Shopping

Trinket and gewgaw places are spread throughout town—shops with plastic Santas, inane T-shirts, and made-in-Taiwan Bavarian figurines—but fortunately, Leavenworth [1] also has more than its share of distinctive, great-for-browsing places.

A Matter of Taste (647 Front St., 509/548-6949 or 800/497-3995, www.amatteroftasteinc.com [2], daily 9 a.m.–9 p.m.) lets you savor all sorts of unusual treats, from “Ass Kickin’ Chicken Wing Sauce” to coffee jelly. Just above its entrance is the town glockenspiel, with carved dancers who clog on the hour.

Another “glock” lives above the entrance to The Cuckoo Clock (725 Front St., 509/548-4857, daily 10 a.m.–4 p.m.), with dancers coming out of the closet (so to speak) every half-hour. Inside are tall grandfather clocks priced over $5,000, weird and wacky timepieces, and more than a few Bavarian cuckoo clocks.

Tromp up the stairs to wander through Jubilee Global Gifts (723 Front St., 509/548-3508, daily 10 a.m.–5 p.m.) with handmade gifts from all over the planet—but nothing from Germany.

A few doors down (and past the Danish Bakery, if you can make it beyond the luscious pastries without being enticed inside) is Nusskracker Haus (735 Front St., 509/548-7014, www.nussknackerhaus.com [3], daily 9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.), showcasing imported collectibles and hundreds of German nutcrackers.

For an even more impressive collection, head upstairs to the Nutcracker Museum (509/548-4708 or 800/892-3989, 2–5 p.m. daily May–Oct., weekends the rest of the year, $2.50 adults, $1 ages 5–16), where over 2,000 different kinds of nutcrackers are displayed. It’s enough to drive Tchaikovsky nuts.

Next comes Der Marketplatz (801 Front St., 509/548-7422, daily 9:30 a.m.–6 p.m.), which has an extraordinary stein collection for beer drinkers, European crystal, Hummel figurines, and even Bavarian polka CDs.

Continue down the block and down the basement stairs to Die Musik Box (933 Front St., 509/548-6152 or 800/288-5883, www.musicboxshop.com [4]), where 5,000 intricate music boxes from around the globe create a chorus of whimsical sounds.