Now we all have a reason to go to Penney’s aside from the easy access to the mall and the always plentiful parking.  The Sephora store located inside offers a modified product selection that is not quite as extensive as their full stores, but still offers us an option other than Ulta for higher end cosmetics and beauty products.

Today is the grand opening at the new Sephora and starting at 10am goodie bags will be gifted to the first shoppers who come check it out.  I am telling you now that I WILL be one of those who gets a goodie bag!

In my opinion, the thing this store has going for it is its jeans selection.  For being such a small store, they really do offer a good variety of brands and styles, and they had some good stuff on their sale rack for pretty decent prices.  I don’t recall seeing  as many big brand names in their tops section, other than basics by Michael Stars, but they had some really cute stuff.  Overall, it’s definitely worth checking out, especially if you are looking for a good pair of designer jeans

As it turns out, Racquet & Jog is a local athletic and clothing store, with locations in Dallas, Austin, Longview, and Tyler.  The store in Tyler carries a good variety of jeans, swimwear, athletic wear, cool novelty tees, and accessories in addition to a decent selection of athletic apparel.  Brands they carry include Junk Food, Dogeared, Vix, BB Dakota, and Roxy. They also offer an impressive collection of mens and womens shoes, including Frye, Rainbow, Yellowbox, Havaianas, and Dolce Vita.  And yes they have Uggs!  This store has an overall cool vibe, and definitely appeals to the younger crowd.  Of course, amongst all the racks of clothing is a huge table of all different colors and styles of Racquet & Jog t-shirts.  It is a bit of an unspoken rule that every Tylerite must own at least one of these. I have owned approximately eight of them, in all different colors.  My current favorite is a gray Alternative Apparel v-neck Racquet & Jog t-shirt, but I have several others currently in rotation.  Any given day at Rose Rudman is like a Racquet & Jog fashion show with walkers and runners sporting their shirts.

Racquet & Jog is very active in promoting local athletic events. They sponsor races such as the Premier Turkey Trot and the YMCA Reindeer Run, and the East Texas Striders running club.  Be sure to stop in Racquet & Jog for athletic gear for your next race and get a t-shirt if you don’t have one already!

In addition to an amazing range of beauty products, Ulta also offers a full service salon, and a Benefit cosmetics eyebrow bar, where the talented Jillian designs and measures the perfect brow shape for your face, then waxes, plucks, and trims away until you are left with perfectly customized brows specifically created for your unique face.  Men and women are encouraged to come in and take advantage of this service.

Seriously, I LOVE this store.  They have recently remodeled their whole grocery section, and they have a huge variety of health and organic foods you can’t get anywhere else in Tyler.  They also offer Tyler’s best selection of snack and energy bars, a plethora of vitamins and supplements, organic, goat, soy, and almond milk, a good selection of nut butters, many different kinds of granola, and a wide selection of Amy’s Kitchen foods.  A few of my favorites include Oikos Greek Yogurt, coconut water, Amy’s Goddess salad dressing, Barney Butter almond butter, Larabars, Hansen natural sodas, quinoa, steel cut oats, and MUCH more.  They even have a table set up everyday with sample cups of a few things so you can try before you buy.

But wait, there’s more.  Drug Emporium also carries a HUGE selection of salon brand hair care products.  Aveda, Bumble & Bumble, Nioxin, Bed Head, Moroccan Oil, and Sebastian are just a few of the lines they carry.  I can stare at the wall of products for hours just trying to decide what the next product to be welcomed into my hair care arsenal will be.  There is even a huge OPI display in the nail care section with a great selection of colors.  Drug Emporium also offer a wide selection of natural products like JASON, Tom’s and Burt’s Bees.

As you can see, there is much more to Drug Emporium than meets the eye.  Hidden behind their nondescript store front is SO much more than a convenience store or pharmacy.  Do not judge this book by its cover.  However, shoppers should beware.  It is easy to spend lots of money in Drug Emporium, but sadly they do not accept credit cards. Make sure you take an appropriate form of payment (cash, check, or debit) with you so you can take some of this fabulousness home with you.

Drug Emporium

5614 S Broadway Ave.

Tyler, TX 75703-4356

(903) 534-9766

The boutique itself is small, private and lushly decorated in rich fabrics in shades of black and white.  The clothing has an edgy feel with lots of distressed denim, embellished tees, and sequined dresses.  Heart & Soul even offers True Religion

sunglasses and a small selection of footwear and blinged out jewelry and belt buckles.  If there was a Real Housewives of Tyler reality show, I have a feeling they would do their shopping here.  Though clothing here is on the expensive side, with some pairs of jeans costing up to the $300 point, there are also reasonably priced items in the store to fit all budgets.

We would like to wish Heart & Soul the best of luck, and we hope they are around for years to come!  They offer a shopping experience previously unavailable to us Tylerites.  It’s definitely worth a look for anyone in the area.

I don’t even know where to start on which scent I like the best.  Their most popular is High Maintenance, which is described as a floral, woody blend combined with patchouli and vanilla with a heavy musk undertone. Very sophisticated and truly addictive!  Another one I love is Diva, which www.tylercandlesonline.com described as a warm and complex fragrance overflowing with delicious fruits and rich florals. Rich aromatic chocolate and amber complete this luscious blend.  It reminds me of Thierry Mugler’s legendary Angel perfume.  Cowboy and Beach Blonde are two more great ones.  Like I said though, there are tons of fragrances to chose from making it extremely difficult to pick a favorite.

In addition to several different sizes of votives and jar candles, Tyler Candle Company also offers Woodwick Reed Diffusers, Auto Glam fragrance for cars, and Mixer Melts scented oil and melters.  Because the candles are heavily fragranced, I have found that it tends to create a messy wick, but that is easily cured by trimming off the fragrance residue before re-lighting the candle.  I strongly urge anyone who hasn’t experience these candles for themselves to check them out.  They are available at Karen Horton and Company and The Potpourri House.  These also make great gifts for the rapidly approaching holiday season.  Good luck trying to pick just one!