CHAGRIN FALLS, Ohio -- There are some words that are practically synonymous with Chagrin Falls -- "charming," "bucolic" and "picturesque" being chief among them.

And thanks to a burgeoning crop of retail shops that celebrate stylish living, "eclectic," "one-of-a-kind" and "individual" are some of the other words out-of-towners use to explain why they make the trek to this tucked-away hamlet several times year.

"It's a nice place to bring visitors, but I have to say, we come to shop ourselves all the time!" says Maryann Walthing of Medina, who was entertaining guests from Indianapolis during the holiday weekend. "We always make a day of it. We're not so much about the clothes stores, but the gift shops, the home decor shops . . . well, we have to visit them all, every time. "

Walthing and her friends had had a busy day. On latest count, and depending on your parameters, there are at least a half-dozen shops in Chagrin Falls devoted to the art of living well. Deeply individual to their proprietors, each one has a fascinating mix from vintage knickknacks to handmade soaps, artisan jewelry to hand-dyed clothing, flea market finds to fine French furniture.

"I like what I like what I like," says Rory Beck, owner of Three.home. "I find that some people connect with it, and some don't. But those that do connect with us love to come back, just to see what's new."

At these shops, something is always new. To set themselves apart from one another, the owners gravitate toward the unique and special, buying in small quantities and from far-flung sources.

"I never want anyone to say 'Oh, you're just like so-and-so,' " says Shannon Vance, owner of Stash Style. "That's one of the reasons we have so many vintage items -- because once something is gone, it's gone; I can't order another one from a supplier warehouse somewhere. We really stress the idea of recycled and repurposed."
Still, with so many stores in less than a square mile fitting into that elastic eclectic-gift-shop category, some crossover is inevitable. To glean the differences among this sometimes squabbling family of loosely related shops, we spent a recent afternoon exploring the scene, to offer this handy guide for the time-pressed shopper.

Read the full article by Kim Crow on Cleveland.com