Richard’s is Reborn on London Street

-By John Lynds

There was a time not so long ago when Richard’s Gift Shop, first on Bennington and later on London Street, was the place that many East Bostonians frequented as a one stop shopping mecca for novelties and gifts for occasions like Christenings, weddings and anniversaries.

Now, after being closed for the better part of a decade, the grandson of the former owner, Rick Decristoforo, has reopened the shop at 225 London Street as 3 Sons Sports and Anything Else.

“We’ve been open for about three years now,” said Decristoforo. “I started as a sports memorabilia store and it sort of grew into what you see today.”

Aside from sports memorabilia like autographed pictures, cards and posters of famed sports heroes, 3 Sons now has a wide array of hard to find memorabilia, electronics and gifts.

“We have a little bit of everything,” said Decristoforo. “I would say it is more of a novelty store now like it was when my grandfather ran the business.”

Since opening his doors in 2009, Decristoforo has attracted a loyal following of customers looking for collector’s items like sports trading cards, autographs as well as out of print video games for old-school systems like Nintendo and Sega.

“There are days when its quite and days like Saturdays when you can’t even get into the store,” said Decristoforo. “Kids love the store because they can come in and rummage around for something they like.”

However, Decristoforo admits a lot of work still needs to be done at the store to get it into the shape he wants.

“I’d like to clean it up, better organize the inventory, get better display cases and eventually get a nice sign for the front,” said Decristoforo. “We are one of the last stores around of its kind so I want to make it work.”

3 Sons’ inventory is constantly rotating as old stuff sells and new stuff arrives.

“A lot of times it goes pretty quick,” said Decristoforo. “Sometimes people will come in and ask ‘do you still have that autographed Larry Bird picture?’ or ‘do you still have that old Nintendo game?’. I tell people if you see something you like you better grab it because you never know when it’s going to sell.”

 

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