AWESOME OPENINGS: JimmyStyle

I’m loving all these independent boutiques opening up right now. Go boutique owners! Go Philly’s economy! Go shoppers — visit these stores!

Last week I did get the chance to go check out my friend and Philly fashionista Jimmy Contreras’s newest venture, JimmyStyle, deep in a cute little nook of South Philly. I’m so happy for Jimmy. His sense of style and aesthetic is so great and so honed and so trustworthy, and I just think we’re all so lucky that he’s finally got a boutique of his own (after stints at Nicole Miller and Kimberly Boutique) where we can go buy things that he’s handpicked for us.

If you’re like me, you’ll squeal when you first walk in at the prettiest pretty blue walls — inspired by Carrie Bradshaw’s I’m-gonna-wash-that-man-right-outta-my-hair redecorating of her apartment in “Sex and The City: The Movie.” But it’s not just pretty — it makes the merchandise really pop on the bright, white shelves. There are candles — both of the decorative variety (I seriously need some of the pear ones pictured here) and scented variety (from Paddywax and Vie Luxe). There are frames, cutesy notecards, beautiful pitcher and glasses sets, quirky coasters and elegant diffusers–and even a whole shelf of Naturally Nora cake mix. (Tell me there’s not the perfect hostess gift package in there.) He’s even got a space devoted to the naturally and in-Philly made soaps and lotions from some of my other favorite boys in town, Duross & Langel, in several of their fabulous scents.

He’s got an entire corner stocked with adorable gifts for the munchkins — onesies and booties and sippy cups. Jimmy’s even stocking furniture in there — smaller pieces, like lamps and mirrors, and larger, like ottomans, side tables and love seats.

And one of the things I love most about the store — something that makes it so Jimmy, and so Philly — is that he’s got a “Love” wall along the back half of the store (yes, again, inspired by the keychain from “SATC”), where he plans, each month, to feature the work of a local Philadelphia artist. Next up for summer: Paintings by Matthew Izzo (yep, of the eponymous Old City shop) and light installations and travel photography by John Atwater (yep, weekend anchor for Fox 29 News).  

The doors are finally open. All that’s left is for us to walk through them. 1820 East Passyunk Avenue, 267-687-1813, shopjimmystyle.com.