ORANGE — Fran and Mike Bates are combining their two retail businesses for simplicity’s sake and to ensure a more personal connection with their customers.

The Bates are closing Bates Crafters Gallery at 80 New Athol Road and moving its eclectic mix of merchandise next door inside Bates Down Under and Flea Market, which will hold a grand opening from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 11.

“This is where it all began,” Fran said this week. The crafters gallery started in Hillcrest Plaza at 90 New Athol Road in 2020 before moving the following year.

Bates Down Under and Flea Market opened in the summer of 2022 and got its name from the fact that it is accessible through a side door toward the back of the building. The Bates also own Over The Top Bakery in the plaza. The name is a reference to the bakery practically sitting on top of Bates Down Under.

“I’m excited because being down in this store, I don’t get to interact with all the crafters over there,” said Mike Bates. “Over the last year or so, we’ve brought in all these different crafters and I know them by name but not by sight. I’ve never even met some of these people because I’m just never there.

“It kind of puts our face back into it,” he added. “So, we’ll know everybody.”

Fran said she and her husband carry items from 74 craftspeople and vendors.

One of those vendors is Lorrie Bernard, who opened Amish Country Crafts at 990 South Main St. in Athol in June 2015 and moved into Bates Crafters Gallery in May 2023 after she and her husband sold their building.

“I think it’s going to be easier for customers to come to one spot,” she said.

Amish Country Crafts sells Amish-made items, including Kitchen Kettle Village products, signs, wall decor, furniture, timer candles and purses. Bernard, who originally owned the business with Mindy Powling, travels to Pennsylvania three or four times a year to purchase authentic products and bring them back to Massachusetts.

“We just like to offer something to everybody,” Mike Bates said about his store’s inventory, which includes a smorgasbord of items ranging from used furniture, DVDs and video games to lamps and trinkets linked to the history of Orange and Athol. There is also a backroom in which every item costs $1.

The new consolidated shop’s hours are Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Its Facebook page can be found at tinyurl.com/BatesCraftersGallery.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.