Not sure if Swansea gets many tourists, but the Tickles Shop and Tea Room feels like a shop you might discover while on vacation: a fun, seaside themed boutique packed with nautical gifts, jewelry, and European soaps and lotions. Women’s cotton clothing and shoes, freshly made chocolates, and a cozy café with a no-nonsense menu of sandwiches and comfort food entrees like French Meat Pies, thickly cut quiche, and tomato bisque complete the quintessential New England menu. The friendly and helpful merchant in each department gives the shops an old-fashioned charm inside a fresh and bright setting with lots of nooks and crannies to browse. There’s even a sale room with clearance items from the prior season.
Enjoy a pot of tea and scones after lunch, or once you’ve shopped enough, have a fine dinner next door at The Aviary, also owned by the Tickles. This space, too, seems made for a resort locale, with its high ceilings, towering windows, and modern, gardenesque décor–all very stylish and welcoming.
Tickles Shop and Tea Room
2219 G.A.R. Highway (Route 6)
Swansea, MA 02777
Unfortunately Tickles closed in November 2018