AliShopsBlog.com - The Twin Cities Shopping Blog

Local retailer, national star

Bjorling & Grant owner Ian Grant is about to become a TV star: his pilot, "The Deal Hunter with Ian Grant" was picked up by the Travel Channel for an eight episode series to begin airing next fall. The show will follow Grant on buying trips around the globe. Good news is: his exotic finds will continue to make their way back to Twin Cities shoppers.
He's already got plenty of fans - the first episode aired during the Travel Channel's Pilot Week and viewers were invited to give Grant's show and several others the thumbs up or down.
I cautioned the affable Grant about letting stardom go to his head. "You've seen our offices," he said, referring to his less-than-pristine showroom in a low-profile St. Louis Park office park. "So it's safe to say it's not going to my head."
We'll hold him to that. Or demand an extra discount.

Saturday shopping hot spot

Wondering where the shoppers are at 5 p.m. on a Saturday? Hirshfield's. That's right - the reason you had such an easy time getting a reservation at Nick & Eddie is that most Minnesotans stayed home to paint.
Seriously, I couldn't believe the line at 4:50 p.m.: Dads and kids, twentysomething guys, young couples, women in their 50s -- all eager to stock up before closing time. I was right there with them, along with my 3-year-old, who didn't want to leave after discovering the play area (yes, even paint stores have toys these days!). I was just impressed by how quickly the guys behind the counter mixed that paint and moved us out. Guess someone had other weekend plans.
My mission at Hirshfield's was to buy a big dose of boring. My husband spent the evening covering up our lime green kitchen wall and dining room stripes in the hopes that our house, on the market for a few months now, might actually sell. Don't get me started on why a little paint supposedly stands in the way of a home sale and why people prefer a house of bland.
Being quite pregnant, I had no choice but to stay away from the paint fumes. Dateless and depressed, I holed up in the bedroom with HGTV. Which is how we got into this mess in the first place.
I've got to get out more often.

Victory at Room & Board

My patience has been rewarded. I've been shopping for twin beds for my (uninterested) 3-year-old and finally picked one out a few weeks ago at Room & Board. At $499, plus another $300 for the trundle, it was actually cheaper - and more attractive - than the ones we saw at Pottery Barn Kids and Hom. But, knowing that the annual Room & Board clearance sale starts the day after Christmas, I couldn't bring myself to buy it in advance. So, I went online first thing this morning to see if my bed had been marked down, and discovered it was gone. Not part of the new 2008 collection; not in the clearance section. Instead, there was a very similar looking new bed with a different name and a higher price. Foiled? Not quite. Called the store and learned that the floor model was still there. Got the bed and trundle for $525 - a really good deal. Feeling very accomplished, indeed. Now, if we can just get the kid to sleep in it.

Sur La Table opens Friday

The Twin Cities' first Sur La Table store opens Friday, June 29 at 50th and France (kiddy corner from Anthropologie) at 5000 France Ave. Known to local foodies through its catalog and website, Sur La Table is a chef's paradise, offering better cookware, bakeware, barware, small electrics, gadgets, table decor, hard-to-find tools, books and items I can't pronounce and have not a clue how to use, like Portuguese cataplanas. It's probably a good thing that locally owned Cooks of Crocus Hill just down the block has its well established roster of cooking lessons to keep the place jumping. With so many quality culinary options in town, where will you shop? Let me know.