1. Shackford’S Kitchen Store
City: Napa, CA
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (707) 226-2132
Address: 1350 Main Street
Description: World-class restaurants necessitate a lot of chefs, and most Napa Valley kitchen whizzes do their shopping at Shackford’s. So do the common cooks, and one step into the store will show you why. This is the nirvana of pots and pans. You’ll find whole aisles of knives (Wusthof-Trident, Sabatier, Forschner, and many more), pans (Calphalon, All-Clad, LOOK, etc., etc.), and cutting boards (wood, acrylic, poly, yada yada yada). The KitchenAid mixers are lined up like a panzer division, and the pot racks hang like chandeliers. It’s all priced competitively.
2. The Beaded Nomad
City: Napa, CA
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (707) 258-8004
Address: 1238 First Street
Description: There aren’t many stores where prices start at three cents. The Nomad stocks more types of beads than you thought existed on the seven continents of the planet—beads of metal, thread, plastic, glass, wood, fimo (a polymer clay), ceramic, and even hemp. You can assemble your beads right there in the store (mixing is encouraged), and staff will provide design assistance and repair. The shop even offers classes in basic and advanced stringing. It also carries masks and jewelry from exotic locales, as well as Indian cottons and premade jewelry.
3. Patina Napa Valley
City: Napa, CA
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (707) 257-1151
Address: 1030 Clinton Street
Description: The aromas here will intoxicate you. There’s everything for making yourself squeaky clean and deliciously scented in style. It’s both a retail store and a soap production facility, so the products are as fresh as they come. Select gifts for all ages, all circumstances (even a Honeymoon Gift Bag), and for four-legged friends. (The owner created a line of pet products for getting dogs really clean and sweet smelling.) Ask about the Vintage Harvest bath gel, made with Cabernet grape seeds (that one’s for you).
4. Betty’S Girl Boutique
City: Napa, CA
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (707) 254-7560
Address: 1239 First Street
Description: Return to a time in fashion when petticoats and bust darts were all the rage. Vintage clothing, accessories, and jewelry fill every corner of the small shop, named in memory of owner Kim Northrop’s mother, Betty. It really is for girly-girls, and ladies who want to feel like girls again (gents may wait patiently on the sidewalk outside). You can’t help but smile when you walk in, as you will no doubt recognize something your mother once wore, or a purse she once carried. Betty’s is retro with a capital R.
5. Inti
City: Napa, CA
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (707) 258-8034
Address: 1139 First Street
Description: That this store was named for the Incan sun god tells you all you need to know about the business. It’s a hodgepodge of imported multiethnic crafts popular with children of the ’60s and their children—and anyone else looking for interesting decorations that won’t devastate their checkbooks. Inti has jewelry, wood carvings, furniture, musical instruments, purses, candles, incense, batiks from Bali, and rugs from Peru. Oversize tapestries hang on the walls, and clothing from India and Indonesia hangs on racks.
6. The Mustard Seed Clothing Company
City: Napa, CA
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (707) 255-4222
Address: 1301 Napa Town Center
Description: Well-dressed women have been flocking to this store since 1996. It carries casual and dressy clothing, from denim to sequins, and has reasonably priced merchandise. Though it stocks labels such as Eileen Fisher and Scala, the store prides itself on not being a “cookie cutter” clothing boutique. A thoughtful small-town touch: The owner photographs customers who buy outfits for special events so they won’t be likely to sell the same outfit to another customer attending the same event.
7. Antiques On Second
City: Napa, CA
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (707) 252-6353
Address: 1370 Second Street
Description: Described as having everything under the sun, “even rust and peeling paint,” this shop also displays some attractive home furnishings, along with a baby grand piano and an 1840s pump organ. There’s pottery and glassware, Shabby Chic, and textiles. Inside the store is a new section called Accessoire, featuring vintage clothing and jewelry.
8. The Antique Shoppe
City: Napa, CA
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (707) 256-0811
Address: 1408 Second Street
Description: If you’re looking for an old Life magazine, step right this way. Inside the shop are more than 23,000 back issues of the popular periodical, dating from 1936. The store also has an assortment of cranberry and Depression glass, tools, primitives, and lots of furniture.