Oddities shop Petunia and Loomis opens in downtown Spokane

Oddities shop Petunia & Loomis, a newcomer to Spokane’s downtown retail scene, offers a bit of the bizarre and antique at its shop in the Paulsen Center, at 421 W. Riverside.

Owner Samantha Fetters said the shop is a longtime dream come true. The Spokanite said she spent the past four years collecting items to sell while seeking a suitable location for Petunia & Loomis.

“I’d known that I wanted to do it for so long that I had the collection, I’d put aside the money, I just needed a location,” Fetters said. “I always wanted to have a place like this in Spokane.

“A lot of people don’t think I’m from here because of it. But there are weird people out here just like me.”

Fetters opened the shop Jan. 3, but closed it Jan. 21.

Petunia & Loomis will remain closed until its grand opening on Feb. 14.

The hiatus is due to the arrival of Fetters’ third child and her subsequent return to work as a hairstylist at Elite Salon and Spa, in Spokane’s Latah Creek neighborhood just west of the South Hill.

Jesse McCauley, Fetters’ fiancé and only other employee at the 1,000-square-foot shop, will handle the day-to-day operations.

Petunia & Loomis features a blend of old and weird.

Antique furniture, suitcases, and dolls are interspersed with taxidermy, monster masks, and wet specimens – animals that died of natural causes t preserved in isopropyl alcohol and displayed in glass jars.

Fetters’ mother, who died in 2020, shared her love for peculiar things, and some of her artwork is on display – though not for sale – around the shop, including retro futuristic space girls that watch over the front of the store.

“We’re just a little bit off,” Fetters said. “We got embalming (equipment) in last week. She would have loved it.”

Aside from her mother’s work, Fetters said her favorite item in the shop is the stuffed raccoon, which wears a crown and is perched behind the sales counter.

Fetters named the mount Little King Trashmouth, after a raccoon that appears in an episode of the animated Bob’s Burgers television show.

Fetters said she buys items for Petunia & Loomis from many places, including Craigslist, estate sales and thrift stores.

Fetters plans to travel to Montana this year to source taxidermy, and to the East Coast next winter for taxidermy and antiques.

Petunia & Loomis doesn’t take consignments, Fetters said, though one person insisted on gifting a Ouija board to Fetters.

“I said, ‘We have a lot of those,’ and she said, ‘No, I want to give it to you. I don’t want it. It’s cursed,’ ” Fetters said.

The shop is named after a notable decoration from Fetters’ time working at Spirit Halloween as a manager.

“We got in a two-headed skeleton, and one of my assistants named one head Loomis and I named one head Petunia,” Fetters said.

Fetters’ dogs are also named Petunia and Loomis.

She said the dogs don’t spend time at their namesake shop, but her bearded dragon, Gregor, regularly clings to McCauley’s shoulders while he works.

In its opening week, Petunia & Loomis will be open every day.

After that, the shop’s regular hours will be 11 a.m.-7 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday, and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday.