A few weeks ago my husband and I went to visit the new James Coffee Co. location in Banker’s Hill, San Diego in the new Louie apartments when I saw before my very eyes: the announcement of a new local store that sells all natural skin care!
Thread + Seed, opened by Melanie Michaud of South Park’s Graffiti Beach, had a soft opening Labor Day weekend and a grand opening last week. I love seeing the growing retail scene in my surrounding area. I’ve always lived in San Diego in the adorable neighborhoods surrounding historic Balboa Park, in uptown San Diego, just about 2 miles from downtown.
South Park has been a bustling local shopping scene since we moved to San Diego 5 years ago – just about the time Michaud’s eclectic and cool Graffiti Beach shop opened. On the other side of the park, Hillcrest and Banker’s Hill have had fewer shops or fewer shops that stick around for a long time. Banker’s Hill has a lot of hair salons, so it’s nice to see more retail added to the mix especially with new mixed use developments being built.
My husband and I wondered in Labor Day weekend – a notoriously hot weekend, especially for a pregnant lady. The clean crisp and compact store felt very open, airy and thank goodness – cool on such a hot day. At first I was a little disappointed to not find more skin care (also had SeaMaker’s & Co large selection of organic skin care fresh in my mind from my visit to La Jolla the day before). But in reality, Thread + Seed makes great use of their space and they offer enough variety especially, for all natural skincare newbies.
I was pleased to see they carry Indie Lee and not surprised to see SoCal favorite Herbivore Botanicals (the most prolific non-toxic skin care line in San Diego stores like Pigment, En Concordia, SeaMakers & Co, Graffiti Beach and more). They also sell Palermo skin care (still getting to know this brand) and Little Barn Apothecary.
Thread and Seed in Banker’s Hill has a different vibe than Graffiti Beach for sure – a bit more Kinfolk-y (and yes of course they carry Kinfolk) and seems to reflect some newer interests of Michaud (like skin care, according to the sales associate)
Thread + Seed also carries some home accessories, a tiny but beautiful collection of desk accessories, and beautiful bags like Baggu suede and leather purses. There’s also a men’s accessories section. One of their strongest features is their gourmet gifts wall.
I couldn’t leave this new shop empty handed and since I already have too much organic and natural skin care, we ended up buying some yummy treats. Unfortunately hubby and I both have a thing for marshmallows so we picked up a variety of Malvi treats. I couldn’t resist the Chai spice nut butter either, and I can’t wait to cook something delicious from the savory Maple syrup ingredient cookbook by katie Webster (I’ve got big plans to get back into cooking in the next few months).
Thread and Seed is definitely worth a trip down to the burgeoning Banker’s Hill retail scene. This new boutique is also a great sign of the growing natural, organic and non-toxic skin care shopping scene in San Diego (stay tuned for more this fall!).
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