 | | Einerlei's interior is a visual feast, a complex warren holding a surprising variety of well-chosen items: clothing, kitchenware and tableware, garden supplies and flowers, and cards, The rear gardens are open for visitors, and the Pet Photo Contest is an ongoing feature. | This restful, pretty gift shop, greenhouse, and garden has grown into a handsome, rambling series of indoor and outdoor spaces. Good design and natural themes are the rule. Here are cards, stationery (often on recycled paper), jewelry, candles, a Christmas room, and a florist's room with garden accents. It's fun to look through the pet photo contest submissions. Regional items are everywhere, from thimbleberry jam and cookbooks in the kitchen shop to T shirts and sweatshirts to books to hand-thrown pots and posters by area artists. A selection of regional foods and gifts is available through the Einerlei web site. Additional book sections are gardening, nature, and Native American cultures. There's comfortable, easy-care natural-fiber clothing for men and women.
Customers are welcome to sit and relax on the rear deck. It overlooks the tightly planned rear garden and sales area for organically grown herbs, flowering perennials, and scented geraniums. The greenhouse is disguised as a summerhouse. A beautiful perennial and wildflower display garden is up front. There's so much on the first level, it's easy to miss the tabletop, bath, sauna, and home accessory area upstairs, and the bridal registry. The second floor also has a cozy corner for browsing in books about women's concerns, from child-rearing to menopause.
Nancy and Bill Leonard started Einerlei in 1975 after quitting their jobs in Indiana (he was a civil engineer, she taught special ed) and spending a year exploring the Middle West and Canada. The name, Nancy and Bill Leonard explain on their web site, means "one and the same" in German. "When they opened their store, their philosophy was to have their work and their play 'one and the same.'" They have done that, to the benefit of the village of Chassell and the greater Houghton-Hancock area.
Look for the green awnings on the west side of U.S. 41 in the center of Chassell. (906) 523-4612. Open year-round. May-Dec: Mon-Sat 9-6, Sun 11-5. Jan-April: Mon-Sat 10-5, closed Sunday. Wheelchair access: first floor, gardens.
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