I'm a sucker for art co-ops and architecture and design stores, of which Akar is one. It's located…read morejust off Downtown Iowa City, and to my surprise, my review is one of the first in at least a couple of years. And after COVID, it's nice to see that Akar is still standing. Akar has strong ceramics selections, some nice pens, and a whole bunch of interesting tchotchkes. The store is well laid out, displayed, and curated. It's one of those place that you need to visit a couple times to appreciate the merchandise layers. That also helped with my tendency to wander and only be struck by 1 or 2 things at a time.

The unique pottery is enough in itself to have me coming back again and again. It is displayed in…read moresuch a way that makes you feel as though you are in an art museum yet able to pick something up and buy it. The rest of the store has fun items, jewelry, seasonal decor, kids items, and more, but the pottery area stands out. Great little gem in Iowa City.

Nice ppl and nice prices. Have known Lenny for a very long time and they are always,willing to deal…read morewith ppl. Family owned and operated.

Renee is so kind and a wonderful teacher! I brought my daughter and a friend for a birthday gift…read moreand they loved it!

highly enjoyable. gone here for years(literally since daycare) my family and I have always had a…read moreblast here, every time we go there is a wide variety to choose from. We have always had a wonderful time at her place. doesn't matter where she is we will go to her.

Nice little shop, not a lot of fabric but what there is , is good quality Will stop again on our…read moreway through. Very friendly

A small bit terrific you and children's book store with unique items. Local interest titles sit…read moreside by side with interesting picture, board, and activity books. Nostalgic toys (remember Spirograph?) are on sale along with vintage recreations (train whistles), plush animals, and newer toys. Friendly service.

I love that this toy shop has been an Amana staple for years and years. This is a great stop for…read morekids of all ages. Unique novelty items (big plastic fingers, anyone?), games, puzzles (they sell my favorite brand of all-time White Mountain), personalized items (think keychain with your name on it, but amped up and put on a toy semi-truck), books, baby items, dinosaur stuff, princess/unicorn stuff and so much more. They had a small section dedicated to Bob Ross, so I bought an ornament for our tree. Reasonably priced. Staff was much more friendly this time around. Highly recommend.

I always love going to Harbor Freight. Their tool quality is pretty decent, but definitely good…read moreenough for those one off tools that you are only going to use a couple of times in your life. No sense in spending an arm and a leg for something like that. I have purchased extra combination wrenches to fill the toolbox ,because it seems like you are always missing that one wrench! Highly recommend!

Will not shop or waist my time driving cross town inhopes the one item I want is in stock…read more Considering the most popular items they order one at a time and they do not have what they advertise or have coupons for and do not give out rain checks and when you go up to the cashier to pay for it it's a total different price no thank you I think I'll stick with Sears or snap on

The Kitchen sink recently appeared in the land of Amana and we were quite impressed w/ what we…read morefound. They had, hands down, the largest variety of salt shakers I've ever seen. It was like an amazon page, but for real! Seriously though, they've got a ton of salt shakers that varied from things you'd use and things you'd buy for grandma's collection. The biggest surprise here was the sheer amount of stuff that was contained in this whimsical store. The place extends back into four large rooms filled w/ more kitchen stuff than you can shake a stick at. It ranges from old school to new kitchen trinkets I hadn't heard of. To boot, they've got an old school candy shop in the back where I procured some cherry balls that would may the grandparent jealous. Best part of that area however was the vintage cash register that we got rung up on. Seriously cool for those interested in such pleasantries. The four stars here are based mostly on the lack of stuff available in the immediate area. This isn't a William-Sonoma, but it's a couple steps up from the stores in the Coralville mall where you can get any kitchen novelty item you want, but nothing you'll use. On the contrary, this is actually a place we'll stop by when we're up in Amana, both for things we need and to grab an Elvis salt/pepper combo.

Nice selection of high end kitchen gadgets. Prices seem a little high but it could be just me…read more Large selection of collector salt and pepper shakers.

So much project inspiration! The owner of this adorable shop hand-selects the fabrics at a fabric…read moreshow and oh my, does she have an eye for drool-worthy, high-quality fabric! They offer loads of classes and I recommend signing up for their newsletter - they don't publish it annoyingly often and when they do, it includes a list of all upcoming events. I also love that they have a cafe side to the craftiness, because all good projects are backed with a hearty dose of super-human powers... I mean, caffeine.

Aside from being rude, these people are either incompetent and/ or thieves. The lady, Sue, is…read moreprobably the rudest in town on consignment, except for the person who runs the second act. Overall, I've brought in dozen of items - once they took about a dozen Wicker boxes and bags and some other items - and six months later I got $20. Recently I brought in brand new and greatly taken care of yard tools. Some of the limb and tree trimmers were even in the box. They're probably $50-$100 new. The next week when I stopped in and noticed they were all gone. I asked for my payout. It was $50. Should have done Facebook market. Either they were pricing in these items obscenely low (although when I look to ship the prices or normal and even high) or fill in the blank yourself. The next week, I took in 2 boxes and a suitcase o clothes... the lady wasn't working and the man took the entire thing, including $100 suitcase that I brought only for transportation, but they said he would take it. I stopped in a week later, and the lady is still not there. The man tells me those weren't the type of clothes they were looking for and they donated that them all to Goodwill but could not provide me the receipt of donation. I could've probably sold it overtime on Poshmark for hundreds of dollars. These people are the worst.