Souvenir shopping in USA
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Maui Swap Meet
Skip the mall and head to this quintessential island scene where you buy direct from craftspeople and local farmers (admission 50¢). You'll not only find fresh organic Hana fruits, Kula veggies and homemade banana bread, but it's a fun place to souvenir shop for everything from Hawaiian quilts to Maui designed T's. This place glows with aloha and the prices are unbeatable.
reviewed
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B
M&M’s World
Dedicated to the famous candy, it sells a rainbow of candy colors, along with truckloads of souvenirs, plus a free 3-D movie shown upstairs.
reviewed
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Vermont Country Store
On the eastern side of the Green Mountains, Weston is another of Vermont’s pristine towns. Its common is graced with towering maples and a bandstand, and is home to an acclaimed summer theater. Weston also draws fans from far and wide to its famed Vermont Country Store, a time warp from a simpler era when goods were made to last, and quirky products with appeal (but not a mass-market appeal) had a home. Here you’ll discover taffeta slips, Tangee lipstick, three kinds of shoe stretchers with customizable bunion and corn knobs, personal care items and clothing. Some of the products have survived from past decades and many have become indispensable – once you’ve been intro…
reviewed
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C
Ye Olde Curiosity Shop
This landmark shop, on Pier 54, now has a lesser sibling, Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe Too – but never mind that. The original shop is where you’ll find cabinets of shrunken heads, piglets in jars and dried puffer fish – not for sale, of course, just for atmosphere. Also not for sale are the famous black diamond, Chief Seattle’s hat, a variety of stalagmites and ‘tites, and some pretty cool fortune-telling machines. The funniest souvenir available for purchase is a Mt St Helens ‘snowglobe’ – instead of snow, it has little gray particles meant to look like ash from the volcano’s eruption.
reviewed
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D
Log Cabin Gifts
This growing collection of restaurants, tour outfits and quirkier-than-average gift shops is fun; don't miss Log Cabin Gifts, Whittier's best stab at adorable. The knickknacks, including lots of high-quality leatherwork, are handmade by owner Brenda Tolman, but the reindeer outside - Elizabeth and Violet, the day we were there - are the real crowd pleasers. If it's wet out, though, you won't see them. Apparently, they don't like rain - which makes it tough to live in Whittier.
reviewed
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Bostonian Society Museum Shop
Run by the Boston Historical Society, the museum shop carries a good selection of souvenirs with an Americana theme: woven throws featuring flags, eagles and other all-American goodness; presidential prints; reproductions of Paul Revere’s depiction of the Boston Massacre; patriotic themed coffee mugs, etc. The cleverest souvenirs are in the food aisle: Boston Harbor Tea, Stars & Stripes pasta and other treats to enliven your next July 4th cook out.
reviewed
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F
Kimura Lauhala Shop
Three generations of Kimuras weave quality lauhala (pandana plant) products here, as they have since the 1930s. Originally, they purchased lauhala products from Hawaiian weavers and sold them at the family's general store. When demand increased they took on the production themselves. Don't fall prey to cheap imports - the lauhala hats, placemats, baskets, bags and floor mats sold here are the real deal.
reviewed
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Texas Junk Company
Head over to the Texas Junk Company where Robert’s been outfitting locals in preworn cowboy boots since before country got cool again? For three decades, this collection of Texas memorabilia and vintage ephemera has remained a Montrose fixture, where locals lounge outside with coffee and local advice. Be sure to call ahead in the summer months: Robert might be closed for remodeling…or off at Burning Man.
reviewed
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H
Mardi Gras Mask Market
The main point of Mardi Gras is to wear a mask. If you're unprepared for this, never fear, for an astounding selection of high quality handmade masks is available at the outdoor Mask Market. Artisans from around the country show their wares in stalls set up in Dutch Alley, behind the French Market, Sunday through Monday leading up to Mardi Gras. A live music stage is set up there too.
reviewed
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I
Wild West Denver Store
There‘s a mess of Western trinket stores along the upper Mall with nearly identical stock, but this is the brightest of the bunch. It‘s wall-to-wall knickknacks, key chains, kitty sweatshirts and all manner of stuff featuring wolves, buffalo and marginally PC depictions of Native Americans. Higher quality items include some moccasins and gold aspen leaf pendants.
reviewed
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City of Chicago Store
This city-run store is a mecca for those wise enough not to try to steal their own ‘official’ souvenirs. Cheerful city workers will sell you anything from a decommissioned city parking meter ($175) to street signs for famous local streets ($50). The usual array of Chicago books, shot glasses and pint-sized metal replicas of the city’s tallest buildings are also available.
reviewed
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Banyan Tree Gallery
The nonprofit collective Lahaina Arts Society represents more than 100 island artists at this extensive gallery. The works run the gamut from avant-garde paintings to traditional weavings. Many of Maui's best-known artists got their start here, and there are some gems among the collection, so it's a good place to start your browsing.
reviewed
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Antiques Centre at Kinzie Square
If you're after a priceless souvenir of the old USA, then this is your place. Twenty different dealers peddle high-end homewares, ceramics and art from the 18th and 19th centuries. Although very competitive price-wise, the high quality ensures that you won't come out of here without racking up some serious damage to your credit card.
reviewed
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M
White House Historical Association Gift Shop
Peruse a wide selection of books, videos, gifts, posters, Christmas ornaments, jewelry, postcards and educational materials, all on the theme of the big house across the square. This is the place to buy your dad a White House necktie. There is a similarly stocked store in the White House Visitors Center.
reviewed
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N
Made in Washington
If you’re looking for something authentically Northwest, head to Made in Washington. One of several locations around the city, it stocks arts and crafts, T-shirts, coffee and chocolate, smoked salmon, regional wines, books and handy creations like the ‘Bite of Washington’ gourmet-food gift basket.
reviewed
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O
Gargoyles, Grotesques & Chimera
'Goth boutique' seems like an oxymoron, but that's the most apt description of this dimly lit showroom of gloom and doom. Like the crypt of a medieval cathedral, the store carries a scary selection of gargoyles, sculpture and stained glass, much of which was salvaged from now-demolished churches.
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Ipu Hale Gallery
Next to the café, this gallery sells ipu(gourds) decoratively carved with gorgeous Hawaiian imagery in an ancient method unique to the Hawaiian island of Ni'ihau. Lost after the introduction of Western crockery, the art form was revived by a Big Island scholar just 15 years ago.
reviewed
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Q
El Rincón Trading Post
Even if you're not looking to buy anything, stop by El Rincón Trading Post to browse through the dusty museum of artifacts, an engaging jumble of Native American crafts, jewelry and Old West memorabilia. There's even a detailed discourse on the role of the peyote plant.
reviewed
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Hula Girl
Aloha-shirt aficionados will find a wide selection of quality, name-brand shirts (around US$40 to around US$130). Feel the silky soft Tori Richard line in cotton lawn (around US$70 to around US$75). Also sells women's dresses, jewelry, island-made ceramics, art prints and other souvenirs.
reviewed
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Sports World
This store across from Wrigley Field overflows with – that’s right, Sherlock – Cubs sportswear. It carries all shapes and sizes of jerseys, T-shirts, sweatshirts and ball caps, plus baby clothes and drink flasks. Surprisingly, the prices aren’t bad given the attraction-side location.
reviewed
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Shop at the Cultural Center
The Chicago Cultural Center’s shop is a stellar place for Chicago-oriented souvenirs, especially books by local authors. The Chicago Publishers Gallery is on-site at the center, and so many of the comics, history books, zines and poetry books displayed there are for sale here.
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Sea Wolf Art Studio
Housed in a log cabin is the gallery of Tresham Gregg, one of Haines' best-known indigenous artists. Gregg combines spiritism, animism and shamanism of Northwest Coast Indians to produce woodcarvings, totem poles, masks, bronze sculpture and talismanic silver jewelry.
reviewed
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Boston Pewter Company
This specialty shop is pretty much what the name says. Think tableware, picture frames and light fixtures, all crafted from the elegant metal. The collection is supplemented with other New England collectibles like scrimshaw, copper weather vanes and hand-blown glass.
reviewed
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Kaukini Gallery & Gift Shop
Just before the 14-mile marker, the hilltop Kaukini Gallery & Gift Shop has works by island artists, with watercolors, native-fiber baskets, pottery and much more. There's a soda machine here, too, and a good bird's-eye view of Kahakuloa village from the grounds.
reviewed
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Maui Crafts Guild
One of the island's best galleries, this collective of Maui artists and craftspeople sells everything from pottery and jewelry to handpainted silks and natural-fiber baskets. It's on the makai side of the road as you come into town from Kahului.
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