been stationed in Asia in the sixties and seventies, and while there, she shopped and collected. When she returned to Alexandria, she took a table at the market and started selling her interesting gold jewelry at great prices. Soon, she had repeat customers wanting more. So, she started importing. Hence the store’s name. Whatever was in the boxes that day was what she had for sale—today’s cargo was up for grabs.
She needed a store. The first digs were at 217 Cameron, but Gladys filled that up and needed more square footage, so she packed up her baubles and dragged her toys a block up the street to 315 Cameron, where the store lived until 2007.
The next move took Today’s Cargo to 1102 King, where a generation of Alexandrians grew to know the shop. An unexpected real estate upheaval put the business on the move again in 2023 to Crilley Warehouse at 218 N. Lee.
And now, 51 years later, the legacy continues, and the new Today’s Cargo is a pebble’s throw from the very spot in Market Square where Gladys, who died in 2019 at the age of 101, used to peddle her beloved gems.
The store is filled with pearls from China and Japan, Italian gold and sterling, German and Italian cameos, handmade pieces from Mexico and Thailand, Lithuanian amber, and unique gift items that range from scarves to gemstone soaps.
It’s also a one-stop shop for pearl and bead restringing, watch batteries, ring sizing, and all other jewelry repairs. Appraisals and ear-piercing are also available by appointment.
The current owners are Donna McIntyre, who has managed the shop since 1973, and Carla Clarke, who started at Today’s Cargo in 2008. Both are passionate about jewelry and keeping the business’s down-to-earth roots intact. “We really want our customers to feel comfortable here,” Donna told Zebra in 2023. “We turn the price tags face up so you can see them. You will never be intimidated here. We treat our customers like we would want to be treated.”
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story listed the year of Gladys Irvin’s death incorrectly. The error has been fixed.
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