Yesterday, after Mark and I had finished with lunch at Esquina, we decided to make the most of our trip to Lawrence and browse around the rest of downtown. We started at the Dusty Bookshelf (708 Massachusetts St.), where Mark picked up a compilation of fantasy short stories and I got Steve Martin's autobiography. I greeted the shop cat, though she didn't really want to have much to do with me. We then strolled down the street to the Yarn Barn (903 Massachusetts St.), a favorite of mine, where I oohed and aahed over all of the looms, spinning equipment, yarn, and fiber. Unfortunately, we didn't have any spending money left at this point, but if I had, I would have bought some bamboo fiber to use with my drop spindle and some dye to make it pretty. Yarn Barn has a lot of 100% animal-free fiber and yarn, from bamboo and cotton to hemp and tencel. They even have fiber made from seaweed! After Yarn Barn, I went to Calamity Janes (927 Massachusets St.) (while Mark went back to the car to put more money into the parking meter), which had some lovely clothes with a romantic bohemian feel to them. After Mark got back, we went next door to Brits, which pulled us in with the full-sized dalek and cyberman cutouts in the front window.
Besides having several British television shows and films for sale on DVD, they also have a full rental section in the back, which has pretty much the entirety of Doctor Who (old and new) as well as Torchwood and Red Dwarf.
Brits also has a ton of food, including many vegan items. There's a whole set of shelves with nothing but jelly, jams, and preserves, made out of almost every fruit you can think of (and a few I wasn't familiar with at all!) Other vegan offerings include drinking chocolate,
Irish and Scottish oatmeal and yummy-looking granola,
scone mix (this one only; the other mixes all had dairy in them),
and even vegan haggis (yes, you heard right).
Brits
929 Massachusetts St.
Lawrence, KS 66044-2869
(785) 843-2288
Hours: Sun 12:00–5:00pm; Mon-Wed, Sat 10:00am–6:00pm; Thu 10:00am–8:00pm; Fri 10:00am–7:00pm
After we left Brits, we got back in the can and drove to The Merc, which is a grocery co-op like Wheatsville in Austin. We needed to pick up some marinara sauce for the orzo we were going to have for dinner, and we got a delicious chocolate chip peanut butter vegan cookie from the bakery case as well. (I did notice that, out of the three varieties of muffins in the case, only the vegan variety had sold out. Perhaps it's a sign that they should make more vegan muffins? Just a thought.) The Merc has a good selection of items, including a few that I haven't seen anywhere else, like loose leaf chocolate chai made with pu-erh tea. They also have a deli and a food bar, and a good-sized bulk section.
The Merc Community Mercantile
901 Iowa St.
Lawrence, KS
(785) 843-8544
Hours: 7am-10pm
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