Compass Rose

Compass Rose has been on Capitol Way in downtown Olympia since 1998, with a second shop in Tacoma's Proctor District since 2013. It calls itself the daily gift store, which is about right. This is where you go when someone's birthday is tomorrow and you would rather not settle.

The buying is the craft. Handmade jewelry sits alongside Le Creuset and Pendleton, Opinel knives and Jacobsen sea salt, Rifle Paper Co stationery, Baggu bags and Pacific Northwest goods from makers close to home. Ayala Bar and Holly Yashi are regulars in the jewelry case.

The part worth knowing is where the money goes. The shop gives away roughly a tenth of its earnings, to local organizations including GRuB, Community Youth Services and SafePlace, and to international ones working on poverty. The same owners run Captain Little, the toy shop down the street.