We use to live about 10 minutes away and most of the shopping I did for grocery staples came from a bulk store there called E&S Sales.
Sometimes it was hard to find a place to park.
Further into the little town is a tourist shopper’s heaven. Blocks and blocks of shops that were once homes, more than 100 of them and most are family owned. Admittedly, most of my Christmas shopping was done there. The center focus of the shopping (not counting the acres of flea market that has been going strong since 1922),
was the Davis Mercantile & Hotel. It was home to a dozen businesses and several shops & restaurants. Sadly, two years ago it burned to the ground. Most people suspect arson, and to date the unsolved cause is still under investigation.
The town rallied and after most of the little shops shared space with the owners who lost most of their inventory, the decision to rebuild took shape. Today the Mercantile is back with more than the original tenants plus an added rooftop restaurant that overlooks the manicured Amish farmland.
Yesterday’s trip only consisted of the bulk foods store for the tons of spices and herbs I frequently use, and then lunch and shopping in Davis Mercantile only.
I loved the grand staircase in all its hand hewn glory.
That log is a 370+ year old Douglas Fir brought in on a special semi. The counter weights needed to balance it were so big and heavy, they were shipped on separate tractor trailers. Special harnesses were created to up-end it to its 50 ft height.
We visited some of the new shops and all of the old ones we remembered.
One of my favorites is a candle store. I love love love candles!
I purchased a soy candle that smells like green tea with a hint of roses and an electric little “hot plate” contraption so I can use it at work without “open flame”.
The quilts are always amazing, but I’ve never bought one. I have, however, bought the stuff to make my own.
I’ve actually made four, but I only kept one. Three were intended to be gifts and the last one is sort of a family history made from pieces of fabric from things that we’ve worn or used. Everything from MiniMe’s baby blankets to JL’s work shirts. We love it.
Another shop we had to visit was full of garden bling. JL really liked this little wishing well that kept filling a little bucket with water, and then dumping it out.
Mini’s favorite stop was the candy store. The big bushel baskets and wash tubs full of taffy stopped her dead in her tracks.
Of course we had to buy some. There were some with weird names, too! The black and white ones were simply called Holsteins.
I popped one in my mouth and made the most shocked facial expression I could muster and said to her, “Oh my god! They really do taste like cow!!” She is so gullible. That’s all I’ll say about that. JL found some of his much sought after cinnamon licorice.
He liked it, but ever since trying Cabela’s, I’ve become a cinnamon licorice snob.
We went up to the top floor for lunch, but it was raining so the outdoor part was closed off. While we ate, we had a pretty good view of the hand crafted carousel.
We all made sure to save room for a famous Jo Jo pretzel!
OK, I didn’t. But I did try a bite of the kid’s.
On to my favorite store, Simple Sounds. It’s a really great music store with everything you could imagine from thunder makers to toilet paper decorated with music notes.
I love all the banjos
And tambourines
And the lap harps you can try like this one:
I rocked out at “By the Light of the Silvery Moon”! Oh yes I did!
Here’s the “Chime Room”.
You are SUPPOSED to walk through with outstretched hands and move through every set. It’s always noisy there, and beautiful.
We bought a couple things that MiniMe wanted in her room for her walls and called it a day. We jumped in the van and ate taffy all the way home.
No comments:
Post a Comment