After seeing Monica Yope at so many of our Yelp events I was thrilled to hear that she was opening up her own store on Mt. Washington. I read about it in the newspaper and went out to check it out. I also got to meet her co-owner of the shop who is Kelly Sanders. During my visit I also got to meet Blake Anthony who created Pittsburgh style ceramic mugs.
The store is more Pittsburgh based goods rather than crafting although Monica told me she eventually hopes to work more of that into it. Inside you will see a lot of Pittsburgh themed goods ranging from Teeshirts, candles, jewelry, wood painting, coasters, and even the Steel city salts which you find in the Strip district on certain days.
I noted some of the things they carry are from Commonwealth Press in Mt. Lebanon and Kelly told me I had a keen eye on that because it is true. While everything in the store may not reflect Pittsburgh the goal is to have Pittsburgh people bring things into it so it will be a store that hallmarks our city. Kelly specializes in notebooks and other crafts made from vintage fabrics. I even noticed some glasses made by the soon to be closed Tech Shop with Pittsburgh etching on it.
You can get cards, tea towels and so much more. It is located not far from the Mon incline so that tourists can get gifts to remind them of our lovely city. They eventually plan to launch online shopping but that is down the road.
I want to get something that Monica herself made and I ended up purchasing a beautiful wood painted wood block of our city for a reasonable price. The store is open Wed-Suns and is located near the Grandview bakery. There is a pay parking lot nearby.