My Favorite Gift Boutique in Atlanta: Just The Thing

Do you have one of those stores you always go back to over and over again because you know that every time you go in you'll find something perfect for the reason your shopping?  I have that place, Just The Thing located on Pharr Road in Buckhead.  It's been in the small house for as long as I've been in Atlanta and it was shown to me by one of my co-workers at my very first job here in town.  I've been shopping at Just The Thing for close to 9 years now.

The store is set up in an old home which has been converted into a shop.  There is a room full of jewelry, one dedicated to gifts, two rooms to the back of more casual jewelry and bags and then a new room for clothing.  The main room up front with the cash registers has the higher end jewelry and hand bags along with some earrings on the counter.  The stuff is gorgeous.  All of it is SUPER trendy and I've never come across an item that is out of style or of questionable taste.  I think it's pretty safe to say that I could go in there blindfolded and pick something and I'd love it.  That'd actually be a fun way to shop...

The gift room is always my first stop when I have a gift for a close, female friend.  I've never once been let down.  And if you don't find a cute little gift, how about a clutch or hand bag?  Again, if that's my goal for my shopping trip, I've never walked out empty handed.  As a matter of fact, I'm not sure, in 8 years that I've ever walked out with out one of the black and white bags.

The best thing about Just The Thing is that while all of their items are trendy and classy, nothing is overpriced.  For what you're buying, prices are absolutely reasonable.  For example, for Christmas I got my future-mother-in-law a new clutch, $35.  I've bought a few other clutches for other friends, never more than $35.  My green purse that I'm carrying now - $25.  I get compliments on it constantly.  You can find earrings under $10 or as much as $100 depending on what you want.  Off the sale rack I actually got THREE pairs of earrings for under $10 total last time in.  There is no way by just looking at them someone would know that I paid $2.50.  Necklaces are super reasonable too.  If I find something I love in Anthropologie, I'm pretty sure they have something similar at Just The Thing at a lower cost.

The ladies in the shop are always helpful and there to assist in any way.  I've been in so many times, they don't recognize me yet, but I'll assume that's because there are plenty of other ladies who shop there as much as I do.  I can go in with a Christmas list and walk out with all the ladies in my family checked off.

If you're looking for a gift or some fun, new jewelry, Just The Thing is absolutely the place for you.  I've even sent male co-workers to the store for gifts for their wives and they've continued to go back.  If you like them on Facebook you get to see new items as soon as they get to the store (some stuff goes fast!) and that's where they announce their sales.

I was not compensated for this blog post in any way.  Just The Thing is one of my favorite stores in Atlanta and I want to share it with other people like me.  Go and check it out!

Rockstar Shopping Party at fab'rik

I'm sure you've seen those fishbowls at checkout counters of fast food chains or clothing stores for you to drop your business card for a chance to win something.  I see them all the time.  I never drop my card because I never feel there is a chance for me to win something.  I'm not sure what made me drop my card one day when I was shopping at fab'rik for a friend's birthday gift, but I did.  About two weeks later I got an email from the shop letting me know that I had won a Rockstar Shopping Party at the Atlantic Station location.

The party meant I got to invite 10-20 of my friends to come to the store, after hours, for a private shopping party.  Everything in the store was 20% off, even sale items.  They even had refreshments for us.  I should have taken pictures.

Last night was my party and it was one of the best shopping experiences of my life.  Everyone one there was a great friend.  We all dropped our purses on the chairs in the store and went to town.  It took us about 30 minutes before we got into the fitting rooms, we made sure to look at all the options.  Having the entire store a group of girls who know each other was so much fun.

Once we got into the dressing rooms it was organized chaos.  We each had so many different dresses and shirts to try some of us couldn't even fit it all in one dressing room!  It got to a point where everything we tried on we came out of our fitting rooms and showed the collective group.

Some dresses fit like a glove, some fit me horrible.  All of us have pretty different body shapes and sizes so it was also fun to see how one dress or shirt that looked horrible on me looked on someone else.

We all left the store happy.  I ended up with a maxi dress, of course, two tank tops and a long sleeve sheer top.

While shopping and spending time with some of your best friends is always fun, the staff at the store made the experience amazing as well.  There were 4 girls in the store to help us and they waited on us hand and foot.  Our drink glasses were always full, they had fitting rooms for us immediately and didn't make us carry arms full of clothes around the store and they helped us in the dressing room too.  They took our "no's" out and brought new sizes, helped with new suggestions and had fun with us.

It was such a great night, I hope someone else I know wins one day!

*fab'rik did not pay me or give me any sort of compensation for this review.  All opinions are my own based on my shopping experience in the store.