 | | Main Street, with its Victorian-era hotels, is packed with stores, fudge shops, and restaurants, busy with horse-drawn carriages and bicycles. The fort and the natural limestone stack in front of it tower over Main Streets southwest end. | Retailing has evolved beyond the humdrum tourist shops of yore. The chamber of commerce web site, www.mackinacisland.org, has a helpful annotated list of shops, some with links. End-of-season sales in October can be terrific. Shops are also in the Grand Hotel. Also, the chamber mentions dog-friendly businesses on the island.
Don't forget the SHOPS in various parts of MACKINAC STATE HISTORIC PARKS - on the island at the Visitors' Center down on Main Street across from the fort and Marquette Park, and inside the fort at shops in the soldiers' barracks, the long building by the central parade grounds, and a children's shop by the Kids' Quarters interactive mini-museum in the Officers' Stone Quarters. Buyer Ron Crandell, once an antiques dealer in Harbor Springs, knows a lot about history and antiques and has a great eye. He works hard to find (and sometimes commission) unusual items relating to the history and theme of each Mackinac Park location. He seeks distinctive merchandise at all price points, always with some inexpensive things for kids. Profits support Mackinac State Historic Parks operations - and this year extra monies are needed more than ever.
FUDGE SHOPS are everywhere. All four fudgemakers, each with multiple outlets, give free samples and ship gifts. Visit www.mackinacisland.org , then "fudge" for links. In the 1890s the Murdick family and others sold many sweets, according to Phil Porter's Fudge: Mackinac's Sweet Souvenir. He adds that before 1950 peanut brittle, salt-water taffy, and hand-dipped chocolates were just as popular. In the 1960s master fudge marketer Harry Ryba revolutionized island fudge shops by moving the marble-topped fudgemaking tables to the front of his shops, offering samples, adding new flavors, and installing fans to blow the sweet smells outside to the sidewalk. It was he who popularized the term "fudgie" by handing out "Fudgie" buttons as free souvenirs.
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 | | Great Turtle Toys has goofy fun and kites and other flying things, demonstrated by staff who love their work. One branch is in the Lilac Hotel by Island Books, near the Arnold Dock. Here Mary Bernstein of Clark Lake in Jackson County shows the Fun Grip water football in M.S.U. and U-M versions. | Here are some unusual shops on and off of Main Street, arranged from east to west, starting with the fort and the Arnold Dock.
Shops generally open at 10 a.m. In summer shops are often open until 10 p.m., and usually until 8. More shops are in Grand Hotel's terrace level. Call for wheelchair access. Older buildings may involve one or more steps.
SCRIMSHANDERS. (906) 847-3792. In the Chippewa Hotel's lobby at the east end of Main across from the park and fort. Open from Mother's Day into late Oct. Scrimshaw, that is engraving on ivory or bone is a New England thing. Gary Kiracofe continues the craft on Mackinac Island (using bone, not ivory, of course) and also sells antiques and signed contemporary carved bone and tusk objects, plus walking canes, custom knives, and Nantucket baskets.
PROFESSOR HARRY'S OLD-TIME PHOTOS. (906)847-6000. On Main by the Chippewa Hotel at the foot of Astor. Also by the Star Ferry Dock on the west end of Main. A longtime Mackinac favorite for vacation souvenir portraits of you and your family or friends as various Victorian personae, from saloon girls and cowboys to Civil War soldiers.
MACKINAC BIRKENSTOCK. (906) 847-6065. On Astor between Main and Market. Open from May thru Oct. Mackinac Island means walking, and many Americans' shoes aren't designed for the job. Here Birkenstock sandals are made for walking. So are Chacos. They can also be worn while wading on stony beaches, but washed in the washing machine. This shop's well-informed staff can also advise customers about insoles and arch supports.
MICHIGAN PEDDLER (906) 847-6506. Facing Main St. In the Lilac Tree Center. Made-in-Michigan wines, cherries, fruit products and sauces (American Spoon and others) and other foods, stationary, music and gifts. Some food can be sampled. Gift boxes can be shipped. Wheelchair-accessible.
ISLAND BOOKSTORE. (906) 847-6202. In the Lilac Tree Center west of the Arnold Dock. This independent bookseller is an all-around bookstore and newsstand, in addition to carrying a close-to-complete selection of the ever-increasing body of books about Mackinac Island. Some of the best are classics like Iola Fuller's carefully researched historical novel Loon Feather, about an Ojibwa girl born on Mackinac and propelled into Quebec society through her French stepfather. Island Bookstore's discriminating web site calls it "one of the most popular books ever written about the conflict of alien peoples."
The staff here are readers who know what they sell. Also of interest to people on vacation: books on tape, regional and other music CDs, guidebooks, and DVDs. Excellent selection of books about Michigan in general. Call or check for a schedule of summer book-signings. Wheelchair-accessible.
GREAT TURTLE TOYS. (906) 847-6118.In the Lilac Tree Center just west of the Arnold Dock . Demonstrations by zany young salespeople-performers bring out the kid in customers of all ages. Music and color draw people in to the small space, festooned with kites andflying toys. It's all so much fun, even for the most jaded children. Here are novelties old and new, , spinners and wind toys,, yo-yos, nature toys, games and puzzles, and some juggling supplies. This play develops skills and the imagination, without being overtly educational. Not many toys. Video games are nowhere to be seen. The atmosphere is goofy. On one visit, staff were wearing shorts with fake bare butts.
Great Turtle Toys flies kites at Windermere Point (down from the Grand Hotel) in summer. A second store is in what used to be the French Outpost building on Cadotte Ave. between Main St. and the Grand Hotel. Ask about the new non-toy store, opening in 2008.
Open May thru Oct., 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. in high season. Wheelchair-accessible.
MAEVE'S ART (906) 847-3755. On Market between Astor and Hoban in the Carousel Shops. Open from early May thru Oct. Smaller than owner Maeve Croghan's former Main Street space, this shop focuses on Maeve's vivid expressionist landscapes and on American crafts some ceramics, some glass, some leather and varied jewelry. There's still a bit of folk art from faraway cultures.
DOC'S HOUSE of MAGIC. (906) 847-8188 Next to the Haunted Theater on Main between Astor and the Shepler Dock. Open from early May thru Oct.This tiny space is crammed with card and coin tricks, stage and street magic, magic books and videos, plus gags, novelties, some costumes, and colorful hats. Staffers and magician Doc himself, love to demonstrate illusions and tricks. Doc may be around until as late as one a.m., restocking the store for the next morning. Wheelchair-accessible but tight.
The HAUNTED THEATER. (906) 847-6545. On Main between Astor and the Shepler Dock. "A haunted house and wax museum dedicated to the legends and lore of Mackinac Island and the region." So states the theater's adlvertising. Some displays change each season. An annual visitor says it's "beautiful and enjoyable" for adults and "a little scary" for most kids. A 30-year Mackinac institution, now the Haunted Theater has expanded its staff with members of the business's younger generation, so there are more people around to, say, blow in a visitor's ear. There's free baby-sitting for very small children. "It won't take long to see, but it will take you a long time to forget." Admission about $5 a head.
CADDYWOMPUSMore fun things from the folks at Great Turtle Toys: retro toys like tin windups and robots, Lincoln Logs, Etch-a-Sketch; Lava Lamps and plasma lamps; puzzles; desktop toys; kinetic toys (magnet-powered, they keep on swinging once set in motion); chimes and copper spinners; and even large pedal cars. On Main St. in the Main St. Inn courtyard, next to the Haunted Theater. Open from May thru Oct, 10 to 7 at least, 9 to 10 or 11 in season. (906( 847-0950. Wheelchair accessible.
PROFESSOR HARRY'S OLD-TIME PHOTOS. Near the Star Dock on Main Street's west end. See above.
An INTERNET CAFΙ and GREAT TURTLE TOYS, among other businesses, are in the French Outpost on the street leading up to the Grand Hotel.
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