About Ten Thousand Villages in Ann Arbor, MI

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Ten Thousand Villages in Ann Arbor, MI, is a fair trade retailer of artisan-crafted home decor, personal accessories and gift items from across the globe. Featuring products from more than 130 artisan groups in some 36 countries, we are part of a network of more than 145 retail outlets throughout the United States selling Ten Thousand Villages products.

As one of the world’s oldest and largest fair trade organizations, Ten Thousand Villages has spent more than 60 years cultivating trading relationships in which artisans receive a fair price for their work and consumers have access to distinctive handcrafted items. We seek to establish long-term buying relationships in places where skilled artisans are under- or unemployed, and in which they lack other opportunities for income. A founding member of the International Fair Trade Association (IFAT), Ten Thousand Villages sees fair trade as an alternative approach to conventional international trade.

Ten Thousand Villages of Huron Valley opened its doors on Main Street in Ann Arbor, Michigan in October, 2004, becoming the first Fair Trade, non-profit handicraft retail store in the city. The Ann Arbor store is proud to rank as one of the most successful stores in a chain of over 200 stores in the U.S. and Canada.

Come visit us at 303 South Main Street soon and enjoy the world music, fair trade coffee samples and upbeat atmosphere that attracts so many to our store. We can comfortably promise that you will find our unique, handcrafted, and reasonably priced merchandise a real ‘find’. Whether you are furnishing your home, looking for that perfect piece of jewelry, or buying a gift, let us help you discover the wonder of Ten Thousand Villages. We’d love to become your store of choice, as we have for so many other dedicated customers from near and afar.

Staff Profiles

Gerda learning the fine art of zari.

Assistant Manager, Ann Arbor

Each year Ten Thousand Villages plans Learning Tours to visit artisan partners where they live and work. These trips offer store staff an opportunity to interact with artisans, meet them face to face and to learn more about their craft and daily lives....... Remember that by purchasing their handicrafts you are directly enhancing the artisans ability to provide for their families.

The first Learning Tour of 2008 visited India and Nepal and Ann Arbor’s own Assistant Manager, Gerda Paschal was among the tour participants. She traveled to Dehli, India and Kathmandu, Nepal where they visited artisan groups whose handicrafts are sold in Ten Thousand Villages stores, including Asha Handicrafts, Palam Rural Craft, Noah's Ark Handicrafts, ACP, Mahaguthi, Sana Hastakala, and Kumbeshwar Trading.

The link below will let you read about their adventures from the Learning Tour to Inda and Nepal: journeys.tenthousandvillages.us/learning_tours/2008/india_nepal

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