Ye Olde Curiosity Shop

Home of the weird, freaky, interesting and curious, Ye Olde Curiosity Shop is a licensed museum and gift store. They have been in business since 1899, and have collected quite the eclectic mix of treasures. They have interesting items for sale like jewelry made with real insects, butterflies in frames, or recyclable wallets. Their gift selection includes Seattle's own Glass Eye Studio's hand-blown ornaments and paperweights and Northwest Native American hand carved totem poles and masks.  Ye Olde Curiosity Shop began in late 1899 as Standley's Free Museum and Curio on Second Avenue at Pike Street. Best known today as a souvenir shop, it also has aspects of a dime museum, and was for many years an important supplier of Northwest Coast art to museums. As of 2008, the store has been owned by four generations of the same family. In 1933, the Seattle Star named Ye Olde Curiosity Shop one of the "Seven Wonders of Seattle", the only shop on the list. The other six Wonders were the harbor, the Ballard Locks, the Boeing airplane factory, the Seattle Art Museum, the Pike Place Market and the University District's Edmond Meany Hotel (now Hotel Deca).