The Curiosity Shop

The Curiosity Shop

The Curiosity Shop, in many ways, embodies the personality of Berkeley. It is unique, accepting, vintage,  eccentric, proud to be different, and full of options. Berkeley natives come here often and embrace it for all of the reasons that make it unique. 

It is a small building on Martin Luther King that is filled to the brim with an eclectic selection of things for sale. There are so many knick-knacks that the building feels very cramped, and visitors are likely to feel a bit overwhelmed, at least at first. 

Honestly, despite being only a few rooms deep, there is too much to see in just one visit. You can come back again as often as you like to check on the selection of goodies. 

The store, whose door reads, "100,000 THINGS YOU DON'T NEED," is a great place to look for cheap fashion jewelry. Some of it is vintage; some of it appears more modern. They have rings, necklaces, earrings, key chains, and even plastic tiaras if you are interested. 

You will find that they also sell some nice, small decorative stones, like quartz or crystal, among others, at a relatively low price. The stones are very pretty, and they fit nicely in your hand. 

It is also a great place to look for affordable antique postcards. If you like to look at old pictures and/or read casual correspondences from a different era, you will likely enjoy their broad selection of antique postcards.  You can shovel through hundreds of them in a couple of different places in the shop. 

There is a large basket full of different colors of dice, especially red, green, white, orange, and blue dice. Most are standard six-sided dice, but some are special dice that have a different number of sides. Some have dots to signify the number being represented, but others have numerical values.

If you're craving some candy, this store has that, too! For not very much money at all, you can purchase lollipops, mints, sour chews, hard candy, and other candies. 

There is a corner of the store that is devoted to different types of incense. They come in different colors and are labeled based on their scent and/or supposed powers (like good luck or love).

The store also features a nice collection of dolls, which appear to represent multiple ethnicities. They are scattered around the store and can be very interesting to examine. 

On the walls, you will see some interesting artwork and paintings. These are more valuable than the other knick-knacks, and I believe the prices are available upon request.

I suggest that you come to this shop at least once to take a look around. It is a shopping experience that is quintessentially "Berkeley." You likely have never seen anything else quite like it and likely never will. 

2214 Martin Luther King Jr Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

Open daily from 10:30 am to 6:00 pm