August 21, 2012

.around the city: hunt and gather.

Do you like shopping/looking for antiques? It is one of Dave and I's favorite little past times that we don't do enough.  We are lucky and only live about 6 blocks from a corner filled with antique shops! There are about 4 or 5 shops all in one area filled with new items to be discovered every day. When driving down down Xerxes there is one shop that always catches my eye, Hunt and Gather. I finally took a little visit and it was as great as I always thought when driving by.

Hunt and Gather is different from other antique stores in the way that they showcase their different stalls and items. The best way to describe it is an organized free for all/chaos. Things are here and there and everywhere, but it all flows really well together.  



If you are claustrophobic or have a little OCD this may not be the store for you due to the "clutter". At times I was a little overwhelmed with things coming out from all areas on the wall, the ceiling, and even the floor. In the beginning it was a stimulation overload, but it only took a few minutes for me to get used to it.  



I found items in Hunt and Gather that I haven't seen offer in other stores. You can by letters by the wheelbarrow, old cards, billiard balls, old school book pages, basically anything that looks cool and something someone would pay for! My mind kept racing with all the different things I could do with so many items in the store. It was hard to resist picking up a lot of things for "future" projects. 



We did pick up a few things from the store. My favorite were the license plate letters. Dave has a thing for license plates. When we have a garage he wants to put old license plates up on the walls, so we have started a collection of old MN plates. Seeing these letters made me think of a great DIY. Since we love traveling and Dave loves license plates we bought the letters to spell out SHOAVE (our names together: Sho + Dave = Shoave).  It is a fun little piece of art in our apt. that showcases our passions. 

When you drive down Xerxes in Edina you can't miss Hunt and Gather. The outside of the store is brightly colored and showcases items. The large alphabet letters in the front and on the side of the store always draw me in. Plus the outside display items are always changing, one day it could be letters the next day it is old gym lockers.  I hope that when in Minneapolis you get a chance to visit this unique antique store and go home with a few treasures of your own!