More Shopping and Lunch Too

…continuing with our stop in Clayton Georgia during our brief exploration of North Georgia and Southwestern North Carolina.  As it turned out, this little town with a population of about 2,000 residents is a shopping mecca.  I’ve included a sampling of the retail offerings we explored while in town…

Lots of photos with this post…

Dogwoods Home was founded in 2016 when an artistic entrepreneur and her husband moved to Clayton after their children had graduated from school.  They had dreamed about moving to the mountains of North Georgia for many years.  The owner combined her antique and interior design business with her love of painting.  The quality of the items offered in this store is superior to most stores of this type…and it’s easily seen by shoppers as they browse through the items on display.

This store even held my interest and I really don’t like shopping after all my years in the retail industry…

The items offered in Dogwood Home are a carefully selected combination of vintage, antique and modern pieces.  The store offers original art as well as classic contemporary furniture, antiques, mirrors, lamps, pillows, pottery, candles, vintage rugs, women’s apparel, jewelry, accessories and more…

Dogwood Home is located at 41 North Main Street in Clayton Georgia.  Phone: 706-960-9232.  Website: https://www.shopdogwoodshome.com/.

Another store that we visited was Isadora Popper – Well Made Goods.  This store also features quality items.  As stated the items offered are “not only chosen for their charm and appeal but for the heart behind them”.  Items are selected with the following considerations in mind… “Does it work, is it beautiful and will it last?”

Isadora Popper entices shoppers with a wide mix of products ranging from apparel and accessories to books, items for children, kitchen and pantry, yarn, bath and body, puzzles, stickers and even classes and events.  I also noted that this store sells “Dad Grass”.  As per their website, “Dad Grass” is described as a “casual smoke.  Their 100% Organic hemp flower and pre-rolled joints serve up a clean buzz without the fuss.”

Isadora Popper is located at 33 North Main Street.  Phone: 706-782-7029.  Website: https://www.isadorapopper.com/.

Our next stop was at Lu Lu and Tully’s.  To describe this store as an eclectic place to shop would be an understatement!  Again…even I was interested in looking around!

Lu Lu and Tully’s Mercantile features products created by local artists and crafters that range from clocks to pottery, paintings and soaps.  This store provides an outlet for those who are skilled in creating quality and clever items for the consumer.   The store sells consignment items from artists as well as unusual items from other sources.  In addition, Lu Lu and Tully’s offers classes in painting as well as pottery and soap making.

These 4 photos will give you an idea of the variety and quirkiness of the items offered at Lu Lu and Tully’s.  This store was established in 1973.

I love the use of that old bicycle and I was mesmerized by the display of creative clocks by Carol Louise Mayer.  A former furniture designer, since 2005 she’s been focused on creative clock making.  Her husband is a professional fly fisherman so she features a pheasant’s feather with all of her clocks…even the truck shown above. 

There was a lot to look at in this store!  Lu Lu and Tully’s Mercantile is located at 11 North Main Street.  Phone: 706-960-9446.  Website: https://www.luluandtully.com/.

After Lu Lu and Tully’s, we headed over to Butler Galleries.  This very large shopping venue was founded in 1996.  The items for sale in the store were sourced by 19 different individuals.  I was especially interested in the antique selection…despite the fact that we have so many antique items at home already...including yours truly

As it turned out, I did find a significant selection of true antiques in Butler Galleries.  The problem was that the area containing most of the items I was interested in was inaccessible…just stuffed with incoming product to be put out on display. (Note the top edge of the carton at the bottom of the second photo) In any case we certainly don’t need any more antique porcelain figurines, platters, mugs or pitchers.  We have quite a few at home and they all have seriously declined in value…not a great investment. 

The rule of thumb with antiques is that unless you are an expert who knows the market, only buy items that you really like.  Laurie lives by that motto, but her area of interest was centered in the home décor portion of the store.  I wisely walked away from any antique purchases while Laurie did very nicely for herself…picking up a few items for the house.

With 19 different vendors, each with a significant portion of the store, the variety of items for sale at Butler Galleries surpassed the variety of any other store that we patronized in Clayton.  Butler Galleries is located at 74 North Main Street.  Phone: 706-212-0155.  Their website can be found at: https://butlergalleries.com/.

Our last stop before finding a place for lunch was at Wander North Georgia.  Although the company has been around the area for a number of years, this new large facility just opened in August of 2021.  With its primary focus as an ‘outdoor store’, this retailer/reseller sources products from over 70 small family run businesses from across the USA, half of them from within 100 miles of the store.  At my stage and age, ‘outdoors’ is walking to the mail box, viewing scenery from a flat surfaced paved lookout, etc.  Still, I had to recognize that this was yet another classy store for the town of Clayton.

Wander North Georgia is located at 87 North Main Street.  Phone: 770-750-4470.  Website: https://wandernorthgeorgia.com/.

Time for lunch and since Universal Joint was right next to or across the street from the last 2 stores we visited, I decided to check it out.  After looking at the menu and the seating options, I gave our little group the ‘go ahead’ and we sat down for lunch.  This restaurant prides itself in offering 17 rotating draft beers, including some of the best from Georgia and the Carolinas.

As you can see from the showing the exterior of the restaurant, there is a huge outdoor dining area or patio.  Note the giant fire pit.  There is a stage just to the right of the photo where live music is offered on weekends.

One positive note is the fact that Universal Joint has repurposed an old gas station for its use as a restaurant.

This restaurant features a large bar area as well as indoor seating.  As you can see, the bar is fully stocked and it’s surrounded by the obligatory TV sets.  As it was a bit chilly and windy on the patio, and even though it was a bit dark and gloomy inside, we decided to dine indoors.  I took this photo of Bonnie, Bill and Laurie…once again avoiding the camera myself!

We decided to start with an order of Universal Joint’s Sunset Queso and Salsa, tortilla corn chips with cups of smoked tomatillo cheese dip and house-made salsa.  The cheese dip and salsa were OK but those corn chips were just too thick, at least for our taste.

Laurie loves quesadillas!  She ordered the Arugula and Mushroom version that came with the titled ingredients plus feta, tomatoes, cheese, salsa and sour cream. ($10.50) She didn’t care for her entrée…

I got pretty excited when I saw the Brisket Dip on the menu. ($14.00) I love good brisket!  Universal Joint’s brisket is house smoked and is topped with Monterey jack cheese on a French roll with horseradish cream sauce and au jus… It was just OK.  It missed the mark both with the flavor of the brisket and the bland au jus.

Bill ordered the Buffalo Chicken Quesadilla.  It consisted of shredded buffalo flavored chicken, blue cheese crumbles and cheddar cheese.  It came with bleu cheese dressing and celery.  Bill reported that it was OK but nothing to write home about.

Bonnie decided to keep it simple.  She ordered the Half Pound Chuck Burger with cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and pickle.  She stayed consistent with our other comments about the meal.  It was OK.  All of the entrees came with a side.

To be fair, Universal Joint enjoys a rating of 4.5 out of 5.0 possible stars on both Google and TripAdvisor although Yelp only gives 4.0 stars to this restaurant.  Of course, 4 stars isn’t bad either.  Between Google and Trip Advisor, there have been about 3,000 customer reviews…so maybe we just didn’t get ‘it’.

Universal Joint in Clayton Georgia can be found at 109 North Main Street.  Phone: 706-782-7116.  Website: https://www.ujclayton.com/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave