Our Favorite Things in the Whole Wide World

Hi, everyone! The three of us have been on Nantucket together for the past few weeks which is a very rare (and very exciting) occurrence. Usually the chattah on-island is limited to shark sightings, fog density, the lack of parking spots in town and beach erosion, but this summer there’s been lots of discussion about Nantucket’s shopping scene, which has experienced a sudden bit of stardom thanks in part to pop-ups from big brands like La Double J, LoveShackFancy, and Aerin Lauder, among others. And of course, there’s the whole influencer drama, which seems to have taken on a life of its own. According to John Sylvia, owner of the Four Winds Craft Guild where the now globally famous “No Influencer” quarterboard actually hangs, it was simply a tongue-in-cheek sign of the times, not a battle cry. The owner of the recently opened Dairy Boy store, who is an influencer, says the sign is discriminatory. Everyone tends to go to extremes these days, but the truth—and a happy medium—often lies somewhere in the middle. The best reactions, in our opinion, are coming from the island’s old guard, who are just downright confused about what’s going on. And rightfully so! We particularly loved local legend and owner of The Sunken Ship Phil Osley’s interview on Nantucket Current: “What are influencers? What are they? I have no idea what you’re talking about!”

The hullabaloo got us thinking about the amazing independent Nantucket boutiques and craftspeople that our mothers shopped from and introduced us to in our teens. Many of them are sadly gone now, but they shaped each of our personal styles in unique and indelible ways. If Main Street was all chain stores in the 1980s and ‘90s, we would never have discovered what are still some of our favorite things in the whole wide world: CPO Shirts, wildflower soap and cotton sweaters from