The Coast's Most Unique Shopping Experiences
By Stella Bennett
Published: 09/18/2010  Updated: 06/20/2019

Three unique stores on the Northwest coast offer a surprising variety of goods.

Combine an old fashioned mercantile store open since 1885; two floors of showrooms featuring home furnishings and decor with coastal and cottage style; and a quirky shop that is a treasure hunt of apparel and imports and you have the coast's most unique shopping tour. At the historic Jack's Country Store in Ocean Park, Washington, you'll find everything from fishing tackle to old fashioned cast iron toys and groceries too. In Cannon Beach, Sesame & Lilies is a decorator's delight with at least eight showrooms packed with stylish and unique items for your home. In Lincoln City, you'll find the Red Cock Craftsmen's Outlet. Don't let the name or location fool you, there is fine apparel from eco-friendly fibers, quality imports and plenty of bargains to be found here.

Jack's Country Store
Ocean Park, Washington

As an intrepid shopper for many years, I can honestly say I have never encountered a more interesting shopping adventure than at Jack's Country Store in Ocean Park on the Long Beach Peninsula. Part of the fun is seeing the sheer variety of merchandise they carry, and the other part is the cheerful and knowledgeable help you receive from their staff. With over 225,000 items, it's mind-boggling to walk the aisles and scan the shelves. How long has it been since you saw real oilcloth? Jack's has it. Aladdin kerosene lamps are items from an electrically challenged past (or at least the last storm), but Jack's has them. Have your heart set on a Radio Flyer wagon? Yep, Jack's has it. We can't begin to list the hardware, foods, household products, toys, farm and garden equipment and other items at Jack's. But, take a drive up to Ocean Park to see it first hand. The vintage counters and showcases are attractions in themselves. You will be amazed.

Red Cock Craftsmen's Outlet
Lincoln City, Oregon

The Red Cock Craftsmen's Outlet in Lincoln City is a shopping adventure of another sort. Fun, funky and quirky are terms often used to describe this unique shop. Like a scavenger hunt, you might have to dig into a pile of garments to come up with a great bargain, but they are there. Women's natural fiber apparel, jewelry, pottery and gifts of all kinds are on shelves, racks, stacks and baskets. There is vintage clothing and evening wear. You can find a huge assortment of jeans in most sizes and styles and plus-size women will discover a delightful selection of fashions. There are surprises at every turn. Dig through a stack of jeans and you might find a Buddha head or a hand-carved wooden bird or...?

Sesame and Lilies
Cannon Beach, Oregon

If you yearn to decorate your home in a stylish yet comfortable fashion, but you don't think you can carry it off, wander through Sesame and Lilies in Cannon Beach. Allow yourself plenty of time to browse through the first floor, getting ideas and finding those just-perfect accents that would work for you; a Dash and Albert rug or an original oil painting of beach grass, birds or boats by Diane Speakman, Sesame and Lilies' owner. I like to make at least two circuits around the first floor so I don't miss anything before I head upstairs. The upstairs is a fantasyland of miscellany with artful groupings on every horizontal surface. Quaint antiques accented with natural forms and fibers; plant life from land and sea mix with gorgeous glass and porcelain; exotic shells complement Victorian lace. Sesame and Lilies is more than a store, it's an experience.
The Coast's Most Unique Shopping Experiences