Comments (0) Best Multicultural Shopping Experience - 2010
The House of Rice Store
3221 N. Hayden Road
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
480-947-6698
We ambled up to the counter at the House of Rice, tossed our Dutch cookies and "grow a Buddha" toy on the counter and asked a question that poor clerk must get asked a hundred times a day."Why Dutch and Asian products?"The one-word answer: "Indonesia." Oh. Indonesia was at one point a Dutch colony, which made Dutch food popular in Indonesia, so of course an Asian market in Scottsdale would include Dutch products.No matter — we're just happy it happened. And what success The House of Rice has had, this year celebrating its 33rd anniversary in the same spot. You can't say that about many Phoenicians.We could spend all day in this cramped store, exploring Japanese products (everything from tissue-paper beach balls to sake to sushi-making ingredients), Dutch jams and licorice and little clog magnets, and . . . really, we could go on (and on and on), but you have to experience this place for yourself. We were tempted to buy a bumper sticker that read, "It's Hard to Be Humble When You're Dutch." But we're not Dutch. Instead, we think someone should make a bumper sticker that says, "It's Hard to Be Humble When You're the House of Rice." That, we'd stick to our car.
