Gillian Zabaneh moved to Placencia in October, 2000. Shortly after moving to Placencia, she started working at Paradise Vacation Hotel and slowly started to put small gift shop items in the office. After three years, Gillian started contemplating the idea of opening a gift shop separate from the hotel. Placencia was growing and she thought the time was right to follow through with that idea.

She spoke to her aunt, Karen Roe, who was already in the gift shop business in Belize City and after a little bit of brainstorming, they decided to go into business together. Soon after, Sunova Beach Gift Shop was being constructed on the sidewalk in Placencia Village and finally opened its doors on March 13, 2003. It was a small white and yellow building that was stocked with small souvenirs and a few t-shirts. After a couple of years, they decided the gift shop needed some changes. Some minor renovations were made and a lot of bright colors were added. Not only were they selling small souvenirs, but they branched out selling other items such as jewellery and beachwear. That was fine for a couple more years, but with all of the new items they were carrying, they needed more space. So, the gift shop was expanded with an addition over half the size of the original building.

Today, Sunova Beach Gift Shop carries all sorts of items such as a variety of Belizean souvenirs, beachwear, jewellery, DVDs and CDs, home decor, Belizean literature, and the list goes on. Karen and Gillian are once again thinking of expanding the business a bit selling an even wider variety of souvenirs as well as expanding their line of beachwear. Sunova Beach Gift Shop offers a 15% discount to BTIA members and every Tuesday is 10% Tuesday, with discounts throughout the entire store. It is located on the sidewalk behind the Tipsy Tuna and is open Mondays – Saturdays, 8:00 a.m. – noon and 2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.