Shopping the Westport Marina

Today was one of those picture perfect sunny days that makes me remember what brought me to Westport to begin with. Since I had some visitors in town, we decided to walk the Westport Marina, and since I had my camera out, I thought it would be a good time to point you all out to some of the best shops on the Marina.
Yes, there is shopping in Westport, and its not all kites and T-shirts. The first store I'm going to talk about is the Picaroon Pelican. This is a very cute tea-themed shop that sells everything you need to put on a proper afternoon tea, as well as collectible teacups and tea paraphernalia. The owner is also the woman who coordinates the annual Pirate Daze festival, and she is very friendly. She also runs a little english tearoom out of the back of the store, but I have not made it in there as yet, so can't vouch for it. The next stop as you walk west (toward the blue tower) is Miss Avenue. This is a little clothing boutique which doesn't look like much from the outside, but has some surprising inventory on the inside. In addition to a cute gift section for little girls (think pink princess themed), Miss Avenue also carries some of the hippest stylish clothes West of Olympia. Her inventory includes 7 for all mankind and Citizens of Humanity jeans, as well as other lines that I'm clearly not hip enough to wear. They also have a great selection of accessories and other fun stuff. Definitely worth popping in.



Further down the marina, you'll find Cutting Edge Kites, which has every kind of bright flying item that you might want. Today there were some particularly cute garden spinners that looked like woodys (the surfers station wagon) with wheels that spun. (Note to self, buy one of those when you have a garden to show it off in). They also carry cheap kites for the day tripper, and elaborate set ups for those wanting to do kite fighting or kite ballet (see the post on the windriders festival).












At the end of the marina, there are two artsy galleries; the Albright Jewelry Gallery, and Art Talks. Both feature jewelry and glass art by local artists. Art Talks also sells a lot of local metal art, and lot of beach themed treasures. These places have stuff for inexpensive souveniers, the sometimes collector, as well as high end art. Needless to say, I can't bring baby in either store anymore, because I'm not interested in buying something he's broken, but I love to covet the beautiful metal sculpture in Art Talks.

So there you have it, my five favorite stores on the Westport Marina. I do stroll in the others, even the Charter offices, from time to time, because you never know what you might find. And of course, there's always Pomegranate's in Grayland, which is the queen of all coastal gift shops. But next time you're in Westport, stop in and see if you find a treasure to take home with you.