Amelia Houde got her first job scooping ice cream at Nana’s Ice Cream Parlor in Onset. Now over a decade later, Houde still works behind a counter in Onset, but this time it’s at a gift shop she owns.

Houde’s shop, called Tide & True, opened up on Onset Avenue in mid-June. 

A Wareham native, Houde graduated from Wareham High School in 2011 and now lives in Onset.

“I am from here,” Houde said. “I care about this community so I want to be the community’s place to come for gifts.”

The store stocks a wide variety of items like handmade soaps, hot sauce and jewelry. Houde said that this assortment was one of the reasons that she opened up a gift shop.

“I’ve always loved gift giving,” Houde said. “I also didn’t want to be pigeonholed to just one thing.”

Onset also doesn’t have a lot of retail stores like hers, she said.

“Our sleepy little town didn’t have that,” she said. “So I’ve really wanted to bring something like that here and create a unique experience.”

Houde said her store is more “personal” than a traditional retail store, selling items made by local artists and vendors.

One of her favorite items for sale is oyster shell jewelry, made from Massachusetts oysters by a Dartmouth-based artist. 

“I really love local vendors and supporting that aspect of it,” Houde said. “A lot of them don’t have stores they’re in, so it’s cool to be the store that they’re in.” 

According to Houde, shoppers are also delighted to find that her store is a new fixture in town. 

“There hasn’t been anything different in Onset in a while,” she said. 

Not only are new shoppers supportive of her store, but Houde’s family has also supported her business venture, she said. 

In addition to her husband and her mom, who have both helped with the store, Houde has two kids: Two-and-a-half year old Jude and 14-month-old Hunter.

“As they grow, my store grows and it’s just kind of a cool full circle thing,” she said.