The Miniature Travelogue

It's almost like a mini vacation. Lunch at the Chowder House by the seaside, and a treasure hunt at Jamie's Miniatures! For my part I must admit that I missed having lunch because the place wasn't open, yet. Opening was set for May 1st. But I did manage to chew up an hour-and-a-half enjoying my search through the treasure-stuffed shelves of this tiny shop.

The shop may be small, but it certainly is full. I heard one fellow, admittedly not a miniatures fan, complain that there is just too much stuff in this store. He opined, "I don't think Jamie knows what she has in there!" On the other hand, Li'l Bea, my youngest daughter, had this to say: "Wow, look at this!", and "Hey Dad, look what I found." She said that a lot. Meanwhile, Dad just kept handing things to Betty behind the counter.

One thing I really like about a little shop like this is all of the original handicrafts. Cool hats, great original paintings, things for every season and style. The first things that greet you when you walk in are a half dozen houses, fully furnished and accessorized. Further into the store are the parts, pieces, and materials needed to finish your own house. There are also a number of other types of toys and a rather dusty old line of plastic model kits.

This wall of accessories is worth a good twenty minutes of gawking. My daughter spent half of our time there pawing through bins of cool little accessories, filling a miniature "shopping basket" with her finds. In all we spent an hour and a half getting there, had an hour and a half of fun in the shop, then chatted about our finds on the ride back home. It was a fun time, well spent.

Pay a visit to Jamie's yourself. Her shop is on Searport Avenue, which is also Route 1, over on the east side of Belfast. It isn't the biggest mini shop in New England, but the folks here are eager and able to help every customer to remember what they love about miniatures.