Better Know the Ville: Finlandia, T.Bumble's, and Poco Loco
While the Co-op and Renato’s are fairly well-known on campus, most Swatties never bother to browse or explore the Ville’s small collection of specialty boutiques, much to the disappointment of the Borough’s store-owners.
Leila Kevorkian, owner of Finlandia, has managed her shop in Swarthmore for nearly 25 years. Finlandia features mainly European imports, including pottery, crystal, clothing, and accessories for the home. The store also sells local hand-crafted jewelry and items by American designing company Vera Bradley. Initially, Finlandia only sold goods directly imported from Finland, Sweden, and Denmark, often items Kevorkian brought back to Swarthmore from trips. “As it slowly became more and more difficult to import,” Kevorkian explains, “I had to start relying on suppliers of Finnish items in New York.”
Beverly Skarani, owner of nearby Poco Loco, similarly stopped her quarterly trips to Guatemala and Mexco as importing restrictions became tighter. Skarani began Poco Loco in 1990 as the clothing outlet of her original store, Galeria Mia, a few blocks away. The Galeria largely sold artifacts and hand-crafted items from Skarani’s trips to South and Central America. After running out of space at the “Mexican Market-style” Galeria, Skarani decided to begin a new location dedicated solely to women’s clothing, a risky move. According to Skarani (and several colleagues), “no one knew if it was [Skarani] or the store that was a little crazy” and thus Poco Loco was born. Galeria Mia eventually shut down, and the remaining clothing extension evolved as trips to South America became more difficult: “we now sell everything from anywhere: socks, scarves, purses, costume and silver jewelry, plenty of accessories, luggage tags, lots of little gift-y things.”
T. Bumble’s, a toy store just a few shops over from Poco Loco, has a stricter policy with regards to its wares. Owner Diane Somerdyk assures that she “does not sell anything with batteries [except for watches] and specifically no war toys or toys of violence,” a policy that seems to mesh somewhat with the College’s Quaker tradition. Somerdyk observes that, “often athletes wander in to buy Secret Santas for teammates. Students also buy special anniversary gifts for their partners. We have lots of stuff: plush toys, antiques, and just fun toys to play around with.” According to Somerdyk, T. Bumble’s also boasts a fair amount of regulars.
All three owners, however, complained that they did not get students in the store often enough. Kevorkian claims students wander in “infrequently or sometimes, mostly around holiday times.” A Ville-wide student discount offered a few years ago didn’t do much for Skarani’s trickle of College customers either. Each little boutique offers its own unique quirk that may warrant exploration (before elaborate conspiracy theories; see The Duchess), but high costs for small accessory items might simply not work on student budgets. Nevertheless, Skarani, Kevorkian, and Somerdyk all encourage students to browse their shelves.
Skarani warns, “don’t wait till graduation to check us out!”
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#1: 9/1/2009 at 3:58 p.m.
They may want to try selling something any student would actually want or need.
— Real Talk | Unregistered, Swarthmore
#2: 9/1/2009 at 5:34 p.m.
T. Bumbles is great! They sell Bananagrams. And hey, I didn't know anything about this ville-wide student discount!
— Andrew '12 | Unregistered, Swarthmore
#3: 9/1/2009 at 5:37 p.m.
Agreed, Real Talk.
Even with discounts, the unneeded trinkets that stores sell in the ville are unaffordable.
I frequently talk with one Ville employee who laments the fact that "students" are "too lazy" to leave the campus. I wouldn't be lazy if there was a pub, a student friendly restaurant, or an affordable trinket store. I mean, I trek to Target by foot, for goodness sakes. I'm not lazy.
I have to admit, though, the 10% discount that students now get at the co-op brings the food prices down to an only somewhat obnoxious level.
— Clarice | Unregistered, Swarthmore
#4: 9/2/2009 at 8:57 p.m.
There USED to be a Ville-wide discount a few years ago. I'm not sure how effective it actually was...
— Neena Cherayil | Staff
#5: 9/3/2009 at 12:48 a.m.
Ok guys. First of all, you're totally discounting what Finlandia represents. The Finnish people's struggle for independence and national identity is not only disregarded as of value to our community, IT IS ACTIVELY OPPOSED. The courageous individuals who founded Finlandia, manufacturing by THE SWEAT ON THEIR BROWS these magnificent wool garments, are not to be ridiculed.
You want a national identity? You want your culture to be regarded as important, as a rich repository of human history and local knowledge? You need to pay for it, kids, and it won't come cheap.
That's why they charge so much for the mittens.
Also, the yarn people are kick-ass, they give you a 20% discount, and they made it possible for people like me to put gratuitous hand-made earflaps on everything.
Everything.
— Argos | Unregistered, Swarthmore
#6: 9/3/2009 at 7:15 p.m.
^best post ever.
— Peter '11 | Unregistered, Swarthmore