Let’s Talk Shop

Your summer souvenir shopping guide

By Lynda Wheatley | June 4, 2022

As much as we love the tchotchke, trinket, and T-shirt shops of old Up North, our dusty shelves and overstuffed drawers can no longer accommodate. If you’re in the same sinking boat this summer, how about commemorating your trip with something for your walls, your wrists, or your kitchen instead? These retailers offer a ton of fun and functional items that showcase some true North ingenuity, artistry, and style—most of which won’t even shrink in the wash after wearing.

Korner Gem, Traverse City & Frankfort
It’s rare that we suggest trading a day of wading in the shallows of Lake Michigan for rock hunting indoors, but we won’t lie to you: Kevin Gauthier’s Korner Gem Jewelry shops—on the west side of Traverse City and in downtown Frankfort—are a veritable trove of the local treasures rockhounds covet. Among jewelry store “standards” like diamonds, pearls, rubies, silver, and gold, you’ll find Petoskey stones, Leland Blues, agates, pudding stones, and countless other rocks and minerals culled from the region and crafted into earrings, bracelets, necklaces, rings, ornaments, and more. Gauthier and his team of artisans not only cut the stones but also craft and customize from-scratch designs for their customers—a rare dual service for jewelry shops nowadays.

Nevertheless, the real reason we love going into Gauthier’s shops is the chance to catch the man himself. A rock picker since childhood, Gauthier is a walking compendium of information about Great Lakes stones and minerals. In fact, he wrote the books—plural: He and co-author Bruce Mueller’s penned several Rock Picker’s Guides (there’s one each for Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, and Lake Superior, plus The Complete Guide to Petoskey Stones) that are our go-to whenever we go to a Great Lakes beach. The books are available at his stores, along with Petoskey stone polishing kits, rock tumblers, and jewelry-making supplies. kornergem.com

Patina, Onekama
The mantra of Patina—the boutique of odd, unexpected, and never matchy-matchy furniture, accessories, and other odds and ends—is “found, flawed, and fabulous.” Maybe because that sounds as much like us as it does our favorite household things, we never make a weekend trip south down M-22 without veering into this downtown Onekama shop.

Open May through December and bursting with an ever-changing array of curated displays, Patina is the place you’re as likely to find a velvet davenport, brass fireplace screen, and typewriter-stand-turned-cottage-end-table as you are a vintage book of poems, chic new sundress, or a handful of jawbones artfully erupting from a moss-filled planter.

Owners and artists Nikki Schneider and Karen Kolb opened the shop in 2019 and continue to fill it with old and new home and garden goods, as well as their own repurposed pieces they’ve found at flea markets, attics, and other “junker” hot spots. Whether you love unique home pieces or simply want some inspiration for turning your own basement trash to treasure, this place will open your eyes to the possibilities. Warning: Hours are very limited (Friday and Saturday 11am–3pm) but appointments are available. (312) 909-0115, patinamichigan.com

The Painted Bird, Suttons Bay
An eclectic inventory of contemporary American crafts comprises the floor-to-ceiling gallery that is The Painted Bird of Suttons Bay. And while the shop behind its can’t-miss-it purple façade is small, it offers such an array of purchase potential that you could easily spend hours inside, finding something for everyone on both your Christmas and birthday lists.

The wares here come courtesy of more than 150 artists—most from Michigan, many local—and run the gamut from jewelry and clothing accessories (scarves, hats, purses, and more) to toys and games to sculpture, furniture, and wall art. Some of the quintessential Leelanau-artist-made goodies folks love bringing home: Felted wool mittens or posy pins made with love by BaaBaaZuZu; a Leelanau County map or other locally inspired puzzle from Glen Arbor Artisan Kristin Hurlin; beach stone jewelry from Northport’s Jane Voight; and one of Peter Low’s charcuterie or other serving boards. painted-bird.com

Northern Roots, Glen Arbor
Credit a massive storm and a double dose of entrepreneurial spirit for bringing Northern Roots to life. The brainchild of brother-sister duo Zach and Bella Pryor, Northern Roots came into being when the two, flabbergasted by the destruction of trees, decks, docks, and fences that followed the 100 mph winds of an early August thunderstorm in 2015, decided to do something with some of the broken wood it left in their path. They shaped and painted them into NoMi-inspired signs, which they started selling at local farm markets during the summer of 2016.

The Ann Arbor-based pair, just young teens then, have kept at it and since expanded their line of goods from signs and posters into soaps, stickers, candles, jewelry, coasters, barware, and more. You can find all their creative wares online or—our pick—visit their retail shop in person, at one of the hottest spots in Glen Arbor: the deck at Boonedocks. The siblings donate a portion of all their proceeds to the Sleeping Bear Dunes Heritage Trail and the nonprofit Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear, which aids in the restoration process of historic property in the Port Oneida Farm District. northernrootsmichigan.com

NorthGoods, Petoskey
Sure, you could road trip down to Benzie County to ferret out stationary showcasing the woodblock prints of late nature artist Gwen Frostic. You could hit Charlevoix for a jar of Harwood Gold’s Chardonnay Maple Mustard on the way. You could even head up to the Mackinac Bridge to try to capture a bit of the grandeur prolific Petoskey artist Mary Bea manages. Or you could walk into downtown Petoskey’s NorthGoods to find these and hundreds of other Michigan-made art, crafts, and gifts—plus get a peek inside a century-old in-house safe.

Originally home to the 1906-erected First State Bank of Petoskey, the building now houses fine art, pottery, glassware, woodcrafts, and Petoskey stone-themed everything—even Petoskey-stone Pop-Sockets. Ladies, if your men inspect the safe, consider locking them in for a few; you’ll need extra time to check out the 3-in-1 crossbody bags designed by Petoskey’s own Jackie Garrett, the gal behind the famed Vilah Bloom diaper bags with built-in wipes (as well as an assortment of stylish purses, clutches, and wallets for other stages of life). north-goods.com

Lilac & Lemon, Gaylord
Having survived its sidewalk planters being set on fire last fall, the owner’s household move this spring, and most recently, a tornado, it’s safe to say the mere year Lilac and Lemon has been open on Gaylord’s Main Street has been neither easy nor breezy.

Yet when you step inside this haven for feminine respite—think handcrafted soaps, embroidered pillows, cozy blankets, fun textiles, painted and decoupaged furniture, bath bombs, and kitchen and housewares galore—you can’t help but harken back to a simpler time, when functional items never failed to be pretty. We can’t fairly call this one a souvenir shop, though so many of its repurposed painted pieces have clearly called northern Michigan home for many decades past. A meander through is a must for any shopper who loves all things quaint, cozy, beautiful, and unique and wants to take a bit of that home. lilaclemonnm.com