Potpourri is a one-room gift shop on a quiet street in Dubuque. Inside, you'll find things we've come across in our own lives — a brass key from an estate sale, a stack of letterpress cards from a printer three towns over, a bar of soap that smells like the year our grandmother turned eighty. None of it is precious in the way that demands white gloves. All of it is chosen by hand.
We are not a department store. We are a shop you walk into on a Tuesday, expecting nothing, and leave carrying something you didn't know you were looking for. That's the part we love.
Most of what we do falls into one of these categories. None of them are complicated — that's the point.
Birthdays, thank-yous, get-well-soons, I'm-sorrys, and the harder ones we don't quite have a word for. We carry greeting cards from regional printers alongside small, giftable objects — a tin of loose-leaf tea, a beeswax candle, a deck of illustrated playing cards — sized for slipping into a paper bag without ceremony.
See the cardsThings for the surfaces of a house: stoneware vessels, linen tea towels, hand-blown bud vases, glass cloches, dried eucalyptus in season. Most of it is made in studios small enough that the maker's name is on the bottom. We rotate the shelves often, so a visit in October is not the same visit as March.
See home goodsWe host the work of people within driving distance of Dubuque — potters in Mineral Point, a candle-pourer in Galena, a printmaker in Platteville. Buying local here is not a marketing line; it is a relationship we maintain by phone, by fair table, and by occasionally driving out to see how the kilns are running.
Meet our makersEvery purchase, large or small, leaves the shop wrapped in kraft paper, finished with striped baker's twine, and tagged with a hand-written card if you'd like. There is no charge for this — it is simply how a present ought to arrive. If you are sending something to someone who lives elsewhere, we can wrap and ship it for you, too.
Ask about shipping
Potpourri started as a small weekend habit — going to estate sales, talking to makers at regional craft fairs, bringing things home that we loved and couldn't find a place for. Eventually, the things outgrew the kitchen table. The shop is the answer to a very specific question: what if there were one place in Dubuque that had all of these things, side by side, the way we wanted to see them?
We are small. We don't have a buying team or a corporate inventory system. What we have is taste, time, and the willingness to drive a long way for the right candle. Most of our regulars stop in once a week just to see what has changed. We think that is a nice way to spend a Saturday.
Read the full story →The door is not on a sensor. The shop is small enough that one of us will almost certainly be on the floor when you arrive. We will say hello, offer you the chair by the window, and let you take your time. No one is going to follow you with a clipboard.
Things are arranged the way you'd find them in a friend's house — not by category, but by mood. Allow at least twenty minutes if you can. There is a lot of small detail to notice if you aren't in a hurry.
If you are buying a gift, tell us a little about the person it is for. We will wrap it, write the card if you like, and tuck in a sprig of dried lavender while the paper is still warm from the kettle. Most people tell us later that the wrapping was the part they kept.
Yes. If you are sending a gift to someone who does not live nearby, we can wrap it here, write your card, and ship it to their address for you. We charge only what the post office charges us — there is no handling fee. Please get in touch through the form below so we can quote the postage for the specific item and destination.
This is, quietly, most of what we do. Tell us a few details — the person, the occasion, what they already have too much of — and we will pull three or four options and email photographs. There is no charge for the consultation. If none of them feel right, we'll keep thinking.
Sometimes. We work with several of the makers we carry and can usually arrange a custom size, scent, or color for items like candles, ceramics, and letterpress prints. Lead times vary and not everything can be customized, so do write to us first rather than expecting a yes on the spot.
From a mixture of regional makers within driving distance of Dubuque, small studios we've come to know over the years, and the occasional estate sale or antique market. We do not buy from large wholesale catalogs, and we will tell you who made almost anything in the shop if you ask.
Yes, with a receipt or the name of the giver, within thirty days. We would rather exchange it for something the recipient likes better than have it sit in a drawer. If something arrives damaged or not as described, of course, we make it right.
We do, in any amount. They are hand-written on a small card from one of the local printers we carry, and they never expire. They can be used in the shop, by phone, or over email for a shipped order.
The form below goes directly to the shop. We answer every message personally, usually within a day. If you're looking for a specific item, planning something for an event, or just want to ask a question, this is the easiest way to reach us.