One thing about Tucson is we love a good vintage store, and this week for the $25 Challenge, I stopped by the newest addition to the Midtown Tucson antiquing scene, Crescent Moon Mercantile, to search for one-of-a-kind, affordable finds.
A wooden moon and sun mirror at Crescent Moon Mercantile.
Crescent Moon Mercantile officially opened its doors earlier this month, taking over the old Safe Shift building at 2801 E. Grant Road. Opening their own store had been a long-term dream for owners Miriam Silver-Altman and Fiza Rahmen, who met when Rahmen was working as a cashier at another antique mall and Silver-Altman was a vendor.
Cat T-shirt at Crescent Moon Mercantile.
While Rahmen had always been into thrifting, she said it was while working in that antique shop that she really fell in love with vintage items.
“The community that was there and all the vendors, they got me into it,” she said. “All the vendors coming in and explaining about all the antiques, I got really into how cool the stuff was."
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'60s Mikasa Natural Beauty California poppy coffee cups at Crescent Moon Mercantile.
When the old Safe Shift building came up for sale, they decided to take the opportunity to make their dream a reality.
“We had talked about wanting to either own an antique store or an antique mall at some point in the future,” Silver-Altman said, “and then we saw the building come up.”
At Crescent Moon Mercantile, Silver-Altman and Rahmen said they want to focus on offering quality items and including younger sellers and curators into the space.
“We want to give more younger people the opportunity to get into this, because a lot of younger people, they're just seen as too inexperienced,” Rahmen said.
Silk scarves at Crescent Moon Mercantile.
Silver-Altman and Rahmen have made it their mission to create a community space where people can spend the day hunting through antiques or grab a drink at the in-house coffee bar — Pretty Coffee — and hang out in one of the comfortable lounge areas.
Beaded vintage pillow from Christiana Lapetina Johnson at Crescent Moon Mercantile.
“There's definitely a lack of shared community space for people to exist in right now,” Silver-Altman said. “But this is an all day thing that people do. They come to these places and they spend hours and hours just hanging out.”
In the future, they said they hope to work on landscaping the outdoor area to create a space to host community events, but for now, they are grateful for the community support and are excitedly watching their business grow.
Soap bars from Monsoon Mystics at Crescent Moon Mercantile.
“It's been very thrilling,” Rahmen said. “It's just nice seeing the vendors and all the effort they put into not only their products but their booths.”
Framed desert photos at Crescent Moon Mercantile.
With more than 90 vendors in residence, the space is filled with thousands of unique vintage finds, handmade pieces and adorable trinkets.
“Blind Date Blockbuster” packages from Monsoon Mystics at Crescent Moon Mercantile.
From clothes and accessories to ceramics, room decor, artwork and records, Crescent Moon Mercantile has hidden gems everywhere you look, which made it extremely hard to narrow my picks down to just a few items, but after much deliberation, here are some of my favorite treasures I found for under $25:
Crescent Moon Mercantile, 2801 E. Grant Road.
Aside from antiques, Silver-Altman and Rahmen said they first bonded over their love of cats, which shows in the numerous cat-themed pictures, ceramics and decor items found in the store. I love cats probably just as much as they do, so of course, the first thing that caught my eye was a Homegirl Society T-shirt with the most adorable kitten and bow on it. The shirt was priced at exactly $25. I later found a second vintage cat tee with kittens playing in yarn, for $24.
Among all the vintage items, there were also a few plants and plant cuttings that I was tempted to buy and add to my own plant collection. The Golden Pathos plants were priced at $8, and the small cuttings in small glass jars cost $4.50.
Posters at Crescent Moon Mercantile.
The most surprising booth to me, though, was the space owned by Monsoon Mystics. The light purple wicker shelves were filled with antique bowls and vases, as well as some of their metaphysical products such as creosote bundles and incense. They also had a selection of their soaps including “Mal de Ojo, Evil Eye,” which smells like sage, blood orange and chamomile; “Naughty Bits,” which is scented with sweet orange, patchouli and spearmint; “Creo-Soap,” with creosote and rosemary; “This Bar Smells Gay,” which smells like lavender, lemon and vanilla; and their unscented “Clean Girl” bar. Each bar costs $9.
For $12, they had “Blind Date Blockbuster,” packages with nostalgic ‘80’s-’90’s mystery DVDs, popcorn, and a sticker pack. Or, if you’re into everything mystical and witchy, they had packs of mini three-card tarot readings for $10.
Some of the other random items that I loved were a set of small, '60s Mikasa Natural Beauty California poppy coffee cups priced at $18 for the pair; a beaded vintage pillow from Christiana Lapetina Johnson for $25; a glass Blenko strawberry listed for $25; a wooden moon and sun mirror for $14.99; $10 tattoo flash sheets; and beautiful patterned vintage scarves for $20 each.
One vendor had a collection of framed desert photos featuring saguaro cacti and wildflowers, which were priced at $10-$25; another sold records for $5 each or 4 for $15; and yet another booth had popular movie and musician posters, from Prince’s “Purple Rain” to “The Outsiders,” for $16 each.
And of course, my day wouldn’t be complete without grabbing a delicious Blueberry Lemonade Matcha from Pretty Coffee, which cost $5, and definitely has to be my new favorite summer drink.
