Beklina: A little gem of a store

The first time I stumbled on Beklina it was kind of round about -- Oh Joy! mentioned Rosy Naylor and Beklina happened to be selling her beautiful hats. I remember looking at the hats (which leave ears free, a no-no in Boston) and then the rest of the store and thinking, "Beautiful stuff, but there's almost nothing here!"

That was the same thought I had when Beklina left a comment on one of my first ever posts, inviting me to their store. But, hey, they'd reached out, so I added them "Find Your Chic" because some of their things really are beautiful.

Then I came into a little bit of fun money (fun because it was unexpected -- we found some old bonds I'd won in middle school) and decided to spend half of it on work clothes, half on play clothes (more on those tomorrow.) For work, I quickly identified the Stewart Brown 1/2 Sleeve Polo (which is PERFECT, btw, but a little low cut for actual hospitals, so I'm considering vintage mother-of buttons.) But none of my normal haunts had the bright "Blue Marlin" color I'd fallen for, so I ended up ordering from Beklina.

I was truly stunned when the package showed up on my door step exactly 4 days later -- trust me, deliveries in Boston are the antithesis of "same day delivery" in NY (I know, NY has ruined me for life.) The shirt was in a plastic mailing bag with no extraneous packaging, a hand written mailing label and -- get this -- a hand written, personalized note. Yup, not only did someone take the time to send my shirt out the second I purchased it, but they took the time to write me a sweet note about enjoying it.

Of course, I loved the shirt, but it also got me rethinking my ideas about what makes a good online eco boutique. Sure, there's something great about having everything you're looking for in one place, and the eco fashion powerhouses will always be my first stop. But in real life, I buy my Method at Target, but not my gifts. Why not shop online for special things at the kind of shop I'd go to in real life and get the kind of human contact that makes buying something special seem more special?

Beklina is an online only store and can be found at www.beklina.com. Paypal account required for purchases (boo) but their zippy shipping is ALWAYS FREE (yeah!)

p.s. A selection from Beklina also seems to be available on Ebay: stores.ebay.com/Beklina