The town’s welcome, from the shops down the street.

Shopkeepers once made their own money.

In 1648 there wasn’t enough small change in England, so local shopkeepers minted their own tokens, good for trade at their shop. Thousands of different ones passed hand to hand in London alone. They were a handshake from the shop down the street.

The idea crossed the ocean. When coins ran short in America in the 1830s, merchants struck their own copper “Hard Times” tokens. For the next hundred years, general stores, bakeries and barbershops in small towns across the country handed out tokens stamped “Good for 5¢ in trade.” A token meant your local shop knew your name.

Town & Token brings that idea home: a welcome from the people who make your new town feel like home.