SHOP WIMBERLEY

I sometimes think I visited the Wimberley shops a lot more before I lived here than I do now. The thing is, the longer you've been livin' the good life, the less often you feel the need to go shopping. Lately, just about the only time I go shopping is when I'm showing house guests around town. However, all that is about to change.

You see, the Wimberley shops and restaurants are hurting. They depend on income from our hordes of summer tourists to keep them in business the rest of the year. As I'm sure you can imagine, after our recent epic flood and the media barrage that kept replaying the same horrific images over and over, the hordes have dwindled considerably. So, I decided it was my duty to get out and about more -- not only to check and report, but also to spend a little moolah (hence the recent basket purchase). You will be happy to know that 90% of Wimberley is just a beautiful as ever, and almost all the shops and restaurants are open for business! There was one small strip of shops --  the ones closest to the water near the bridge -- which got flooded, but all of those seem to have found new spaces to move to or are sharing space temporarily with others around the square. Guess what else I discovered while there? There are a bunch of awesome new shops that I didn't even know about! The one above went in where the toy shop used to be, and a peek through the door compelled me to go in.

Have any of you ever been to a shop called Sir Wigglesworth, that used to be in Salado? If you loved that one, you'll love this too!

My new favorite is this one below, called French Market (Mais Oui!), which took the place of Vintage Girl (when did that go out of business?!!).

I was waiting in line at the ATM, a few days after the flood, when I met the owners. They had still been in California, loading up the van to come here and open their new shop, when little Wimberley made national news. Can you imagine their horror? On the plus side, at least there was no merchandise in there to be damaged, when flood waters came lapping at its door. And now? Trés Magnifique!

Another new shop carries my favorite kind of color-mad Mexican clothes. In fact, when I walked in wearing one of my own embroidered cotton blouses, the manager said "Great Blouse!" just as I was saying "Great shop!" Obviously, we are a match made in heaven. Yet another fabulous new shop, right next to French Market, has sort of a Junk Gypsy vibe, and is called Farm Loft. Unfortunately, I was so busy admiring all the yumminess in there, I forgot to take a single photo!

Needless to say, there is still much to enjoy here in Wimberley. And, although the Blanco River area does look very sad, the Blue Hole and Jacobs Well both look better than they have since before the drought. So come on down! Wimberley misses you!