Shopping Philadelphia
Explore and discover, then refuel with a cup of coffee or a memorable meal.
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| Flotsam + Jetsam offers an interior design service, including full home makeovers. |
Old City, ironically, is home to the new and fresh, among the historic row houses and rehabbed 19th-century warehouses. Flotsam + Jetsam, with its colorful walls, wildly stenciled and painted floors, and creative assemblage of furnishings and accessories, is a hot destination. "We like to inspire people to be adventurous,'' says owner Meltem Birey. Subtlety may not be the goal of Birey, but there is a vivacious, comfortable warmth generated by the mix of crafts, art, furniture, and redone antiques found at auction.
Another great shopping neighborhood that held the title as the new and edgy area a while back is Manayunk, situated just four miles from city center. The spotlight's glare may have moved on, but you wouldn't know it at Owen/Patrick Gallery. Owners Gary Pelkey and James Gilroy remain devoted to "very sculptural yet functional furniture, not ordinary designs,'' says Pelkey. Imaginative Italian sofas and tables, and other "things that twist and move,'' he says, share space with local and international crafts, ceramics, hand-blown glass, and lots of lighting.
In city center, a section of Pine Street is known as Antiques Row. Here, M. Finkel & Daughter offers period furniture and decorative artifacts (tavern tables, sconces, early glass, corner cupboards, quilts) but have become internationally known for their collection of antique samplers. These needlework and silk embroideries made by young American and British girls from the 17th to 19th centuries are the passion of partner Amy Finkel, who writes, lectures, and consults with museums, historical societies, and private clients to create collections. "People love samplers because they give you a connection to history,'' says Finkel. "It's like looking in the window and seeing the values of a given family.'' She researches the history, maker, and regional characteristics of each sampler she sells, using genealogical experts and the store's reference library. Prices range from about $2,000 to $15,000, and go up to $200,000—a result perhaps of Finkel's Web site, samplings.com, which continues to draw new collectors to the field.
Those in search of the truly exotic drive to a 25,000-square-foot warehouse in an industrial area known as East Falls. Here, they find Material Culture, a neighborhood unto itself, where the walls are hung with handmade, vegetable-dyed wool rugs from Turkey, India, China, and Tibet, and the antiques and folk art from around the world are a lesson in anthropology. There are copper pots from Turkey (used to make ottomans in the store's on-site custom workshop), hand-painted African barbershop signs, Romanian ceramic dishes, ancestral portraits from China, and African silk-lined caskets in shapes such as a Mercedes or ear of corn (to signal the deceased's occupation as diplomat, farmer, and so on).
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