Setting Up Shop: Ivanhoe Village
On my latest trek, I visited Ivanhoe Village, an area I am familiar with and didn’t think much of. However, I was pleasantly surprised with the number of unique shopping opportunities unlike any other in the Central Florida area. Nestled thirty minutes from Oviedo, in between Winter Park and downtown Orlando on I-4, Ivanhoe Village is the perfect quaint spot for shopping.
My first stop of the day was Yay! Although I am very familiar with gift boutiques, Yay! has a twist that I haven’t seen yet: the size. About 200 square feet, Yay! uses its space wisely, packed with an inventory full of items that will make you say “yay!”
Although the tiny shop has a high vaulted ceiling, owner and Ivanhoe Village local Stacy Coon jokes that it feels like she’s often playing Tetris when organizing Yay!
“This is a tiny shop with a lot of layers. I like to hang things from the ceiling and make use of drawers and shelves to put as many goods in here as possible,” Coon said.
A retired fine art collector, Coon naturally has an eye for cultivating pieces, all while staying affordable. Prices of goods at Yay! range from a few dollars to $300 for larger art pieces. Since the shop has a maximum of four customers allowed in at a time, it provides a cozy one-on-one shopping experience with you and the owner, as Coon told stories about items, and what two items would go well together in a space.
“The creation of this store was really spontaneous, I had my eye on this space for years, and driving to another store, I noticed the ‘for sale’ sign. My husband and I put down the deposit the next day,” Coon said.
From paintings created by local artisans to Taylor Swift worship candles, Yay! has a knick-knack for any and all gift shop enthusiasts.
“I had a regular customer come in last week and she said ‘I just needed to come to my happy space,’ which is what I want it to be. Just a place that brings joy,” Coon said.
My second stop, conveniently a few doors down from Yay!, was another surprise that I hadn’t seen before: Oh Eco, the first sustainable shop in Orlando. Broken down into different areas including refill stations, home goods, skin and body care, and more, Oh Eco has essentials to making your life more environmentally friendly.
“Our motto is ‘better for you, better for the planet.’ Everything we have here is just a direct swap for everything in your life to show you that it can be easy to make sustainable changes to your lifestyle without it being overwhelming,” owner and Orlando mom Alyssa Barnos said.
A $40 sustainable replacement of paper towels may be difficult for some shoppers to rationalize, but environmentally friendly products end up saving people money in the long run, as these products can last upwards of five years.
The most intriguing part of the store was a refill section, for necessities like dish soap, shampoo and conditioner, body lotion and makeup remover. To refill any products, customers must weigh their jars then fill them with their desired amount of product, and weigh them again when paying. In case you forget to bring a jar, Oh Eco accepts community jars for shoppers to use to refill.
“We try to make things as easy as possible for our consumers, and after hearing feedback from the community, the closed-loop system has really increased the accessibility of our refill bar and our number of shoppers, which has been so exciting to see,” Barnos said.
My last stop of the day was La Jetée, one of only two perfumeries in Florida. Once walking into the store, I was greeted with an array of scents and unique perfume bottles artfully covering both sides of the store. Named after owner Joseph Todd’s favorite French sci-fi movie, La Jetée is the perfect place for luxury fragrance lovers.
“This is a passion project for me. I’ve been collecting perfume my whole life and wanted an outlet for it,” Todd said.
Todd was extremely knowledgeable about the entire fragrance-making process, as well as what fragrance types people could be looking for. Home to approximately 50 niche and luxury fragrance houses, La Jetée has something for anyone interested in spending money on smelling good.
“A lot of accessible designer fragrances are trash in comparison to naturals and attempt to mimic natural fragrance oils,” Todd said.
Although bottles can be priced at upwards of $500, materials like oud and Turkish rose can be extremely hard to cultivate, leading to the high price tag. The natural fragrance process is extensive, as quality raw materials must be sourced, blended, macerated and aged to produce the final product.
“I’ve been out of some of my favorite perfumes for years. They discontinue certain fragrances because they no longer can source certain materials,” Todd said.
While La Jetée is an extremely luxurious perfumery, there are options for shoppers to purchase discovery sets for different houses, or samples to get an idea of how a fragrance lasts throughout the day. I will definitely return to La Jetée the next time I want to find a signature scent.
The quaint area of Ivanhoe Village definitely offered me some new experiences. Nestled right by Lake Ivanhoe, Ivanhoe Village is the perfect place to spend a relaxed day with friends and family with plenty of lunch spots for when you’re tired of shopping.
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