Edition: Concierges' Favorite Attractions, 2005
Souvenir Shopping
Author: Stefene Russell
The bi-state area boasts a range of unusual attractions, and the accompanying gift shops are often one-of-a-kind, too. Here's a listing of what you'll find at eight of the area's mos popular tourist destinations.
Missouri Botanical Garden
Naturally, you expect fo find orchids, succulents, and bridfeeders at a botanical garden gift shop. However the Garden Gate Shop (4344 Shaw Blvd., 314-577-9400) goes beyond that, offering luxe soaps and lotions, ceramic art dishes, yummy candles in scents like hosta and geranium boutique handbags (including a clever watering can-shaped leather tote), books that range from gardening guides to literary nonfiction on environmental topics, and handcrafted jewelry made from natural stones such as turquoise. There's a sizable kids' section that offers items both educationsl (bug zoos) and fun (plush toy hummingbirds). They also offer specialty gardening tools, organic seeds, and art windchimes.
Fast Lane Classic Cars
While you might not drive away from Fast Lane Classic Cars (427 Little Hills Blvd., St. Charles, 636-940-9969) in a powder-pink 1956 Ford Thunderbird, you may well take home the die-cast model version after visiting the dealership's two-story gift shop. There's pleny here for the classic car enthusiast, including collector's price guides, logo key chains, Guillermo Forchino's comical car sculptures, and car-related books that cover nearly every decade and car model out there. The shop also stocks cool gift items for those who may not be quite as obsessed with automobiles, including Zippos engraved with retro characters such as James Dean, purses made from molded license plates, and seatbelt buckle-belts.
Saint Louis Science Center
You'll learn something at the Explore Store (5050 Oakland Ave., 314-289-4444) in the Saint Louis Science Center, even if you're just stopping by to pick up a snack - one of the most popular confections sold here is the freeze-dried Neapolitan "Space Food" ice cream, similar to what astronauts eat for dessert when they're in orbit. Even the beauty items are scientific, from perfume bottled in test tubes to resin bug jewelry. Popular items include Science Center pencils, with a clear plastic barrel that features a mini rock collection inside, GroBeasts (rubber animals that expand when placed in water), glow-in-the-dark stickers that allow you to re-create the night sky on your bedroom ceiling, and wooden models of dinosaur skeletons.
City Museum
At the City Museum (701 N. 15th, 314-231-CITY), even the gift shop is full of whimsy. From glow-in-the-dark slime encased in glow-in-the-dark plastic eggs to hand-painted maracas to miniature tarot cards, browsing here is never a boring experience, and because merchandise is often exhibit-related (for example, patterned shoelaces or tiny shoe statues for the "Really Big Shoe Show") there's always something new. Permanent stock includes a plethora of fun but educational kits and toys that teach kids about art and science. You'll also find handmade jewelry, art postcards, magnetic poetry kits, picture frames, and fun little dime-store toys such as paddleballs, Etch-a-Sketch key chains, and tiny plastic guns.
Worldways Children's Museum
All proceeds from purchases made at the Journey's End Shop at Worldways Children's Museum (15479 Clayton Rd., 636-207-7008) go to support the museum, a nonprofit educational institution, and many of the items here will keep you and your kids learning about world culture long after you've left the museum. Items include a "World Cookbook" for kids, foreign language dictionaries, flash cards and videos designed to help kids learn a new language, dolls dressed in national costumes, multi-cultural musical instruments, and candies from around the globe. They also carry specific specialty items such as German board games, Chinese hand puppets, and Mexican knitted kick balls.
Gateway Arch
There's only one place in St. Louis where you can shop 100 feet underground: beneath the Gateway Arch (St. Louis Riverfront, 314-982-1410), one of the city's most visible landmarks. There are actually two gift shops here: a msueum store that features tourist-related items such as books, toys, t-shirts, and a tiny replica of the Arch made from the cabling that's used to pull the Arch trams, and The Levee Mercantile, a reproduction of an 1870s shop demonstrating 19th-century food preparation techniques. You can also sample some old-fashioned candy here, or buy nostalgic gifts, including Caswell-Massey soaps and antique reproduction toys.
Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis
Althought it's on the smaller side, MUSE, in the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (3750 Washington Blvd., 314-535-4660) offers some of the hippest gift-shopping around. Managed by local luxury boutique Lusso, the shop offers exhibit-related items (such as a wind-up version of the "PupCup" from Yoshitomo Nara's "Nothing Ever Happens" show), as well as books, toys, stationery, home goods, jewelry, candles, magnets, and art supplies that all bear the stamp of Lusso's unerring (and unusual) taste. For instance: rubber flower vases in mandarin red, coral-sphere necklaces by local jewelry house Red Anvil, soy candles in heliotrope and chocolate, journals covered in colorful vintage scarves, and "Pixelblocks," funky toy blocks for children of the information age.
Cahokia Mounds
With an impressive collection of book titles that cover archaeology, anthropology, myth, legend, religion, Native American culture, and regional history, it would be easy to walk away from the Book and Museum Shop at Cahokia Mounds (Collinsville, IL, 618-346-5160) with nothing but reading material. However, there's lots more to consider here, including beautifully rendered replicas of artifacts found on the Cahokia site, jewelry, kachina dolls, and teas made using traditional Native American recipes. You'll also find postcards, posters, and souvenirs bearing the image of the Cahokia "Birdman," symbol, including t-shirts, caps, and key chains. For kids, you'll find dolls, card games, craft items, and coloring books.
