Day 75: Shop Union Ave.

Knoxville is full of hidden gems. You could spend a year here from Halls to Farragut and never revisit the same place. Working downtown, I began to notice shops on Union Avenue sprouting up like happy little retail lilies all in a row. Earlier, in March, with spring fast approaching, I thought it would be a great idea to visit each store on Union Avenue, plucking each lily until I had a lovely bouquet of Knoxville treasures.

The day before St. Patrick’s Day was a beautiful one this year. My mother was in town from New Jersey, so I used the opportunity to spend some quality time with her by strolling the streets of downtown and checking this item off my list on Day 75. We began at Gay Street and worked our way west. The first shop we visited was Räla: Regional and Local Artisans. Räla is a self-proclaimed “shoppery;” part shop and part gallery. Most notable to me were vintage postcards and magnets that read, “Greeting from Knoxville” and “Somebody in Knoxville Loves Me.” The art isn’t just decorative and Knoxville specific, they also carry salts from Atlanta, GA, infused with truffle and rosemary good for cooking just about anything.

We stopped at the corner of Union and Market Square. The location has seen several vendors come and go in the last few years, but none as perfect for Knoxville as Rococo Boutique. According to their website, the store’s name comes from a time period in France when art, architecture, interior design and fashion were used to bring a sense of whimsy back to a region that had become too serious. With “Laugh Out Loud Stationary,” children’s clothes, jewelry and home décor made from found objects and the ability to custom design anything from a business card to a building mural; the Boutique is working to bring that same type of whimsy to Knoxville. My favorite find at the shop was a small bronze necklace. It’s a small frame and inside, printed on emerald paper, was the longitude and latitude of Knoxville. This particular piece was made at the shop, where they have regular jewelry making classes with local artists. The next class is Saturday April 13. 

For the next block, we decided to work west to east from Walnut Street, making the next stop The Tree and Vine, an olive oil and balsamic tasting shop. The shop is refreshing to set foot in, like a spa. Immediately to your right is a long tasting bar with every kind of infused Olive Oil and Balsamic that you can imagine. They sell these in 50, 150 and 375 ml bottles. A shop that sells olive oil wouldn’t be complete without an assortment of pots, pans and other kitchen utensils for sale as well. I, personally, am saving up for a wok! In addition, they sell gourmet pastas, chips, and trail mixes. After tasting nearly every flavor they had to offer, we purchased a Sun Dried Tomato, Garlic and Parmesan infused olive oil for cooking pastas, vegetables and rice, a Chipotle infused olive oil, which my mother has already made spicy chili with and a balsamic infused with Blueberry and Cinnamon Pear (this is two flavors combined because I couldn’t decide) for anything from salad to drizzling on ice cream – it’s that good.

 

For months now, I had heard wonderful things about a store called Nothing Too Fancy. To be specific, I had seen wonderful things from the store. Every game day in the fall, I saw a new t-shirt with a new clever Vols or Knoxville slogan or logo. I’ve wanted to visit the store ever since, so I made sure it was the last shop we visited. Our finale! Nothing Too Fancy carries mostly locally printed shirts with slogans like “Keep Knoxville Scruffy” and the Knoxville skyline. I was in search of a specific shirt that I’d seen that read “865s” printed like the retro Vols logo from the days of Peyton Manning. There was on left. On clearance. In my size. Yahtzee! There are more treasures to be found there, like earrings made from found art and wallets made locally with silly messages to personalize your life.

 

To end our exploration, we stopped in the Casual Pint for a flight of Pilsners and Porters. My mother, having never had craft beer before was able to check a new item off her list as well. We people watched, drank and marveled at all of our steals and finds.

Later that month, as I walked downtown, I noticed there are two more shops west of Walnut that I had no idea existed on Day 75, Reruns and Union Ave Books.

I ventured over to them just the other day with my friend, Chad. We popped into Reruns and found it was a classy women’s consignment shop. Everything from purses and shoes to belts and coats, but nothing I couldn’t live without so we moved along to next door. We browsed the bookstore. They had great collections of classics and some nice used books for lower prices. We found real joy in the children’s section, where we searched for Waldo longer than any adults should. But, by golly, we found him!