Probably the most significant is the "Made in Stroud" shop which opened in December 2000 in Kendrick Street. This is a non profit co-operative which invites local artists and craftsmen to display their work and encourages the use of materials which are low-impact on the environment.

The concept of creating unique, hand crafted goods as opposed to mass produced and mass marketed goods is an old one, looking back to William Morris and the Arts and Craft movement.

Stroud has a tradition of arts and crafts steeped in its history. It has an industrial past of textile production and design and it produced the famous Stroud Scarlet broad cloth.  This clothed the redcoat soldiers and made Stroud Scarlet the most famous colour in the world.