Shopping LOCAL in Glendale: Old Towne, Catlin Court and a Candy Factory

Glendale's independent shopping is concentrated in a handful of blocks around Murphy Park, where the Historic Downtown Glendale Merchants Association counts more than 70 independently owned shops. The area splits into two neighborhoods that feel quite different on foot: Old Towne, with its brick-trimmed sidewalks, gaslights and storefronts along Glendale Avenue, and Catlin Court, where early twentieth-century bungalows along 58th Avenue and 58th Drive now hold boutiques and small eateries. Add a candy factory a few blocks east and a Saturday farmers market up north, and you have a full day of shopping without a single chain store.

Park once and walk. The Palmaire Parking Structure on West Palmaire Avenue offers free covered parking, and it puts you between both districts.

Old Towne: comics, books and a long run of storefronts

Glendale Avenue is the spine of Old Towne. Drawn to Comics, at 5801 W. Glendale Ave., has been the downtown comic shop since 2005. Beyond new weekly issues, it stocks back issues, graphic novels, manga and collectibles, takes pull-list subscriptions, and buys and consigns comics, which makes it a useful stop whether you are filling a collection or clearing one out. The shop runs events through the year; its news page has the next one.

A few doors west, The Scribbled Hollow opened at 5719 W. Glendale Ave. in July 2025. It calls itself a little shop of fantasy: books, manga, fandom gear and accessories, with book clubs and a book consignment program. Between the two, a reader of almost any age can leave with something.

When you need a break, The Black Sheep at 5717 W. Glendale Ave. serves coffee roasted locally, paninis and house pastries, and it has a patio and communal tables if you want to sort through your bags before the next stop.

Catlin Court: bungalows full of gifts, toys and vintage

North of Glendale Avenue, the blocks between 57th and 59th avenues form the Catlin Court Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. Many of the old houses are now shops, and browsing them feels a little like visiting a string of neighbors.

Bears & More, at 7146 N. 58th Drive, has been family-owned since 1992. It is known for collectible teddy bears, including Charlie Bears, and it also carries classic toys, puzzles, games, baby gifts and goods from local makers. The shop offers teddy bear repair, a quiet service worth knowing about if a well-loved bear at home has seen better days.

Pink House Boutique, at 7009 N. 58th Ave., leans retro: pinup dresses, skirts and cardigans alongside boho tops, jewelry, bags and hats. On the same stretch, Blue Corn Cafe & Bakery at 7015 N. 58th Ave. bakes pastries and sourdough and serves locally roasted coffee. This year it added a second downtown spot, Blue Corn Express, which opened in May 2026 on Glendale Avenue.

Around the corner, Memory Lane Trinkets and Treasures fills the rooms of a 1948 ranch-style house at 5836 W. Palmaire Ave. with work from more than 100 local artisans and vendors: jewelry, handbags, clothing, home and garden pieces, kitchen gifts and Arizona souvenirs. It also houses the Arizona Information Center, which is where the merchants hand out downtown's free Peacock Passport, a stamp hunt for metal peacocks placed around the district and at Historic Sahuaro Ranch.

East on Glendale Avenue: a candy factory

Cerreta Candy Company has been a family candy maker for more than 50 years, starting in Phoenix in 1968 and moving to 5345 W. Glendale Ave. around 1990, and four generations of the Cerreta family now share the work, from caramels and taffy to cream-centered chocolates and the molded French Mint. The factory store is open six days a week, and guided factory tours run on weekdays. A box from here is about as local as a gift gets.

Markets and shop walks on the calendar

Downtown's merchants plan their year around a few shopping days. The Holiday Open House, held each November and in its 30th year in 2026, fills Old Towne and Catlin Court with decorated shop windows, make-and-take stations and a new charm for the district's charm bracelet trail. Small Business Saturday follows on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, with an information booth at the Arizona Information Center that morning, and in December the merchants' calendar lists evening Holiday Happenings in Catlin Court and Old Towne. The merchants' events page has this season's dates.

Every Saturday morning, the Arrowhead Farmers Market sets up at Dream City Church, 21000 N. 75th Ave., near 75th Avenue and the Loop 101. The market moved there from its longtime spot outside Arrowhead Towne Center, and its organizer posts each week's vendors online. Around the holidays it adds themed markets, such as a Thanksgiving market and one for Small Business Saturday.

Why it matters here

Downtown Glendale has had a big year. The city reopened its renovated City Hall campus in June 2026, including a new amphitheatre and a refreshed Murphy Park, and the shops in Old Towne and Catlin Court are the ones that greet the crowds those events bring. When you buy a bear, a comic or a box of mints on these blocks, you are usually buying from the person who chose it, and often from a family that has been on the street for decades. That is the case for shopping local in Glendale: it keeps a walkable, century-old downtown full of people who know it well.

Before you go, check each shop's own page for hours, since many of these small stores keep their own schedules.