Editors’ Picks: Shopping
Best Place to Get Your Green On: Fullfillery
The zero-waste lifestyle seen on Pinterest can be your reality with help from FullFillery, a downtown Takoma Park shop committed to stocking its shelves with products that are made from reusable materials, with nontoxic ingredients and minimal packaging. The owners aim to source products that are ethically and locally made to carry in their shop, which opened in 2021 on the second floor of a two-story building on Carroll Avenue above Olive Lounge & Grill. As you walk up the stairway to the zero-waste heaven, the scents of lemon, lavender, peppermint and eucalyptus waft through the air. Employees say the store always has the lingering scent of whatever soap, lotion or detergent the FullFillery’s in-house chemist is concocting. The shop also features many zero-waste solutions that go far beyond metal straws and reusable water bottles—such as cloth menstrual pads and diapers, paper-free “paper” towels, biodegradable scrub brushes and beauty products in compostable packaging. Castile soap, shampoo, hair care products and home laundry powder are all sold in bulk.
7006 Carroll Ave., Suite 200, Takoma Park, fullfillery.com
Best Dressing Rooms: Reformation
Long lines, unflattering lighting, a mess left from the last shopper—let’s face it, trying on clothing in dressing rooms is often an unpleasant experience. Things are different at Reformation, the sustainably minded women’s clothing store that opened a Bethesda Row location in July. The store’s six dressing rooms feature customizable lighting (options include cool, warm, warmer, hot and red “fire emoji”) to mimic different environments where you may be wearing the apparel (which is largely sleek, chic and vintage-inspired). There’s also an interactive touch screen so you can ask for more styles and sizes from the comfort of your dressing room, and have sales associates bring them to you. This is a change, indeed.
4823 Bethesda Ave., Bethesda, thereformation.com
Best Bridal Henna: Art of Hennas
Sitarah Kassam of Art of Hennas makes house calls to brides for intricate head-to-toe designs of this timeless art. Imaginatively adorn the entire wedding party—including groomsmen—with custom designs large or small. Fees are commensurate with the degree of difficulty; for a token henna design, prices range from $150 to $300. For a statement piece, budget $500 to $800, says Kassam, a Germantown native who serves the DMV and has a large client base in Montgomery County. Plan your schedule, too—creating your masterpiece may take between two and nine hours. An insured professional henna artist since 2017, Kassam hones her craft with hand-mixed, organic, all-natural henna. Her knowledge and experience in both traditional and modern art, as well as her use of intricate Indo-Pakistani techniques infused with bold Arab-African styles, create a stunning final product.
artofhennas.com
Best Bat Mitzvah Dresses: Lilac
Too short, too tight, too babyish, too grown-up—dress drama with a tween or teen can be exhausting. The answer to shopping for age-appropriate party dresses: Lilac. When Bethesda residents and sisters Amy Eisner, 47, and Debbi Schultz, 45, started their dress business in 2019 as a pop-up operation, they were thinking of the trouble they had shopping for dresses as young girls while growing up in New Jersey. Both have three kids now—Eisner has one daughter and Schultz has three—so they wanted to create a place for their girls to have a fun experience shopping for outfits for bat mitzvahs and other parties. Last summer they moved the business into a building in Bethesda where girls come, often with a group of friends and parents, for a shopping outing (the wall with fake greenery is TikTok-ready). The store carries more than 15 brands, including a line of chic tuxedos called LilaPants for tweens or teens who don’t want to wear a dress. Shopping is by appointment after school and on weekends. “We spend a lot of time trying to find dresses—suits, too—that are appropriate for a 13-year-old to wear that don’t make them look too old or sexy or sophisticated, that also don’t make them look too childish. It’s a very fine line to walk,” Eisner says. Prices start at $75 and max out around $500 for a special dress a girl would wear to her own bat mitzvah.
7801 Norfolk Ave., Suite 104, Bethesda, shoplilacgirl.com
Best Women’s Blazers: Veronica Beard
Let’s be honest, few of us could have predicted that dickeys—those faux shirtfronts we once tucked beneath sweaters and jackets for modesty or versatility or whatever we were thinking—would ever make a comeback. Credit Veronica Beard for pulling it off. The women’s fashion brand has become synonymous with the Dickey Jacket, its bestselling blazer, which comes in tons of colors and fabrics and is equipped with interior fastenings and zippers to attach to equally stylish dickeys, from knit hoodies to cashmere bibs. Fans include Gisele Bündchen, Jennifer Lopez, Sarah Jessica Parker and any woman who’s ever wound up with too much bulk after trying to tug a structured blazer over an entire sweater. Try on the jackets (a sky blue tweed number for $598, a fuchsia velvet double-breasted blazer for $698) and dickeys (a gray hoodie version for $175, a black leather moto style for $550) in person now that the New York-based chain has a local store, which opened in July on Bethesda Row.
4840 Bethesda Ave., Bethesda, veronicabeard.com
Best Local Instagram Influencer: Michelle Katz (@Pike.and.Rozay)
Social media posts and reels aren’t all created equal, and you have to keep scrolling to find the ones that are well-crafted and useful. Michelle Katz’s Pike.and.Rozay Instagram account is a source of scroll-stopping local info. The 32-year-old Rockville resident started her feed in 2019 to showcase her food photography, and now more than 11,000 people follow her to learn about Rockville businesses, restaurants and events. You might see her scooping up spinach and artichoke dip at Stanford Grill (“It was super cheesy and a generous portion,” she says in the voice-over, with background music and captioned text on top). Or interviewing The Real Housewives of Potomac’s Ashley Darby about her favorite Montgomery County restaurants, or getting a hydrafacial at Woodhouse Spa. Like just about every influencer, Katz features a lot of paid sponsorships (they are clearly labeled). Even so, there are tips (try Naked Lunch inside MOM’s Organic Market), updates (Far East reopened for indoor dining) and first looks (her post on the opening of Hulu Skewer House was shared 17,000 times, she says). Katz grew up in North Potomac, graduated from Quince Orchard High School and now teaches photography and digital art at Gaithersburg High School. She responds to every message she receives—followers have asked her where to find the best brunch and even how to enroll their child in school. She says she spends 15 to 20 hours a week on Pike.and.Rozay (it’s a play on North Bethesda’s Pike & Rose, and Rozay is pronounced like rosé wine). We love that she’s highlighting the things that make Rockville seem like one of the coolest places around.
Instagram: @pike.and.rozay
Roundup: Best Japanese Specialty Shops
In an area as diverse as Montgomery County, you have options when it comes to seaweed-flavored potato chips or socks embroidered with Gudetama, the Japanese cartoon egg yolk. Stock up on Pikachu mugs, cult-favorite skin care products and ramen varieties galore, no ticket to Tokyo needed.
Ebisu Japanese Life Store
Stop by Ebisu to find Japanese versions of virtually every item you need to stock your kitchen, bathroom and desk. When you first walk in, you’re greeted by a wall of coin-operated vending machines featuring Japanese character toys. A colorful and tempting stationery section displays dozens of notebooks, stickers and pens featuring smiling vegetables and fruits, along with Sanrio characters such as Hello Kitty. Skin care junkies will want to check out the rows of Asian cosmetics, and you can also pick up house-cleaning products while you’re at it. The grocery section offers a diverse array of food items, including boba ice cream and lobster-flavored ramen. Need a mug or a teacup set? Ebisu has dozens of them, including some shaped like Pikachu.
836 Rockville Pike, Rockville, instagram.com/ebisu_md_
Miniso
Just outside the Macy’s at Westfield Montgomery mall you’ll find Miniso, an Asian specialty gift store chock-full of branded character items. From rows and rows of “blind boxes” featuring surprise figurines of Sanrio characters, to Tonymoly brand face masks and lotions, to notebooks and stationery featuring the character Pompompurin, the perfect gift for the Japanophile in your life is probably right inside. The store also features a small section of Japanese chips and candy to satisfy your international sweet tooth.
7101 Democracy Blvd., Suite 1340, Bethesda, minisousaonline.com
Maruichi Japanese Grocery & Gift
This unassuming storefront on Rockville Pike is stocked to the gills with all kinds of Japanese food specialties, from crunchy seaweed snacks to shredded squid. The small grocery store has several aisles of pantry items, a bakery aisle, and a large refrigerator and freezer section, with goodies ranging from lotus root to bamboo shoots to native Japanese seafood. There are shelves full of bowls and chopsticks perfect for serving one of its many flavored ramen varieties, a small section of cosmetics and cleaning supplies, as well as dozens of gifts, including incense and branded stationery and makeup pouches with Sanrio characters. Local delivery is available within a 30-mile radius of the store.
1047 Rockville Pike, Rockville, maruichiusa.com