CharmingShoppe

Such a cute place! My wife and I went in because they had these baby onesies on your window of a doctor, police, and other town heroes. We got the doctor onesie which came complete with a surgeon’s cap for our new nephew in Colorado. We even had them do some custom embroidery to put Dr. Nolan on the cap for a nominal price. All in a all, a very clean, cute little children’s shop, and friendly service. We’ll stop by again for more cute baby stuff.

I am an online customer. I saw the merchandise here when someone posted a link to the shop on their facebook page. They have wonderful Vera Bradley sales and they will heavily discount some of the «retired» patterns! I saw the same laptop case that I bought, at another store for a lot more $$. While browsing the site, I saw they have a HUGE amount of Disney collectibles, along with other types of collectibles. I bought the perfect gift for my daughter, a Marie (from the Aristocats) collectible by Jim Shore! I’ve never seen it anywhere! She was thrilled. The items were shipped the same day I ordered them and arrived quickly. Excellent customer service — I will order from them again.

The shoppe is full of Disney collectibles and other knick knacks and the owner is super nice. Since I collect weird soaps I bought a Canadian honey soap and one day I will use it. Mostly this review is for that nice lady who helped us out.

Cute collector items and a great selection of Vera Bradley purses, backpacks and totes.

[Disclaimer: I’m friends with the shop’s owner – however she had no influence on this review.]
As much as I like shopping, I’m not much for buying feminine tchotchkes or frilly knick-​knacks. Back when CharmingShoppe first opened, I remember going through the aisles and thinking that there wasn’t a whole lot I was interested in. Precious Moments ceramics and other collectibles – a nice collection, but not for me.
Over the years, they’ve really expanded their inventory, and in my most recent visit a few months ago, I was pretty impressed with the direction they took. Rather than just little collectibles, they’ve started carrying far more practical things, particularly things like Harvey Seatbelt bags and Vera Bradley purses.
Now, I’m not a big Harvey or Vera Bradley fan. But they have such an impressive collection that you’re bound to find something you like. For me, it wasn’t the big purse or tote bag, but things like eyeglass cases and wallets. Best of all, they make terrific gifts! Since they have such a varied inventory, you can easily find something for any budget.
The store clerks are very pleasant. They will acknowledge you but they will leave you alone while you browse. I don’t much care for clerks who just hover, because part of what makes shopping fun is to be able to take your time to decide.
The shop is small and there’s a ton of stuff on the shelves, which means the place could easily turn into an episode of Hoarders – but they do an amazing job of keeping everything stocked but yet neatly stacked and placed. If you can’t find a style in a specific fabric pattern or color, they’ll gladly check their backstock for you as well.
The store is located in downtown Orange. I haven’t had too much trouble parking, and there are a lot of other neat independently owned stores in the neighborhood. A nice change from all the same-​same chain stores you find in your typical mall.
If you like shopping for Vera Bradley bags, etc., CharmingShoppe is worth a visit.

What’s so charming about the charming Shoppe?
1) unique products
2) random figurines — disney, precious moments, etc
3) random notepads/​stationary
4) random customizable pens
5) customizable luggage tags
6) vera bradley totes, purses, laptop bags
7) good place to buy stuff for the aunt or boss (when you can’t figure out what to get them)
The lady behind the counter is nice and friendly. She lets you roam around and check things out. It’s just a cute store to find random things that you could buy for a gift or use for yourself. It’s worth going in or doing some window shopping. I’d actually give it a 3.5

OK, first, here’s the disclaimer. I know the owner of the store. We’re not best friends, and we’re not casual acquaintances, but somewhere in between. I knew about the store because I knew the owner, so I didn’t just find the store by accident. Because I’ve been going a bit, I’ve also become friendly with the store manager, but I don’t think that my knowing the owner or the manager has given me any preferential treatment as I’ve seen them interact with other customers as well.
The store is a sort of boutique-​size place in Old Town Orange close to the circle at Glassell and Chapman. It sits on the street with other boutique-​size establishments, all of which have their own litle niches.
My first instinct was to put the store under the category of «collectibles», but Unilocal doesn’t have something like that, so I chose fashion for other reasons which I’ll get back to.
I first started going to the store because they carry a fairly large selection of Walt Disney Classics Collection figurines (
), and they are also a Gold Circle dealer (or whatever that’s called), so they get the special releases as well. You can also join or renew your WDCC membership, and they can also order members-​only pieces.
They also carry a number of other Disney-​related lines, like the Armanis and Precious Moments. They also have a fairly large collection of Charming Tails pieces, which I don’t collect, but which I do think are cute. They also carry Robert Olszewski’s Gallery of Light and Heirloom Box lines, both of which I love. And they carry quite a number of pieces in the Home Grown line — animals made out of vegetable-​shaped sculptures — they’re *really* cute. I have a few of those as well. There’s actually a bit of an eclectic mix of stuff that they carry, which you can see from their website.
But, I’ve now been indoctrinated into the Vera Bradley circle (
), and CharmingShoppe has a *huge* selection of their line of bags and other accessories (hence, the Unilocal category I chose). I recently went to a cupcake party there that introduced the new Spring line, and there were some game giveaways and gift-​with-​purchase things as well. They also have sales sometimes, and that’s a great way to get Veras. The first Veras I bought back in December were all on sale. Both the owner and manager are also Vera fans, and they know a lot about the various styles and designs and such.
They also recently started stocking purse hooks — the good kind that folds up nicely around itself so it’s compact and comes with a velvet pouch to carry it in. (I’d first heard of the ones that just hang down, but then after seeing these, those other ones make no sense to me — they take up too much room in storage!) I already have a purse hook, but I wanted a couple more so that I’d have different styles, and I ended up liking one of the designs at the store so bought it. I’m hoping they release more styles in the future.
As I mentioned, the store is kind of small, and it’s packed with stuff, so it might get a little cramped if there are a lot of people in there.
The store is closed on Sunday and Monday, so keep that in mind if you want to stop by.
Parking is available at meters on the street or nearby public parking lots. There are some nice little places to eat nearby as well (including Blue Frog right next door and Citrus City Grille down the street, both of which I really like), so you can make an afternoon of it.