Shopping In Wine Country

It’s been said that when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping. Unfortunately, around here a bad day or two could require the services of a moving truck and several stout fellows. Towns like St. Helena, Sonoma and Calistoga are a window-shopper’s paradise, conveniently laid out for aimless ambling and lazy afternoons of trying on shoes and nibbling chocolate. Happy discoveries at locally-owned shops like Baksheesh and Seasons of Sonoma are their own rewards. Meanwhile in Napa, shoppers get a little more serious, darting from street to street in a hunt for bargains and Wine Country treasures. Swirling around in a vintage skirt and pumps in front of the mirror, a girl could almost forget she’d just spent half a week’s salary in a single afternoon. Almost.

>>2006 Winners in the Shopping Category

Best Second Hand Store

Though certain spots may be threadbare or a hem coming undone, vintage clothing seems to have a special personality its more contemporary cousins lack. They’re clothes that have been loved for decades—maybe more—and are ready for a second life. Thumbing through the tight racks of clothing at Betty’s Girl Boutique its hard not to want to adopt a closet full of hats, scarves and gloves from a more genteel style era. The boutique mostly focuses on the clothing of the 40’s through the 60’s, with vintage Hermes scarves and couture along with the more mundane—housedresses, hatboxes and shoes—that are begging to be mixed and matched into a stunning new outfit with a little personality.

Best Specialty Gift Shop

Smelling good is never a bad thing—especially when you can identify and pronounce just about everything that’s in the bar of soap you’re using. The Napa Soap Company is a favorite local purveyor of the good smelling stuff, sourcing local materials like grape seed oil from local wineries and lavender from neighbors’ gardens. Even the honey in their “Honey, Please Pass the Soap” bar is lifted from cooperative Napa Valley bees. A local favorite: the Serious Chef’s Soap, a deodorizing, scrubby bar with grape seed oils, freshly ground coffee beans & peppermint & rosemary essential oil to make the food handling hands squeaky clean.

Best Gift Shop

Even the name means gift. Sonoma’s favorite specialty store for gift giving, Baksheesh (which translates from Persian to mean just that), focuses on importing goods from around the world…with a conscience. The store is focused exclusively on fair trade products, which means that they’re bought directly from local artisans for a fair price—helping craftspeople in developing countries make a living from their trade. The store also works with assistance groups, like the The Women’s Bean Project in Denver that helps poverty-stricken women to make a living.