Best Shop for Arizona Merch 2024 | The Merchantile | Goods & Services | Phoenix
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Best Shop for Arizona Merch

The Merchantile

Looking to find a unique, local gift for an out-of-town friend? Or maybe you want to show off a little Arizona pride? The Merchantile's two Valley locations have you covered. The large stores are each filled with individual sections that display the offerings from different local vendors. One booth sells T-shirts with designs featuring disco-dancing armadillos, howling wolves and smiling saguaros. In another booth, you might find handmade cactus earrings or soaps and candles that smell like monsoon rain. The best part about shopping here — aside from all the adorable options — is that you're supporting local businesses. The items frequently celebrate Arizona, and shopping at the Merchantile helps Arizona makers. That's what we call a win-win.

  • 3965 N. Brown Ave., Scottsdale, 85251 Map

Best Indigenous-Made Goods

Native Art Market

Buying art from small, local artists keeps money and creative control in the hands of skilled craftspeople instead of corporations. Nowhere is that more important than in Indigenous art, especially in the American Southwest, where ancient cultures have lived in communion with the earth for tens of thousands of years. Native Art Market was founded in 2018 by Heather Tracy (who has Navajo roots) as a space for local artists to showcase and sell their work. Its vending project is a nonprofit and all participants must be of Native American descent. At the store's indoor market, more than 400 small businesses sell remarkable, hand-crafted goods. For quality and quantity, Native Art Market is the real deal. It also holds a seasonal outdoor market in North Scottsdale.

Best Bath and Body Goods

Strawberry Hedgehog

All the talk these days of microplastics in body scrubs and chemicals in lotion make our skin crawl. How can we stay clean and pleasant-smelling without poisoning ourselves? One answer is Strawberry Hedgehog, a local purveyor of vegan bath, body and wellness products. The coconut-almond soap leaves our hands clean, soft and smelling amazing, and the raw sugar scrub, which comes in a variety of scents, is the perfect antidote to dry skin. They say knowledge is power, and Strawberry Hedgehog owner Tracy Perkins devotes a section of the website to explaining her products' ingredients and sharing each ingredient's EWG rating, a designation given by Environmental Working Group that rates toxicity. You can order Perkins' creations online, but until we can smell things through our laptop screen, we prefer to drop by the west Phoenix storefront to inhale the goods.

Best Art Supplies

Jerry's Artarama

Artists, teachers, students and hobbyists all know where to go for any and all art supplies they might need: Jerry's Artarama. Pre-made canvases, custom-made canvases, frames, paints and brushes of every kind, art books and bags, varnishes — whatever an artisan needs, it's in this sprawling space. And there are always amazing sales (check the website for current deals): Think 50 percent off oil paints, up to 70 percent off gesso panels or free items with purchases. Browsing the aisles and all the artwork on the walls is half the fun here, but online shoppers can get free shipping on orders over $59.

Best Religious Supplies

Autom

Autom's catalog and website sell religious supplies to customers all across the country, but the company's only retail location is right here in Phoenix. And if you've never been, it's pretty interesting. Autom sells everything from hanging censers to baptismal fonts to priestly robes. For the layperson, there are stone Celtic crosses for the garden, jewelry dedicated to a variety of saints and Bible-themed coffee mugs. It even sells a set of religious-themed Croc charms. Though the website indicates that the store has been supplying the Catholic community since 1948, there's plenty at Autom to please your friends and family of other denominations.

Best Creepy Stuff

Curious Nature

When we say that Curious Nature carries some creepy stuff, we mean it as a compliment. The self-described "fine natural history emporium" in the Melrose District sells an awful lot of body parts, from wet specimens of diaphonized mice and shark pups to bear jawbones and coyote vertebrae. If you've got $3,000 laying around, Curious Nature even sells human skulls. (All physical specimens are ethically sourced.) Besides dead things, the store carries plenty of other items that appeal to the macabre customer. Depending on the day, you might find an antique Ouija board or some vintage funeral photographs. And the store has plenty of new items to browse, including a fascinating book selection and cool enamel pins. In addition to what you can buy, Curious Nature offers a stellar lineup of classes and lectures in case you ever wanted to learn taxidermy or experience a Victorian seance.

Place for Vintage Pop Culture

3G Vintage

Were the '70s,'80s and '90s really a better era, or do Gen Xers and millennials just miss the time when they didn't have mortgages and the earth wasn't heating up at an alarming rate? It's hard to say. But when we're longing for the simple pleasures of the past, we stop in at 3G Vintage. Located in Desert Sun Plaza in the Grand Avenue arts district, 3G Vintage hits us right in the nostalgia bone every time we visit. The shop is small but absolutely packed with merch, from baskets of mid-'90s cassette singles and back issues of Rolling Stone magazine to old VHS tapes and troll dolls. New stuff comes into 3G Vintage all the time, so we check the place out often to reminisce about the good old days.

Best Store for Your Inner Dino Nerd

Tyrannostorus

Between science class lessons, T-rex pajamas and "Jurassic Park," dinosaurs had a big impact on our childhood. We're adults now, and no one bothers to ask us what our favorite dinosaur is anymore (triceratops, in case you're curious), but we can still express our love for prehistoric reptiles at Mesa science boutique Tyrannostorus. We may have adult money now, but a trip to Tyrannostorus makes us feel like a kid again. From stuffed animals to books to actual fossilized dinosaur bones, there are plenty of items to choose from. And if your interests go beyond brontosauruses and pterodactyls, Tyrannostorus has goods pertaining to ancient Egypt, space, sharks and more, making it truly a place for science fans of all ages.

Best LEGO Store

Arizona Brick Co.

We're what you might consider casual LEGO fans. We loved them growing up and have been known to build a set or two as adults. We also know LEGO fanatics who drop hundreds of dollars on new releases and scour the internet for hard-to-find pieces. But no matter what your level of dedication to LEGO is, you'll find what you need at Arizona Brick Co. This family-owned and -operated store has been open for less than a year but has already become a must-visit destination for LEGO fans of all ages. There are new and used sets at a variety of price points, a case full of mini figures and huge trays of loose pieces that allow customers to replace a missing brick or pick up what they need for an original creation.

Best RC Lowrider Cars

Redcat Racing

Redcat Racing creates highly detailed radio control lowrider-inspired vehicles. And while cruising lowriders may be difficult in some areas around metro Phoenix, Redcat's RCs can be driven and hopped anywhere in town. The local company produces 1:10 scale models of the 1959 and 1964 Chevrolet Impalas, which can bounce like lowriders or roll smoothly on miniature spoked wheels. The radio-controlled vehicle manufacturer also unveiled an '80s-style Monte Carlo RC that can be lifted, lowered and made to dance with the flick of a joystick. Mini trucks with dancing beds were another hit in the late 1980s, and they'll be making a comeback in 2025 at Redcat — they're now accepting orders for the first mini truck RC, on which the truck bed raises and flops around. If you're local and want to scope out or test drive these dope-looking lowriders, visit AZ Turn and Burn RC in Surprise or Duncan's RC in west Phoenix and let them know who your plug is.

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