Thinking in the box: Sudbury in a Box makes use of locally produced goods.

• Author: Myers, Ella
• Position: SUDBURY - Entrepreneur Emily Gillespie - Biography

Gift shopping can be a stressful experience, but Sudbury entrepreneur Emily Gillespie is hoping to make it a little more fun, and beneficial to the local economy at the same time. Gillespie's Sudbury in a Box builds themed gifts boxes filled with content from other local businesses. A "just add wine" box contains treats like chocolate and body products; "Northern girl" pairs scrunchies and jewelry with practical items like a fire starter and soap.

Born and raised in Sudbury, Gillespie has a background in business and marketing that took her to Edmonton for work for several years. While living there, Gillespie became interested in subscription boxes, boxes that are mailed to you with novelty items as a sort of gift to yourself, and ordered one for herself. She wasn't impressed.

"I was somewhat disappointed. A lot of it was coming from the states and from big corporations, and it didn't live up to its expectations," said Gillespie. "I started looking up Canadian boxes and I came across a few Canadian cities doing this."

"It got me on the ball to seeing if there was potential in Sudbury," said Gillespie. "I wanted to eventually move back home, so this was sort of an extra push."

Gillespie is a big supporter of the buy local movement and said that motivates her business.

"I'm trying to embrace a shop local mentality and, at the end of the day, who doesn't like getting a gift," said Gillespie. "I want Sudbury in a Box to come back and put money back into the community versus putting money into big corporations."

Gillespie moved back in May and has been hard at work ever since. She has found it allows her to work closely with local businesses, something she enjoyed in her earlier roles in marketing.

"I worked with local businesses out west and I really enjoyed hearing their stories," said Gillespie. She seeks out small businesses with interesting stories and tries to build a box around them when she can.

One of the unique products in the boxes is art by Sudbury watercolour and acrylic painter Julieanne Steedman.

Steedman spent her childhood years running around Manitoulin Island, soaking up the sun and nature, but her career as a teacher wound up taking her around the world to teach. When Steedman settled back in Sudbury, she...