For this week’s Best Of list, the entire Istaverse is highlighting the best adult toy stores in their respective cities. While some may interpret this to mean shops that sell items to enhance sex, we went in a different direction. (If that’s what you’re looking for, BYT has a handy roundup of all the area’s sex and lingerie shops). Instead, the DCist staff presents our favorite adult toy stores in the D.C. area, meaning our favorite places that make us feel like a kid in a toy store again, whether it be a place for booze, culinary delights, comic books, or, uh, actual toys. Got a favorite place like this not on the list? Let us know in the comments.
Photo by lorigoldberg.
THE P STREET WHOLE FOODS: Just walking into a Whole Foods is simultaneously a food lovers dream and test of one’s mettle. Often packed with the worst the upper echelon of society has to offer—the bounty the isles contain is not always easy to get to but well worth the effort. This is especially true when it comes to beer at the P Street NW location. Randy Kuczor and his crew do an amazing job of bringing in one of the best selections of bottles in the city. Far beyond the typical grocery sameness, his cooler and shelves are stocked with local favorites like DC Brau and Lost Rhino, regional rarities like Blue Mountain’s Dark Hollow, and the latest Stillwater releases, as well as many of the U.S. and Europe’s hard-to-find beers that many other bottle shops in the region don’t carry. And the ciders…Oh, the ciders.
Along with Virginia’s Aberlmerle and various canned varieties, P Street Whole Foods often carries stuff from revered cideries like Domaine Dupont [insert angelic voices], and even a decent selection of mead. And what could be the best part of being an adult at this location? Going to the bar and getting one of their 8 drafts to drink while dealing with the hordes. Drinking and shopping? May as well make the most of “responsibility”. — John Fleury
Whole Foods is located at 1440 P Street NW.
NATIONAL BUILDING MUSEUM’S GIFT SHOP: We’ve already discussed how the National Building Museum is one of the city’s best museums not on the National Mall, but look, we need to talk about that gift shop. There’s a whole section of rad Legos (if you’re into that, still), model kits, and other cool toys for kids that, for some reason, I really want to buy, some pretty fascinating books on architecture and D.C. history, and some quite cool architecture home decor. You can easily do holiday shopping at the National Building Museum’s gift shop for the whole family. — Matt Cohen
The National Building Museum is located at 401 F Street NW.
ARROWINE AND CHEESE: Arrowine and Cheese is the closest thing to an adult candy store in the area that I know of. With a great beer selection (their Arlington location is my personal favorite in NoVa) and just about anything food-related one can think to splurge on, you know a place is doing something right when you’re forcing yourself to set a limit before you walk in the door (“I will not buy more than a pound of robiola.”). Their cheese selection is packed with different types of bleu, goat, aged cheddar, and all the stinkiness your significant other will allow. The meat selection includes pata negra and many other cured delicacies are available for even more caloric indulgence. Cognac-drenched mustards, fancypants sardines, and jams and spreads that you want to put on everything—including other jams and spreads—can be found in this culinary heaven. Being an adult is sometimes about listening to that voice in your head nudging reservation and restraint. Arrowine helps to make sure you never hear that voice. — John Fleury
Arrowine and Cheese has locations at 2175 K Street NW and 4508 Lee Highway in Arlington, Va.
HOMERULE: Do I need a tea strainer shaped like a tiny deep-sea diver? What about a toaster that resembles an air stream trailer? Is it okay to eat off robot-themed plates in your thirties? Will I look unprofessional eating out of a lunchbox with tiny animals on it? These are some of the questions I have asked myself while wandering around HomeRule. If you’d like your kitchen and bathroom to reflect your inner child, it’s hard to beat the selection of gadgets and quirky knickknacks at HomeRule. Vibrant colors and cute, rounded shapes permeate the design of everything from salt shakers to tea kettles. Snag a bright orange chef’s knife to match that bright orange cake pan, or pick up some popsicle molds in whimsical shapes like rockets and undersea creatures. No party will be the same with your new pirate-shaped ice cube tray and checkered cocktail napkins. Sure, some of these items are probably designed to appeal to children, but that’s never stopped me from buying them. — Alicia Mazzara
HomeRule is located at 1807 14th Street NW.
Photo by Chris Devers.
AIR & SPACE MUSEUM GIFT SHOP: Like most museum gift shops, the National Air & Space Museum’s is stocked full of really cool stuff geared for kids, but damned if I haven’t visited the museum just to buy shit at the gift shop. As an ardent fan of all things Star Wars (ask me about my Millennium Falcon tattoo), Star Trek, and most things sci-fi, it’s a great pleasure to visit the museum’s gift shop just to cull through all the cool merch related to those franchises and score some sweet memorabilia. There’s also a bunch of rad aviation models and whatnot, if you’re into that kind of thing. And hey—it’s only kind of weird to shop there alone as an adult. — Matt Cohen
The Air & Space Museum is located at 600 Independence Avenue SW.
BIG PLANET COMICS: It doesn’t matter what age you are, comics fucking rule. I’ve been buying comics from Big Planet Comics, one of the region’s best stores—with locations in Maryland, Virginia, and D.C.—since I was a youngin. As my tastes evolved from the superhero stylings of Marvel and DC, to more mature graphic novels and alt-comics like the work of Neil Gaiman, Daniel Clowes, Adrian Tomine, Chris Ware and more, Big Planet has always been there to feed my ever-evolving comics obsession. — Matt Cohen
Big Planet Comics as locations at 1520 U Street NW, 4849 Cordell Avenue in Bethesda, Md., 426 Maple Avenue E. in Vienna, Va., and 7315 Baltimore Avenue in College Park, Md. Fantom Comics is also a great local comic book store located at 2010 P Street NW.
HOBBY WORKS: One of the things I’ve always wanted to get into, but never had the patience for is model building. There was a time after I graduated from college and was broke, jobless, and living at home that I tried to get into it and visited Hobby Works in Rockville. With what little money I had, I purchased a big Star Destroyer model kit that, once I looked at all the work that had to go into it, I never opened. I returned it soon after, but frequently visited Hobby Works while I was still at home because of all the cool stuff they had there. If model-building/radio-controlled helicopters, planes, boats, etc. are your thing, this place is your Mecca. — Matt Cohen
Hobby Works has locations at 12274 Rockville Pike in Rockville, Md., 9650 Main Street, #42 in Fairfax, Va., 354 Domer Avenue in Laurel, Md., and 519 Baltimore Pike in Bel Air, Md.
FRANKLIN’S: Situated off the Green Line in Hyattsville, Franklin’s isn’t just a decent restaurant and brewery, it’s also a general store and gift shop that features quirky gifts. Think of the gift shop as a more tasteful version of Spencer’s, but also sells good craft beer and wine. It’s basically the ultimate adult toy store. — Matt Cohen
Franklin’s is located at 5123 Baltimore Avenue in Hyattsville, Md.
THE MUSEUM OF UNNATURAL HISTORY: The Museum of Unnatural History isn’t a museum per se—it’s a storefront for 826DC, the local chapter of a national non-profit that teaches students reading and writing skills, and offers tutoring and mentoring. The shop, located in the Columbia Heights Civic Plaza, offers all kinds of funky, tongue-in-cheek gifts with an unnatural history theme, many made by volunteers: Primordial Soup; Mammoth Chunks; Formaldehyde and Business-Casualdehyde; a jar of unicorn tears, and the like. They also sell books written by students in their programs and by associated authors (Dave Eggers was one of the founders of 826), and clever prints, t-shirts, and onesies. The shop is staffed by volunteers, with all proceeds go to the non-profit, so it’s worth buying some silly gifts there for someone who would appreciate the humor. Though, your mom may not be that amused by a vial of Sasquatch breath. — Andrew Wiseman
The Museum of Unnatural History is located at 3233 14th Street NW.
