Unique and Unusual Stores Across America

Mourning Star fills a suite inside Tucson's historic Brings property with oddities, handmade art, preserved specimens, jewelry, candles, small curiosities, and work from a rotating community of local artists.

Old Wethersfield Country Store takes the classic neighborhood general-store idea seriously, mixing sweets and local foods with kitchen supplies, home goods, self-care products, books, games, toys, drinks, and work from local makers.

Owl Drug Store combines a current independent pharmacy, gift boutique and century-old soda-fountain tradition under one downtown Coleman roof.

Rockin' Rudy's behaves less like a record shop with gifts than an alternative department store whose departments seem to have been selected by curiosity rather than conventional retail logic.

Seaside Country Store behaves like six shops under one roof, moving from a homemade-food room and candy counter into bath goods, gifts, fashion, nautical collectibles, home décor, sports memorabilia, and permanent Christmas and seasonal departments.

Shaddow Domain grew from a tiny goth shop into an Idaho Falls collision of metaphysical supplies, preserved specimens, books, art, apparel, games, household goods, oddities and its own small museum.

She Comes in Peace combines a fantasy and science-fiction costume shop with a creative-color hair salon, handmade statement pieces and a highly theatrical interior.

Soap Plant / WACKO grew from a 1971 family soap-and-craft shop into a sprawling pop-culture emporium and gallery complex, mixing handmade bath products with toys, books, jewelry, housewares, collectibles, strange gifts, and La Luz de Jesus Gallery.

The Junkman's Daughter turns a Little Five Points storefront into a sprawling alternative-retail mix of fashion, footwear, accessories, pop-culture merchandise, divination goods, books, toys, décor, candles and strange gifts.

The Little Traveler turns a historic Geneva residence into a 36-room retail maze of fashion, food, toys, home goods, gifts, fair-trade merchandise and dining.

The Shops at Emerson combine a broad cluster of specialty departments with a separate admission-based kaleidoscope show housed in a towering former silo.

Waiāhole Poi Factory Country Store adds a local-artisan marketplace to one of Oʻahu's most historic food destinations, filling the old Waiāhole Valley property with apparel, beauty goods, home pieces, quilts, art, ceramics, stationery, snacks and locally made gifts.