Small Retail Business Spotlight: May 2026

Tell us the story of how your business started. What inspired you to open your doors?

My father and I started BenShot, our handcrafted glassware company, over 10 years ago in his garage in Wisconsin. My dad was a retired letter carrier, and BenShot originally began as a project to keep him busy during retirement.

What started as a small father-son idea quickly grew into something much bigger. Today, we employ a team of talented people right here in Wisconsin and navigate all the fun, challenging and rewarding parts of running an American manufacturing business together. As a tip of the hat to our roots, we fly a flag outside our glass workshop that is the same dimensions as the garage we started in.

BenShot creates handcrafted glassware with real objects embedded into the side of the glass, taking meaningful items from golf balls and fishing lures to musket balls and firefighter axes and turning them into functional art and gifts. Every glass is handmade in the USA, and every design is created with the idea that gifts should tell a story and create a connection.

What product or service are you most proud of right now and why?

Right now, we’re especially proud to be creating glasses for our nation’s 250th anniversary. We make products for the America 250 Official Store as well as commemorative designs for retailers and companies across the country.

Some of my favorite designs feature authentic musket balls embedded into the side of the glass. I love the idea of combining American craftsmanship and history into an American-made keepsake.

What’s something about running a small retail business that people might be surprised to learn?

From the outside, it looks like we are just selling glassware. In reality, we get to be part of some of the most meaningful moments in people’s lives like weddings, anniversaries, retirements and military homecomings.

One of my favorite parts of the job is talking directly with customers. My team teases me because I’ll answer the phone before anyone else just so I can chat with people. Last week, I spent nearly 20 minutes talking with an 84-year-old Vietnam veteran who was excited to give our glasses to the group of veterans he plays cards with every week. Moments like that remind me that we’re helping people celebrate connection, memories and shared experiences. In this digital time we live in, it's important for me to keep connected to the reason we started making gifts in the first place.

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