Pleasant Surprise is a Rhody recreational shopping delight

For shopping that is anything but an errand, there is Pleasant Surprise. For nearly 40 years at Newport’s Brick Market Place and over a dozen on Thayer Street, this eclectic retail space has been providing unsuspecting patrons with everything they never knew they needed. Packed from top to bottom with neatly arranged displays, find quirky gifts, toys, chuckle-inducing greeting cards, home accessories, T-shirts, and much more. Owner Mark Goldrick describes the shop’s design sensibility as “a combination of the contemporary with the nostalgic,” and adds, “We are making a concerted effort to have each store have its own identity; however some [lines] are repeated but mixed with different products. Right now we are selling lots of planters, candles, and socks!”