Category Archives: Stores and other places that sell you things

JC Penneys, Tacoma Mall

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8316724954_d2e45abab5_oDear daughter needed some professional clothing and I searched my brain on where to go. Finally I remembered how pleased I was that JC Penney made Ellen DeGeneres their spokes person and then stood by her when the One Million Moms group started complaining about her being gay. So, good job, JC Penney, you have our teeny tiny bit of disposable income. We went to the JC Penney at the Tacoma Mall. They had a good selection, a righteous after the holiday sale and pleasant and efficient sale people.

Dear daughter say that their mannequins  are too tiny and don’t reflect real women. But I think they are a pretty standard size for clothing stores in the US.

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Chirp & Co. in the Proctor District

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Chirp & Co. at 3808 North 26th Street, in Tacoma’s Proctor District has been around for 20 years. It’s main emphasis is on wild birds and it offers feeders, food, book and gift items around that theme. There is also a quality pet food selection. Really it has some unusual items and is reasonably price. I walked out with a darling little bird figurine for my window and three different suet square for about $12 altogether.

www.chirpandco.com/

 

Basic Goods

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Basic Goods is a around the corner at 1734 Pacific Avenue in Tacoma’s Museum District. I discovered it because I was out for the first time in a couple of days (darn cold) and went to pick up dear daughter. She begged for a Starbucks drink and I ran down the street in search of a new place.

Basic Goods’ space is about the size of a small garage. On their website they say that they “focus on curating a small collection of well designed, long lasting and useful merchandise”. Really, I liked everything they had from little notebooks to stamp sets to scarfs to thermoses. I picked up a sweet stocking stuffer for dear daughter. Much of their stock can be seen and ordered on their website http://www.basicgoodsco.com/

Santa loves the Aloha Oasis Hawaiian Store

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When Santa needs a break I’m sure he heads to the Aloha Oasis Hawaiian Store at 3011 Sixth Avenue, Tacoma. I stopped into after being stuck in the house for two days with a rotten cold. The store isn’t huge, but it is filled to the brim with all things Hawaiian including Hawaiian shirts, Christmas tree ornaments, candy, lotions, beach towels, bags, leis and trinkets. I left with chocolate covered macadamia nuts, dear husband’s favorite. The business has been going for nine years which is a great success in today’s economy!

Next to Nature Pet Food

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Next to Nature at 1624 Tacoma Avenue, Tacoma, is a splendid pet supply store with friendly helpful staff. Today we stopped by with our two pups and purchased some holiday treats. Our pups were thrilled that the store had cats, though the store cats sensibly wanted nothing to do with them. I hadn’t realized that there are two other Next to Nature locations, one in Edmonds and the other in Seattle.

Per Tacoma Public Library, the building was originally the Coast House Materials Property which was founded in 1900 by Frank McHugh. In part of the 1980s and the 1990s, it was a hardware store.  It closed in 1990. In 2001 Coast House Furnishings
opened and in July Next to Nature Pet Food opened.

http://www.next-to-nature.com/

The Basket Nook

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The Basket Nook at 1007 Martin Luther King, Tacoma, WA is one of the Hilltop’s oldest businesses. It was originally “The Launderette” Tacoma’s first laundry with
individual automatic machines. It opened in 1947. By 1949 the business had evolved into a Laundromat with baskets and eventually it became baskets with gifts and now is primarily gifts. The delightful owner said he had been there for 33 years come January. He must have started really young!

Anyway, I had always thought it was primarily baskets, but the store was full of interesting unique items. I bought a few items for my mom’s Christmas stocking.

 

Trader Joes in University Place

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I needed some things for a Secret Santa gift exchange and Trader Joe’s in Green Firs Village, University Place was the place to go. They do, after all, have the world’s greatest frozen food. I have often been to this Trader Joe’s and have never had a bad experience. I love their policy of providing a full refund if you don’t like a product.

Per Wikipedia, Trader Joe’s originated in 1958 as Pronto Market and in 1967 the name changed in Trader Joe’s and became more of a specialty grocery store with unusual products from around the world.

http://www.greenamerica.org/programs/responsibleshopper/industry/supermarkets.cfm

 

Sir-Amicks Mural

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A wonderful mural appeared on the side of the commercial building at 5441 South Sheridan this year. The lead artists were Kenji Stoll and Chris Jordan and the artist team included David Long, Yvette Simone, Chelsea O’Sullivan and Natalie Oswald. Sir-Amicks is the name of the ceramics business that occupies most of the building. The building was constructed in 1940 as a Safeway.

http://www.tacomaculture.org/arts/MuralsComplete.asp

  

 

Giardini Gifts in the Proctor District

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In December I try to make a point to go to local businesses and “Buy Local”. Today it was Giardini Gifts at 3815 N 26th St. in Tacoma’s Proctor District. The place was packed with unusual and good quality holiday gift ideas and very busy with shoppers. A youth band (the Salvation Army Band?) played in front of it. Dear daughter and I made a small donation. I did find an old photo from the Tacoma Public Library that showed the space as the Red & White Store in 1933. http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/buildings/bldg1image.asp?j=1&o=1&n=4027&i=9341#text

Update: Giardini Gifts closed after the holidays and Compass Rose opened in the summer of 2013.

Best Buy, Black Friday Eve

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Dear husband told me on Wednesday that folks were starting to line up at Best Buy at 2214 S 48th St, Tacoma, WA 98409. So today I took a breather from Thanksgiving preparations to drive past and check it out. There were seven tents, one truck with a generator and about 25 people. It was kind of difficult to tell since some of them were in their tents. I was expecting a party atmosphere, but those in line were pretty much just sitting or playing on their cell phones. I have to say that afterwards I was glad to go home and have a nice meal with the family. And I hope the people in line get the treasures that they are seeking.

And here is a bonus photo that more reflects the holiday to me.