On The Road… Sweet Shopping in Denver

I <heart> Denver, Colorado. I just returned from a week-long snowboarding trip in the Colorado Mountains and was lucky enough to have at least one full day to explore the city of Denver. With its too cute boutiques to the old skool record stores and vintage shops with their familiar mildewey smell, Denver was overflowing with shopping awesomeness.

I explored a bunch of indie mom n’ pop shops that sold every from handmade aprons, to bags and accessories made by locals, and got to experience the cleanest and biggest Goodwill store I’ve ever seen. My day-long shopping journey took me from Colfax Ave. to the hip Highland area. Although I fell in love again and again with every place I went to, here are just a few of my favorites…

Starlet was the way-too-cute boutique that definitley brought out the girly-girl in me.

The fluffy decor and colorful yummy displays were really cool, and it had a nice selection of handmade items like bags, jewerly and wall decorations. The owner was a sweet lady who fit perfectly in her sweet store.

Even the store mascot Oliver was too-cute in his fleece coat.

This place is located in Highland on the main shopping/eating drag. With great prices on everything (I paid only 11 bucks(!) for an eco-friendly hand printed bag, and $3 for apple lip gloss in an apple-shaped container)… this place is great for present shopping.

The other two shops worth mentioning are owned by Matthew Brown and Jaime Jennings. The Fancy Tiger stores are a boutique and a craft store (located across the street from each other near Broadway and 1st). These two places are the epitome of good shopping for indie crafters and people who like unique finds.

I talked a bit with Matt at The Fancy Tiger Clothing store, and found out that about 40% of the items in the store were local, which totally rocks! This place has hip clothing, accessories, hand knits, and necklaces made from old typewritter letters… just to name a few items.

After eyeballing some of their thick knit scarves (above), which will be on my X-mas list (Scott, I hope you’re reading this), I made my way over to the Fancy Tiger Craft store. This place is a crafters’ dream…

tons of yarn, giant balls of wool, cutesy fabric, craft how-to kits, rubber and tree limbed-shapped buttons, stamps, books, and a classroom where you can learn to felt, sew, bookbind and more.

Fancy Tiger is an impressive indie feat, and I was blown away by the selection and thoughfulness that Matt and Jenny put into the stores. Both stores are welcoming and unpretentious, and the owners both know their stuff and support the Denver crafting community. They threw their first holiday craft market this past December, and are looking to do more this year. I might just have to go back to Denver within the year to check it out… Fancy Tiger Road Trip anyone?

If you’ve traveled the crafty road and can share you’re favorite spots to shop and hang in other cities, please let us know in the comment section!