The shops of Rancocas Woods are a charming collection of stores, co-op spaces and eateries all tucked into an enchanted forest setting in Mount Laurel.
With over a dozen shops, from an Eastern European inspired bakery and cafe to a classic independent book store to a whimsical world of “thyme travel,” you’re sure to find unique gifts for everyone on your list.
The full name of the shopping destination is the Rancocas Woods Shops and Events, and they do offer both in equal measure. It seems that just about every weekend they have some kind of festival or outdoor market taking place on their grounds.
Their series of farmers markets has just ended for the season, but they just announced monthly pop-up markets on Sundays, from now through the winter, with the first one coming up on Nov. 23.
They also have many other events in store through the end of the year.
On Nov. 29 they’ll be taking part in Small Business Saturday, with a beer garden set up from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Then on Thurs., Dec. 4, they’ll play host to the annual Mount Laurel Tree Lighting event, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Other upcoming events include their Antiques in the Woods series of markets on Sun., Nov. 9 and Sun., Dec. 14, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day.
There are so many great shopping opportunities at Rancocas Woods, we’d be hard pressed to pick just one favorite, especially since the Bohemian donuts at Four Green Cats keep calling us back!
But we have to give a shout out to one shop here in particular, first, because they are just an incredible business, but also because of how well they’ve treated us since even before we officially started this paper.
We’re talking about Second Time Books, which is just an awesome bookstore located at the far end of the Rancocas Woods shops.
Second Time often hosts author events for book signings and readings, and holds frequent sales events at the store.
When we were getting ready to publish our first issue, we reached out to lots of area stores and shops to see if they’d be interested in carrying our paper. Second Time Books understood what we were trying to do with this paper immediately and they agreed to host our copies sight unseen.
They were our first official distribution spot and we’ve been bringing our issues to Second Time ever since. So sometime this holiday season, stop over to Rancocas Woods, go into Second Time Books, grab a free copy of South Jersey Local, buy some books and head over to Four Green Cats to do some reading with a cup of coffee, and one of those donuts of course!
