Toots and Magoo

I was sad to see Toots and Magoo leave the Franklin street location and move to University Mall. The new location lacks the same «magical wilderness» feel where you could find something new around every corner and in every nook and cranny. The new location just lacks the same special feel. Some of the same paintings are there but they don’t shine like they do in this more industrial white box they are in.
There were some interesting things in all price ranges from stationery to antiques, vintage and jewelry but the whole experience felt rather cool. We came in and the shop person never got off the phone to greet us. I hope they can add some more appeal to the new location like adding softer lighting, better displays and some color. Also friendliness is appreciated as well.

This store is full of all the wondrous things I love — fun & funny people, gorgeous Italian linen napkins (turquoise, sigh), lovely handcrafted Nepalese paper, funky jewelry from all over — and those shoes to die for with the big bossy brass studs. Ah!

I love, love this store! It is the closest I can get to visiting Paris these days. As a Bay Area transplant it appeals to me as well. I love stopping in and seeing the latest treasures. They have fabulous jewelry and accessories. The store also carries unique gifts and stationary, things that can be hard to find in the Triangle. Prices range from inexpensive to moderate with a few special splurges.

No trip to Chapel Hill is complete for me without a stop at Toots and Magoo. In fact, I plan where I’ll eat and study around being near the store so that I can linger among the beautiful things there — luxurious scarves from Paris, gorgeous bags, unique jewelry pieces, fragrant candles, awesome shoes, and special stationery. There’s a hodgepodge of items, but the variety means there’s plenty to browse around and buy for yourself or friends. I love looking for gifts here. Most recently I treated myself to a pair of TOMS, which have earned me many compliments in my first week sporting them. I also love the window displays. I wish owners Toots and Magoo would open up a shop wherever I live.

I’m not in Chapel Hill often these days but, when I am, I always seem to find lovely little surprises like Toots & Magoo. I found the location on Google maps while looking for sellers of Moleskine notebooks; they didn’t have what I was looking for, but I was delighted by their collection of antiques, handbags, jewelry, and paper goods. I ended up leaving with an American Apparel t-​shirt in Carolina blue professing my love for the Tarheels en Français: «Les Talons Goudronnés,» which I wore with pride during last night’s game against Virginia Tech and, well, we won.

Cute things, although it seems like they don’t really know what direction they want to go in. Some of the items in the store were outrageously priced, others were very reasonable. The clerk seemed a little miffed that we were asking her questions, but a lot of things were not marked with the price, so we had to! She seemed friendlier when we started buying stuff. So, I am rating this store on the stuff, not the staff.

Really cute urban-​outfitters/​anthropology-​ish selection of things. Purses, artwork, prints, wallets, shoes, journals, planners, cards, pens, jewelery etc. Unfortunately it’s way more expensive than urban-​outfitters with (if possible) even worse service. I’ve been in at least four times and only been greeted one of them. The other three I got a snooty look and blatant disregard from whoever was working. And I was definitely not dressed like a slob — I went on my way to teach a course.
They do have really cute, reasonably priced wrapping paper and cards and some justifiably-​expensive items but a lot of it is overpriced. Next time I need a $ 45 vintage-​inspired letterpress journal I’ll hit up Anthropologie at Southpoint which has way better service and actually has sales.

What an adorable shop. I love all there merchandise. Although it
Might seem random to some it all makes perfect sense to me. All there products are earth concious which comes with cost but is worth it. I was visiting from Cali and appreciated the uniqueness of this store. If I’m ever back on the unc campus I’ll for sure stop by with the intent to spend some cash.

I LOVE this store! The owners have such a wonderful eye for design. One of the few places in the area with a wide selection of letterpress cards and hard-​to-​find paper goods of all shapes and sizes (as well as women’s accessories– they carry the gorgeous Hayden Harnett handbags, fine art, etc). My only complaint is that I wish it were bigger. The perfect location next to Sugarland. I hope Franklin St continues to be revitalized in this way.
The shop also keeps a blog:
The blog has some details on workshops they have hosted, including «Introduction to Letterpress: Printing with Metal Type,» «Not Your Granny’s Embroidery» (grannies still welcome), «Basic Zine Making» and «Intro to Bookmaking: Dos-​a-​Dos Pamphlet Stitch Book.» All of which sound completely wonderful.

What a strange store… It’s hard to tell exactly what you’re going to find in here. If I could I’d slap it with what I believe to be a useful emerging label: the knick-​knack shop.
They do a lot of stationary and card stuff here, sometimes going far enough to label things as ‘best quality’ journal paper. What does that mean, exactly? Sadly I was unwilling to pay that much to find out, but I’m sure it allows you to write some mean journal entries.
They have a few bits of sculpture and art around, though the selection is small enough that calling it an art gallery isn’t really possible. I’m not sure what you could call it.
The quality of merchandise around here is good, and it’s clear that they take pride in their product, if not in their customer service. But the limited selection (for the space they operate in there’s not a whole lot in here) and high prices are going to largely steer me away in the future.

This is a cool new store on Franklin Street, run by two best friends and the daughter of one of them. They’ve got an interesting mix of merchandise — antiques, jewelry, handbags, and — something new for this part of Franklin Street, as far as I know — a fine art gallery. I mean, I don’t know who decides what art is «fine» or «not fine», but the works I saw there were attractive, modestly sized oil paintings with steepish price tags. I heard one of the owners telling someone that a former UNC basketball player custom-​makes their frames, which is really neat. They also have quite a few letterpress cards, notebooks, and stationery items. Really distinctive cool stuff, without being cutesy.