Biltmore Fashion Park's UNION gave a crowd a sneak peek at the local shops opening this weekend to the public.

UNION, located between Stingray and Seasons 52 at the 24th and Camelback shopping center, is home to Phoenix-based businesses including Citrine Natural Beauty Bar, Paris Envy, Whoopie Baking Company, Frances, Smeeks, Frances & Charlie, For the People, Paris Envy, Oils & Olives and Trattoria del Piero by Queen Creek Olive Mill, Bonafide Goods, Lily, Me Myself & I, R&R Surplus, Customatic.com, White House Flowers, and The Willows Home and Garden.

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The innovative retail project was designed to provide small and locally owned shops space alongside the Biltmore's large, nationally owned chain stores, which will ideally create more traffic for local business owners and a wider selection for shoppers.

Each shop is about 200-500 sq. feet of retail space and each business owner signed a minimum year-long lease. Last night's crowd mingled and wandered through the large space designed by local architect Hayes McNeil, the principal and founder of Plus Minus Studio, who also owns Royal Coffee, which has a small walk-up counter inside UNION.

We of course spotted plenty of treasures, including bike baskets at British Bicycle Company (starting at $45), natural soaps at Oils & Olives ($6), vintage candy at Smeeks ($2-$3), glassware at Paris Envy (($10-20), seed pots at White House Flowers ($18), jackets at Bonafide Goods ($675), and an embroidered pillow at Frances ($95).

The UNION will celebrate its grand opening this weekend with giveaways and special events at each shop. For more information, check out the UNION page on the Biltmore Fashion Park website.

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