New Owner of The Old Town Shop adds a ‘Personal Touch’ as well as Pet Products

By Ben Herring

Alexandria, VA – The Old Town Shop is one of those heavenly little boutiques in the heart of Old Town that is so charming you simply have to stop in and browse—even when you haven’t anything to buy. But you probably will emerge with something. That’s just how it works.

And why not? In a world where tourists think nothing of dropping up to $35 for a souvenir T-shirt, or $65 for a sweatshirt, this compact dynamo at 104 South Union Street will amaze you.

You can still pick up an elegant Old Town t-shirt, emblazoned with regatta flags representative of Old Town’s seafaring heritage, for only $19.95, or choose from a selection of big, yummy tourist sweatshirts and hoodies starting at only $28. The Old Town Shop is also a place to purchase the Official 2025 White House Christmas Ornament.

“We have a lot of people who stop here just before they go back to the airport,” says store assistant Jane Weaver. “They say ‘We’ve been here for a week, and we just want to take a little bit of Alexandria home with us.’”

The shop also offers oodles of “regional books, unique apparel, housewares, keepsake ornaments, regionally made foods,” and “thoughtfully curated, locally inspired gifts,” as shown on its website.

“I retired about a year ago and moved to Old Town because I fell in love with its historical charm,” says new owner Dawn Davis, who purchased the shop in August from Valerie Lanieri.
“We live on Union Street and with the kids back in school, I got bored and I honestly came into Old Town just to meet people and get familiar with the area,” adds Davis, 43. “Valerie hired me and that’s how I started working here in March. I fell in love with it, and it doesn’t feel like a job,” she says, in contrast to a former career in the high-stress world of medical office management.

“I’m going to try a few new items and see how that goes—just bringing a little bit of my personal touch,” says Davis. One category is pet products. “This is such a dog-friendly community, so I’m getting things like little bandannas and dog treats and I’m also bringing in items for cats.”

You can order The Old Town Shop’s merchandise online these days—but it’s the in-person shopping experience that you will treasure the most, amid its comfy and historic stone walls, which is just one of the reasons it was voted a Zebra Reader’s Choice in 2024, an accolade it has earned numerous times since opening in 2017.

No matter what changes Davis brings to the store, however, you can count on this much to stay the same: “I definitely want to keep that Old Town Feel, and that’s one thing that absolutely will not change,” the new owner says emphatically.