In the gorgeous little town of Riquewihr, France- there are streets lined with shops and restaurants. Riquewihr is in the Alsace region of France, which is known for the unique style of architecture and love of Christmas. Every winter there are Christmas markets that line the streets of Riquewihr, but whether or not you are visiting during the Christmas season, you have to check out these three store that are open year-round!

1. Féerie de Noël

This Christmas store opened year round is a great stop! It’s two stories with tons of different Christmas-themed rooms of different sorts. They sell loads of decorations and ornaments. If you are shopping in the summer they often have discounts!

As you walk in you are greeted by the scents and colors of christmas. Christmas music plays quietly over the store’s speakers and as you walk from room to room you are transported to different winter wonderlands.

I’ll be writing a more in-depth article about this store soon!

2. Fort Wenger (also known as the gingerbread store!)

Alsace is known for it’s gingerbread. Fort Wenger is a chain that you can find all over the region, but the biggest one that I have visited was in Riquewihr. There are two levels, and both are packed with all kind of gingerbread and cookies. There are so many gingerbread and alsatian treats that you can find here! 

They also sell gingerbread pans, mixes, and Christmas themed kitchen decorations. It’s the perfect place to buy souvenirs and snacks for you and your friends back home! The top level is specific to snacks and edible items, while the lower level has all of the non-edible goods. If you want to up your bread making and gingerbread making skills, you can check this store out for all of the products that you’ll need.

3. This epic place back here that’s not even really a store actually

The experience that I had with this store is the reason that this is my most favorite store in Riquewihr.

I know the heading of this section of the post is a bit chaotic- but seriously I love this place. And here’s the catch- this store isn’t really even a store. In fact, it’s more like a museum.

My friend Liz Beckwith and I were exploring the touristy shops that lined Riquewihr’s city center street. We had previously learned about some of the cultural traditions and history of Colmar, and it intrigued us a ton!

Now my friend Liz wanted so badly to see some of the old alsacian traditional dresses in real life. She also had a love for the artist called Hanzi that is a great figure for those in Colmar. While we were exploring the town of Riquewihr we were on the lookout for originals done by Hanzi. we stumbled upon this small store hidden away in a corner.

We saw some of the traditional dress through the window and suddenly became excited. Then we entered the shop. A great guy named Frank greeted us, and we asked him if he had any paintings from Hanzi. He did!

As Liz was looking through the paintings, we started up a conversation with Frank. He started to tell us about his shop, why he opened it, and what it meant to him. His grandparents had owned tons of artifacts and he inherited them. He had artifacts in his store hundreds and hundreds of years old. He told us that he didn’t actually sell anything, but that it was more of his mini-museum.

Read more about my experience with this store here!

Conclusion

In conclusion, these are the three stores in Riquewihr, France that you NEED to visit. These are definitely my favorite stores in the cute little town. They all have such magical touches to them, and the experience of each makes it so that you don’t even have to buy something to get something out of them!

Go explore all three and let me know what you think in the comments or by tagging me in a post on Instagram @mckennauncharted

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