Shop Local at These 23 St. Louis Stores We Love in 2023

Cornucopia
Cornucopia (107 North Kirkwood Road, Kirkwood; cornucopia-kitchen.com) immediately instills a sense of coziness when you walk through the door. Maybe it’s the aroma of the dozens of varieties of flavored coffee beans and teas that the store sells by weight. Or maybe it’s the kind staffers, who are always around to lend their expertise, or the notes spread throughout the store that detail interesting facts on products that can often only be found at Cornucopia. Wherever that charm factor derives from, we’re here for it. But even more important than the good vibes, Cornucopia has what home cooks both novice and experienced need. While Cornucopia feels and looks like the small mom-and-pop shop that it is, there’s seldom a kitchen product you can’t find there. Dozens of different whisks, spatulas, grill supplies, spoons, gadgets and more cover the walls. In the basement, Cornucopia boasts the largest assortment of Fiesta tableware in the area, in addition to beautiful Polish pottery and other styles of dishware. There’s also the items you didn’t think you’d need, such as Cornucopia’s collection of more than 100 cookie cutters, that you’ll spend time combing through anyway (and probably walking away with one or two). From the outside, Cornucopia blends in with the rest of downtown Kirkwood’s quaint exterior — but make sure you come in, because you’re sure to like what you find inside. —Monica Obradovic

LARK Skin Co.
LARK founder Lisa Donlan got interested in safe skincare after her mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and developed her product line from there. She opened up her brick-and-mortar Webster Groves store in 2018, adding skin treatments to her offerings. A good entry into the products at LARK Skin Co. (8709 Big Bend Boulevard, Webster Groves; larkskinco.com) is the skincare quiz on its website, which is blessedly short but will generate a routine of varying complexity based on your preferences, skin type, goals and self-care preferences. LARK also sells small starter kits for different skin types/desired outcomes that can be picked up online or in store. If you’re a person who wants to think about ingredients, LARK’s products are ideal, with clear names and ingredients lists. Do you need to know anything else about the Green Coffee + Avocado Awakening Undereye Oil or the COQ10 + Sea Buckthorn Age Defy Facial Oil, for example? LARK’s storefront is filled with appealing displays of its minimalistic glass-packaged products and is open for browsing on Saturdays. Spa services, such as custom facials, enzyme peels, extractions and more, are available most days. Orders can also be picked up at the storefront next door other days of the week. —Jessica Rogen

Planet Score Records
Planet Score Records (7421 Manchester Road, Maplewood; discogs.com/user/planetscore) is your favorite record store’s favorite record store. OK, we’ll admit that might not make a whole lot of sense, but this delightful Maplewood shop is so chock-full of treasures that it would be unsurprising if, granted sentience, the other fine record stores in this town at least made it a point to swing through. Owners Tim Lohmann and Joe Stulce are longtime record store employees, having cut their teeth working at the late Hazelwood spot Record Reunion and its rebrand CD Reunion, and their many years of experience shine through in the shop’s well-curated selection. The two met decades ago while playing music together in the St. Louis rock group the Helium Tapes and share a love for garage rock, punk, psychedelic rock and prog, which are all well represented in Planet Score’s stock, but there is plenty of hip-hop, soul, jazz, reggae, metal and everything in between as well. Expect slabs of wax from the likes of J Dilla, Death Grips, Jesus Lizard, the Pogues, Minor Threat, Ty Segall, Guided by Voices (lots of Guided by Voices) and plenty others. While the store is primarily focused on vinyl, it dutifully offers a nice selection of CDs, tapes, VHS cassettes and even eight-tracks for those whose outdated technology is of a slightly different flavor. Best of all, Stulce or Lohmann or both are almost always on site and happy to answer all of your burning questions, lending their decades of collective knowledge to ensure that at Planet Score, your record-purchasing experience is out of this world. —Daniel Hill