Luster is a gift shop inside the Van Aken Market Hall. I always liked how charming Luster looked, walked by the store many times, but never had a valid excuse to stop in. This weekend I checked it out while waiting for my food order.
AMBIANCE/INVENTORY: The store has two well-lit rooms with a variety of gifts. The assortment includes women's apparel, household goods, cute purses, knits, totes, coffee table books, skincare items, decor, kids toys, and everything in between. You can literally walk in and purchase everything on your Christmas list or shop for a certain someone. Talk about efficiency! Around Christmas, Luster has visual lists of gifts for certain people in your like on Instagram like "gift guide for travel" queen. This brings me back to the times we used to read magazines and find these lists there. The lists are very helpful! Year round, their website is very well organized and you can quickly find categories/gift personas. The gifts can also accommodate various budgets. Some items are as low as $12, plenty of options under $50. Apparel tends to be more pricey (around $60-200), and goes up to size L.
I was hoping to find a gift bag or a box at Luster for an upcoming girls' Christmas gift exchange. I already have the gifts but need to package them. Surprisingly, the gift shop had no wrapping paper, boxes, bags, or anything for packaging. I was hoping for some unique designs and high quality. I feel like it would be a nice addition to any gifts purchased here. I also then found out that no other surrounding shops at Van Aken seem to have this based on a quick internet search.
SERVICE: I didn't experience any service - no greeting and no offer of assistance. I found it quite impersonal.
PARKING: There are multiple parking lots at Van Aken - surface lot and parking garage.
I can see myself returning to shop for quick gifts in the future and utilizing gift lists. Next time I'll need more time to focus on the extensive inventory. Although to be honest, the lack of service during my visit would make me consider other boutiques around the area first. read more