AGAWAM – Despite not being able to physically open their doors, Cooper’s Gifts Apparel Home in Agawam found a way to continue to raise money and bring members of the community together amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kate Gourde, owner of Cooper’s, inherited the store from her parents, who opened the store on 161 Main St. 47 years ago. Gourde said each year the store typically does a trunk show, which allows customers to see and experience merchandise before purchasing. However, this year, with the coronavirus pandemic, the store was forced to shutter its doors and take the trunk show online.

Gourde said she hoped the store would open in time for the May 23 trunk show, however, “when it became apparent we wouldn’t be open it was disappointing.” She said it was at this time SCOUT, a retailer who specializes in patterned bags, accessories and coolers, announced that they would be shipping orders to customers for free. Gourde said this gave her the idea to do a virtual trunk show.

One of the benefits of a virtual trunk show, Gourde explained, was that she was able to keep her cost low with only having to purchase enough stock to show online, instead of enough to fill orders the day of the show. Additionally, Gourde said she thought she “could do live videos on Facebook, and talk about the patterns [and] styles, different occasion bags for gifting.”

With SCOUT having just released new patterns for the summer season, Gourde went ahead with the virtual show. “We put it out in an email, social media posts, put out a Facebook event,” she explained. The show, she said “came together like a charm,” with dozens of people watching and resulted in over 100 orders for the store.

“I’ve never had so many people watch a live Facebook. Orders started pouring in, phone and online orders coming in all day long, well over 100 orders,” she said, stating that the show went “better than I could have imagined.” She said those who spent $40 the day of the trunk show got a free mask with their order. Anyone who placed an order the day of the show, however, was entered to win raffle prizes.

Gourde said the show was so successful they kept it open until the next day so more people could place orders if they wanted. “Orders kept coming and coming and coming,” she said. After the show closed, Gourde said in total the store received “about 150 orders.”

“People [were] saying that they just wanted to support us,” she said.

Gourde said the virtual show was so successful they are considering hosting a second one, sometime around July 4. “It all came together, worked so well we’re talking about doing another one just before the Fourth of July,” she said. The second trunk show, she said, would be similar to the first one and have the same material from SCOUT available to order.

Gourde said the trunk show was “unprecedented” as SCOUT has never offered free shipping directly to customers before. This, she said, allowed orders to go out quickly and be delivered to people’s homes in a timely manner. “People had their orders in their hands within a week,” she explained.

Despite the show being “a little overwhelming” in the days following the show, Gourde said the show “worked out well” for everyone and she’s looking forward to potentially hosting another one in the future.

Cooper’s reopened their doors to the public on June 11 after Governor Charlie Baker announced the guidelines for retailers to open their doors during Phase Two. For store hours visit their Facebook page or call 786-7760. Orders can also be placed online at https://coopersgifts.com and picked up via curbside pickup.