A Store Named Stuff: A Store Named Stuff is a Brookside charm owned by two sisters who sell art pieces made by female artists

After countless trips down the iconic 63rd street in Brookside, I had finally found  my favorite shop. A Store Named Stuff was created by two talented women, for women and supported by women. 

Casey Simmons, one of the owners, told me about their primarily women crafted art pieces and feminist areas of the store.

Casey and her sister Sloane opened their boutique-style store in 1996. Their website depicts their artistic and lifestyle focused store that has thrived online, and at their Brookside storefront, since it opened. They sell pieces by local, regional, national and even international fine artists, handmade creators and small batch makers. 

While they sell art made by all genders, Casey says a good majority of their pieces are made and supplied by women.

The sisters aimed to make their store open to all, while being hip and fashionable. With over 300 available items — jewelry, keychains, pins, books, stickers and different pottery pieces — the colorful array of art pieces always catch my eye.

Open five days a week and with an easily accessible website, A Store Named Stuff is the ideal place to shop for gifts, home decor, books and jewelry, all while soaking in the charm of the handmade crafts. 

I started by browsing their matches and candles section, I found the most adorable elephant match holder with a good sized match pad on its back. My room constantly has a candle lit to help me study or focus and I’d just recently run out of my matches supply. With its $15 price tag, I immediately picked it up. 

Across the store my eyes landed on the plates and dishware, all covered in colors or drawings from fruits to striped patterns. Seeing the sea-themed jewelry plates for the price of $7, I shuffled through until I found two that I knew I needed, a red starfish and a blue fish.

As if the appeal of knowing that the pieces I picked up were crafted by local women isn’t enough, they have a wall lined with books and crafts Casey describes as their feminist section. 

There you’ll spot books, pins and coloring books about important females cover the wall and tables. I’d never bought one of these pieces myself, but I‘d often seen my mom pick them up to give to her friends for gift exchanges and holiday parties. Whether they were candles or earrings, she loved to know they were made by and for women.

I’ve been in the store year round, but my favorite time of the year to stop in has to be in late November through December. Their hundreds of sparkly ornaments hung from their huge christmas tree along with ribbons and tree wraps hanging from each display table give the store a “winter wonderland” feel.

The unique pickle, ice cream cone and poké bowl ornaments caught my eye, as I’ve never seen such sparkly renditions of food. Their variety of weird yet fun designs had me admiring them for almost 10 minutes. If it weren’t for their high price tags, I would’ve bought 20.

As I finished my laps around the store, I took a mental note to do my Christmas shopping here. With their range of gifts for any gender, you could truly shop for anyone — that is, if you can keep yourself from buying a million things for yourself.

When I got home, I tried out my new match holder and lighter. The hole in the elephant’s mouth was a great size to fit around 15 to 20 matches comfortably. The strike pad worked the first time, immediately sparking and keeping the match lit for a solid 15 seconds. 

My only complaint — it didn’t come with matches. However, there were many different match selections next to the holder, I just would’ve preferred them to come together. 

Then I set my jewelry plates on my vanity and tested out how they would look when I put them to use. They held my jewelry perfectly and weren’t too easy to move or accidentally nudge while I got ready. In the light, the plates shimmered adding a pleasant lighting and decor to my bland vanity. 

Although it’s usually busy and can be pricey, the store is completely worth it. You can stop in and find truly anything in A Store Named Stuff at any time — and its bright white logo makes it hard to miss. 

Next time you’re in Brookside, check out its charm that is A Store Named Stuff and make sure to ask Casey and Sloane about their influential business.