I finally stopped by the new spice shop in Brookside called Season + Square….and it’s great!  It is everything we love about Brookside shops:  locally owned, attractively decorated, friendly customer service and it sells goods you can’t find in a traditional boring shopping mall.  Owner Andrea Joseph was working in corporate sales and desperately needed a change of pace.  Inspired by what she told her teenage daughter about career choices (“you can do whatever you want to do”), she quit the corporate job and opened up her own shop.

Right now the store focuses on selling spices of all kinds, in neatly arranged recycled glass jars and in bulk.  These are high quality spices, chemical-free, and Andrea  knows where every item comes from.  There are currently two original spice blends, Wild Weston Shake and Hyde Park Pork Rub.  She also stocks eco friendly cleaners, olive oil and vinegar from Olive Tree, wildly popular finishing salts, Bittermilk products for cocktails, Morris Kitchen and Royal Rose syrups, Broadway Cafe coffee, Hugo Tea and Askinosie Chocolate. I bought the chocolate and used it in cookies and biscotti–so deliciously different from a bagged chocolate chip!  I also purchased the Sugar Maple Smoked Salt which I am trying out the next time we grill.

Although the shop just opened in February, it’s already evolving into something more than Andrea imagined at first.  She’s turning it into  a general store for staple food items, where local produce, meat and eggs will be available for purchase (hopefully by early next month).  She will be sponsoring creative cooking courses, the first one scheduled for May 22 on canning, and she plans to host farm to table dinners.

This is a really fun shop to browse–besides buying something for yourself, it’s a great place to shop for unique gifts. Support our locally owned Brookside businesses and stop by soon.  Season + Square is open Tues, Wed, Thurs 11am-6pm and Sat and Sun 11am-5pm at 6205 Oak St.