Category Archives: Unique Shopping (stores with some personality)

Garden Sphere, Tacoma’s Organic Gardening Store

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Garden Sphere by Gexydaf

I’ve been meaning to stop at the Garden Sphere for ages and today I finally did! What a lovely welcoming place. As I wandered around one of the workers offered to help me and I mentioned that it was my first time there. She said they change out stock every couple of weeks, so there is usually something new to see and that if I wanted something they didn’t have, they’d get it for me. Wow. That’s nice.

While there I purchased a lavender plant, something with a purple flower, a package of sweet peas and a candle. I’m sure I’ll be back for more.

I think my favorite part was the chicks. There were three sizes of them and they were all darling! I could just sit and listen to their trilling, chirping noise for hours!

http://www.gardensphere.biz/

 

Tacoma Boys in Puyallup

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IMG_0180_edited-1 by Gexydaf

I’ve been wanting to see the newest Tacoma Boys, the one in the South Hill portion of Puyallup. It is much like its sister stores, the one on 6th Avenue in Tacoma and the other on Lakewood Drive in Lakewood. As always, they have excellent produce, a lovely assortment of specialty items and friendly staff.

http://www.tacomaboys.com/

Dave’s Meats & Produce

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Dave's Meats & Produce by Gexydaf
Dave’s Meats & Produce a photo by Gexydaf on Flickr.

I made a quick stop at Dave’s Meats & Produce just as they were closing up today and was impressed with what I saw. Fresh produce, wonderful looking meat and lovely flowers. I’ll be back!

1312 North I Street
Tacoma, WA 98403
(253) 280-9999

 

You Deserve a Treat at Great Northwest Popcorn

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Today I found myself back at the University of Washington Tacoma Branch and decided to celebrate finding an easy parking space with a treat. I had the chocolate dipped caramel and dear daughter went for the Monster Cookie (an Oreo dipped in caramel and then fudge). They owner was delightful and the candy selection was great. They also had ice cream and drinks. As befitting a store with the word popcorn in its name, they have an extensive variety of popcorn flavors including Bacon & Cheese, Cheddar, Caramel, Blue Raspberry, Butter Toffee, Butter Rum, Barbecue, Butterscotch, Cherry Vanilla, Chile Lime, Chipotle, English Toffee, Garlic & Parmesan, Green Apple, Honey Mustard, Hot ‘N Spicy, Hot-Cha-Cha, Huckleberry, Jalapeno Heat, Kettle Corn, Molasses, Peanut Butter, Peppermint, Pizza
Ragin Cajun, Ranch, Red Cinnamon, Red, White & Blue, Salt & Vinegar, Seattle Mix, Snickerdoodle, Sour Cream & Chives, South of the Border, Stuffed Potato, Tacoma Mix, Toasted Coconut, Tutti Frutti, White Cheddar, Root Beer Float, Dill Pickle, The Elvis Popcorn, 3 Star Thai, Berries & Cream, Caramel Apple, Chocolate Cocoa, Chocolate Caramel, Cookies & Cream, Cranberry Craving, Habanero Jelly, Peanut Butter Cup, S’Mores, Tiger Butter, Chocolate Coconut, Banana Nut, Caramel Almond, Coconut Cashew and Deluxe Caramel. That information is from there website.

Great Northwest Popcorn is located at 1948 Pacific Ave, Tacoma, WA, 98402-3110
www.greatnorthwestpopcorn.com/

A tasty way to eat healthy~

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The city of Tacoma is blessed to have Tacoma Boys as our homegrown produce stand and meat market. I have never been disappointed with anything I’ve purchased there and its one of the few places that when they tell me my total bill, I feel like I’ve gotten a good value.

http://www.tacomaboys.com/

The Center for Disease Control says “Almost Everyone Needs to Eat More Fruits and Vegetables”. By going to Tacoma Boys and buying fresh produce, often in season and local grown I am making the CDC happy and supporting my community. It makes me smile!

http://www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov/benefits/index.html

Powell’s City of Books

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With word that Borders Books is restructuring and one of my favorite smaller Seattle bookstores is closing, I wasn’t sure what to expect during my visit to Powell’s City of Books in Portland. I was pleased to see that it was very, very busy! Everywhere I looked there were folks perusing books.

Powell’s main store is located at 1005 W Burnside, Portland OR and is one of the world’s largest bookstores. The building contains 73,000 square feet of retail space and more than 3,000 people visit day. Their stores feature more than 1.5 million books, of which 65% are used (they buy 5,000 used books each day).

http://www.powells.com/

 

Freighthouse Art Gallery

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Originally uploaded by Gexydaf

The Art Gallery at Freighthouse Square has some lovely Northwest art. We have purchased several pieces here and appreciate that we can have some original art at a doable price. It is located on the upper level of Freighthouse Square beyond the food court. It is run as an artist cooperative and usually at least one of the artists is on site.

602 East 25th Street, Suite 60
253-383-9765

http://www.freighthousesquare.com/

http://www.freighthousesquare.com/Merchants/Freighthouse_Art_Gallery.html

Brown & Haley, Home of Almond Roca

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For Valentine’s Day I stopped at the Brown & Haley outlet at 110 East 26th Street, Tacoma, WA 98421 because my guy is fond of Almond Roca and he is always happy with a deal.  Actually, I already had his present, Night of the Living Trekies (see below) because nothing says love like zombies and Star Trek.

Brown & Haley has been in Tacoma incorporated in Tacoma in 1914. There most famous candy, Almond Roca, was invented in 1924.

Their website is https://www.brown-haley.com/index.php

Update: 3.12.2016 – Dear husband and I stopped in again (he still likes a deal!) and we learned that the outlet building was originally a ticket booth during the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. And Elvis was there! How cool is that? I added a picture of the plaque below.

image

 

Local Treasure, King’s Books

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King’s Books is a Tacoma treasure. It’s not the largest bookstore I’ve been in (that would have to be Powell’s in Portland), but they have a great eye towards purchasing, an inviting space and they have made themselves part of the community. King’s is located at 218 St Helens Ave Tacoma, WA 98402 and they are open every day from 11 to 7.

Today we went to the Artist Craft Fair and walked away with a darling pair of earrings, some pie on a stick and an interesting new book. But more importantly I walked away with the feeling that in my small little way I was supporting the local community.

Their website is here
http://www.kingsbookstore.com/

An article about the store can be found here
http://www.tacomaweekly.com/citylife/culture/kings_books_an_old_favorite_revamped/

As a side note, I just heard today that one of my other favorite bookstores in Seattle is closing because of the economy. It is so important to support quality local businesses!

 

Nature’s Resource Center

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I’d read about the new tenant at Freighthouse Square and since we were having dinner at Wendy’s Vietnamese, I thought I skip downstairs and check it out. Nature’s Resource Center’s website says “Here at NATURES RESOURCE CENTER we strive to meet your medical needs in a variety of ways including; providing educational service on cultivating one’s own personal herb plants, We also have an inventory of starts, hash, edibles, tinctures and the best medical herb nature has to offer. All consultations and services provided in a safe and professional setting. So stop suffering today and enjoy the greatest medical cannabis nature has to offer at Nature’s Resource Center!”

Their website is at http://nrc420.com/

And their address is at 602 East 25th Street, Suite #78

I wasn’t sure what I expected, but the storefront has dignity and an attractive waiting area. I purposefully didn’t photograph anyone coming or going, but they looked like everyday kind of folks. I understand that they sell medical marijuana (cannabis), but I personally don’t see it being a problem being next to a store specializing in legos.