Shopping can be more than just buying an item or two; it can be delightful browsing, filling your senses with colors, textures and aromas. Some boutiques focus on elaborate displays that spark the imagination, or some stores create a labyrinth-like experience where you wander from room-to-room immersed in a wonderland of beautiful things.
Here are a few magical shopping destinations that offer that extra special immersive experience for the senses.
Down To Earth, Home, Garden & Gift
This warehouse mercantile showcases everything from kitchenware to garden plants spread out through a voluminous converted warehouse in downtown Eugene. With a combination of rough wood plank and concrete floors, low and high ceilings, and numerous goods, this high-end home and garden store is a popular treasure trove. Down to Earth features bright and vibrant merchandise of all shapes and sizes, perfect for gift giving — but be cautious or you may end up with new culinary cookware designed for a complex dish you've never made before; or ambitious plans to turn your front lawn into a bountiful vegetable garden by spring. Beautiful dreams come easily here.
Smith Family Bookstore
You can lose yourself between the floor to ceiling aisles of books, or between the pages of a good book. With thousands of volumes of new and used books to browse, cruising among the six rooms of stacks can make a delightful afternoon for a bookworm. The Smith Family Bookstore is one of the oldest independent bookstores in Oregon, first opened 1974, and now occupies an historic building in downtown Eugene.
5th Street Public Market
A gorgeous, rambling, indoor and outdoor marketplace is a labyrinth of unexpected courtyards and fantastic boutiques. Formerly a poultry factory, this historic building has been remade into an experiential getaway ideal for rainy days. Coffee in hand, meander the staircases up and down from posh clothing stores to provincial eateries. The 5th Street Public Market has a large upstairs food court overlooking the railroad tracks and a European-style market with coffee shop, wine bar, flower shop, grocery and housewares on the ground floor. A new addition, Market Alley, now expands the shopping experience over an adjacent block.
Farmfancy
Open the door to Farmfancy in Coburg and you will stumble upon your dream shabby chic and rustic glam living room. Always immaculately decorated for the season, this sprawling boutique often highlights local products, a full floral bar, and outside garden offerings. Coburg itself is an antique shopping destination with cool stores tucked into historic buildings around town — but any Coburg visit is not complete without perusing this interior decorators' country living paradise.
Saturday Market
You haven't had a Eugene shopping experience if you haven't shopped the Saturday Market. Outdoors every week except during the holidays (when it moves indoors), the Saturday Market is a kaleidoscope of color, movement, music and delights. Not only are the artisan booths hung with eye-catching collections, the market's patrons are just as fun to watch. Wander among the shoppers, listen to local musicians, munch on sweet and spicy wholesome foods from the food carts, and come home with a toe ring, a pottery mug or rainbow scarf.
Mountain Rose Aroma Bar
A tiny, sleek storefront at Market Alley, but a bouquet of adventure for your nose! The Mountain Rose Aroma Bar is an immersive experience as you explore an array of essential oils and scented products. Scents transport you to past places in time, or can transform your present mood — so choose your own adventure among the fragrances.
Vintage Industry
This antique wonderland off Main Street in Springfield is an amazing display of collectibles. Vintage Industry transports you to another time and place where you can walk down memory lane. The sprawling layout features many rooms, nooks and even upstairs. From vintage clothing to bygone trinkets and antique furnishings, there are discoveries around every corner. Come during the winter holidays for elaborate Christmas staging. A deluxe coffee and cocoa bar inside makes shopping for that special accent piece or a nostalgic butter dish all the more pleasurable.
Hirons Pharmacy
Not your average drug store, Hirons Pharmacy is a maze of gifts and trinkets tightly packed. Artful displays are non-existent or limited to the front of the store, but the rows of merchandise are stunning in their sheer amount and diversity, so that you could poke around here for hours. But don't plan on picking anything up quickly other than your prescription, there are too many quirky things to sift through. Moving slowly is how to shop this store. They have two locations, one bordering mid-town and South Eugene and the other near the University District.
More Shopping Destinations
Depending on your interests, a look into Eugene Running Company or Nike turns up a plethora of current running gear combined with running memorabilia. Or ducking into Wild Birds Unlimited, will be a fanciful delight for birders. Find delightful shopping "experiences" in our region's boutiques or in the larger shopping districts.
Discover wonderful shopping districts with unique boutiques and malls with nationally-known stores. Shopping…
Author
Taj Barnhart Morgan
Taj Barnhart Morgan is the Director of Content Strategy for Travel Lane County. A journalism graduate from the University of Oregon, Taj has two decades of special event management and hospitality marketing experience in San Diego, CA and Maui, HI. Passionate about mothering, and back to her Oregon roots, she is discovering the Eugene, Cascades & Coast region all over again through the eyes of her daughter.
