Shopping LOCAL in Ahwatukee

Ahwatukee has no Main Street. Ahwatukee Foothills is an urban village of the City of Phoenix. Laid out mostly as master-planned neighborhoods, it shops along a handful of arterial roads, in neighborhood shopping centers, and, more often than newcomers expect, at markets that pop up in parking lots and parks. Find the independent shops tucked into those centers and the makers who turn up at the markets, and you can do much of your weekly and holiday shopping without crossing I-10.

Ray Road and the village core

The city’s plan for Ahwatukee Foothills puts the village core along Ray Road between 46th Place and the freeway, where Ahwatukee Foothills Towne Center draws shoppers from beyond the village. Most of the big names there are national brands, but the smaller centers along Ray Road hold local businesses too.

At Ray Road and Ranch Circle, The Kolache Cafe, at 4302 E. Ray Road, bakes Czech-style kolaches, soft bread wrapped around sweet fruit fillings or savory ones, and opens early for the school-run crowd. It also caters breakfasts for offices and gatherings, which makes it a useful number to keep for team meetings and holiday mornings.

Chandler Boulevard’s neighborhood centers

Chandler Boulevard is Ahwatukee’s long east-west spine, and its strip centers reward a slow drive. Green Chile Love, at 4025 E. Chandler Blvd., cooks Southwestern dishes where you choose your heat from no chile up to extra hot, and in season it takes preorders for Hatch green chile, a favorite way for local cooks to stock the freezer. Dave Castaneda of Green Chile Love is also among the business owners who organize Ahwatukee First Fridays.

A short way east, Cupz N’ Crêpes, at 4232 E. Chandler Blvd., is a family-owned European-style café with sweet and savory crêpes made to order alongside coffee, bagels and salads. It is the kind of place that becomes a standing Saturday habit.

Warner and Elliot at 48th Street

The neighborhood around 48th Street, between Warner and Elliot roads, is where several long-running independents cluster. Hillside Spot, at 4740 E. Warner Road, opened in 2009 to bring an independent breakfast to Ahwatukee and now serves three meals a day. It bakes its own scones, muffins and pastries, pours coffee made with local beans, including its own Hillside Blend, and keeps a fridge of more than 100 craft beers, many brewed in Arizona, with six-packs to go. For a host gift that tastes of the neighborhood, it is hard to argue with a mixed pack of Arizona beer.

A mile north, Caffe Boa, at 5063 E. Elliot Road at 48th Street, serves scratch-made Italian food with a patio that hosts gatherings large and small. This fall its co-owner, Patrick Larson, turned his September promotion into an argument for the whole neighborhood: diners who spent at least $30 at another Ahwatukee restaurant could bring the receipt to Caffe Boa for a second entrée free with the first, and the restaurant with the most receipts won a staff meal.

Supporting one local restaurant shouldn’t have to come at the expense of another.

Markets where the makers are

Ahwatukee doesn’t have a gallery row or a record-store strip. Its makers come to the markets instead, and three are worth knowing.

• Ahwatukee Farmers Market, every Sunday in the parking lot of the Ahwatukee Swim and Tennis Center, 4700 E. Warner Road. Established in 2002, it runs on winter hours from October through May, with seasonal produce, herbs, flowers, baked goods, meats, seafood and a selection of local arts and crafts. The market takes Arizona Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program and WIC benefits.
• Light Up Ahwatukee’s Holiday Festival, Saturday, Nov. 21, at Desert Foothills Park, 1010 E. Marketplace Way. Its artisan marketplace gathers more than 30 Ahwatukee artisans and small businesses along the park’s Marketplace Street and in Santa’s Village. The organizers ask for original or customized goods, aiming for a boutique market of things you can’t find elsewhere, so it is a good morning to cross off a chunk of the gift list.
• Ahwatukee First Fridays, at Mountain Park Community Church, 16461 S. 48th St. After a summer break, the free evening gathering returned in October with up to 100 vendors, including local makers, bakers, small businesses and food trucks, plus a car cruise and live music. The organizers list the series through spring on their event page.

Why it matters here

Without a downtown, Ahwatukee’s sense of itself lives in places like these: the café where the staff knows your order, the restaurant owner who sends you to his neighbors first, the market table where a neighbor sells something made at home. Light Up Ahwatukee says everything its festival raises stays in Ahwatukee, and the First Fridays organizers describe their night as a way to support local businesses while giving back to charities. Spending a little of the weekly budget along Ray Road, Chandler Boulevard and 48th Street keeps those places going, and keeps Ahwatukee feeling like a community rather than just an exit off the freeway.