Saying goodbye to Peaceable Kingdom
On our mother’s day trek downtown, Lizard Breath suddenly veered off the sidewalk and into Peaceable Kingdom. (I am trying to post a pic but WordPress will not let me access my “media”. Click click click. Click click click. Nothing happening. I’ll keep trying. FIXED!!!! When in doubt, switch browsers.) Anyway, I was not really all that interested in going into Peaceable Kingdom, at least not that day. I have been shopping at Peaceable Kingdom since [probably] before I lived on The Planet Ann Arbor. As a young woman and then a young mother, I was enthralled by the eclectic mix of stuff. The trinket table, toys for all ages, and more sophisticated items like art quilts, jewelry, and other esoterica. Now that I have been in and out of an epic multi-generational Flinging Prodject, I am less enthralled by stuff…
But still, we have been shopping there for so many years. All the years Shakey Jake would clear the sidewalk of snow and ice there. All of the birthday party favor bags we filled from the trinket table. The time I had my kids and their cousins Valdemort and Pengo Janetto in there with me and the then two-year-old Pengo spied the Store Dog and PICKED IT UP!!! To the horror of the store owner. And my total embarrassment. My kids NEVER approached dogs. They were afraid of them! Pengo was growing up with Sam (dog, not archaeologist). Or maybe Pengo’s dog at that time was Laker. Whichever, both dogs were BIG DOGS and she had no fear of dogs, especially small ones like the Store Dog. I stuttered and stammered an apology and tried to explain that these were my nieces and I would’ve been way more vigilant if I’d had any clue Pengo might pick up the Store Dog.
I still pop in to Peaceable Kingdom from time to time, usually around xmas time when I am struggling to find gifts for people who don’t need any more *stuff*. One of my last trips in there (a while back), they had cute ice crystal deely-bobbers. Okay, Froooogggy and Green Guy NEEDED those! I bought two pair and as the owner was ringing them up, she instructed a worker to save a couple of them for her young granddaughters. They were from the movie “Frozen”. Of course.
Anyway, we walked into the store and I was thinking it seemed a little sparse and then we got to the trinket table and a whole bunch of bins were EMPTY. And it hit me than then that the store was CLOSING! Alas. Even though I don’t often shop there any more, it is still an interesting and very popular place. I will miss it greatly.
Still can’t post a pic. I’ll keep trying… Okay, there’s a link to the pic now…
May 16th, 2017 at 7:40 pm
Those types of places are more than stores, they are destinations. They are interesting, and fun to browse around in. Unfortunately, they have mostly disappeared. In my town of Puyallup, there used to be Pohlmans Variety which had an actual soda counter and the same eclectic mix of items. AND a candy counter that I loved!!