Atomic Garden

Cute, overpriced store with poor customer service. I purchased several items 2 weeks ago without trying them on. To my surprise, when I tried to exchange an unworn shirt for a different size, I was rudely insulted and denied. Store clerk accused me of deodorant stains on the shirt even after I informed her I don’t wear deodorant. In addition, she smelled the shirt in front of me and stated that it stinks, probably like my home.
Moral of the story: try your items on in store, inspect it before purchase, and expect that you can’t return it if you bring it back to your smelly home.

This shop is beautifully stocked with airy linens, skillfully carved wood, masterfully designed wrought iron, and sweet-​smelling organic skin care. This is the place to go in Oakland for high quality, handmade goods.

Every time I stumble over to Rockridge for some shopping, I have to pop into this adorable, earthy-​feels shop, regardless of how much cash is in my bank account. Yes, the prices are «high», but have you set foot in a store with the same quality items for any cheaper? Go back to Ross where you belong for all your home goods needs.
I’m always greeted very friendly, and helped with anything I need, wether it be to see/​try on jewelry or just questions about the products.
This shop definitely has a classy, yet homey vibe with all the wooden kitchen items, ceramics, glass and amazing scents. Each time I stop by, I end up leaving with a new little gem. My kitchen is slowly starting to look like their display wrack. Now it’s time to tackle the rest of my house!
Can’t wait for new fall items!

A lovely collection of sustainable items and beautiful knick-​knacks. The prices are HIGH, but that’s what one pays when shopping for real quality. I especially love the knits that they carry, although I can’t afford them.
Great place for unique gifts and kitchen items. I bought some of their french linen kitchen towels and have never regretted it as they work like magic when drying dishes.
It is clear that whoever owns/​buys for this place truly appreciates the items they carry and making them work in harmony with one another within the space.

Very unique, love popping in here for gifts!

I LOVE this store. I just bought my sister the sample pack of the Nieves skin care line that they carry and I’m excited to give it to her because it’s all organic, completely natural ingredients and that’s what she’s into.
I love every single one of the perfumes they have just to the right of the register, which is unusual — usually there’s at least one or two in a group of perfumes that I’m not going to like, but I could wear every single one of them.
I’ve coveted their drinking glasses for a long time but still have not bought any. My problem is that I come here for gifts because I feel like it’s too extravagant to shop here for myself, but I want pretty much everything in the store. I keep telling myself someday…
I got one of their wooden teething toys for a friend’s new baby and she said she liked it. I checked out their clearance rack but I can’t even afford that. I could buy something in the front part of the store, with the housewares and body care stuff, but the clothes are completely beyond my reach — like $ 300 dresses. Again, maybe someday… from the clearance rack…:) It all feels wonderful, soft beautiful fabrics.
They have the randomest stuff here that is actually useful too, like drawer handles and matchstick jars and twine and… I don’t even remember what else.
The staff is nice too, not snobby.

Beautiful things in this store, but the prices are OUTRAGEOUS. I have been living in the bay area for 15 years, and in Oakland for almost 6 years, specifically in the Rockridge neighborhood. I make good money. I own a house and can support myself and afford to buy nice items when I want them. But I find it insulting that a shirt that reads «Made in India» on the inseam costs $ 258. While the concept is a good one (selling locally produced items), the owner might want to consider pricing items in the store to accommodate ALL of the clientelle in Oakland. I will never buy something from this store out of sheer principle and I will encourage my friends to do the same.

Love this place. I stop in every time I am in the East Bay. It is as welcoming as it is appealing.
However, the pricing on some items, as noted in other reviews, seems over the top. That is the only reason for my four stars instead of five.

This is an adorable shop with loads of cute things — strong focus on repurposed, reworked, recycled — but with all the local labor, apparently that drives up the prices and many of their items are quite out of my budget.
Last November I found a wonderful little grey cotton blouse on the clearance rack and have decided to target the clearance rack only every time I walk by.
I wish that this store had more options of cute things, locally/​sustainably made that were less expensive!

When I used to live in the ‘hood, I’d hit this block & tell myself that I was crossing the street only to ogle the beautiful window display. Then I’d arrive at the storefront. A whiff of the intoxicating floral & earthy aroma emanating from this unique & visually stunning shop would beckon me in & would always be my undoing.
Several of my favorite useful objects come from this delightful establishment & they happen to be items I continuously get compliments on. My only complaint (hence the minus of one star) is that I can’t afford to buy more when I’m there & that there isn’t one in Santa Fe, NM.
In my experience, the staff are as delightful as the merchandise. When I grow up I want to own a boutique just like this one!

Nifty store but: Customer Service, people! Don’t run in the back and stare at me as I check my pockets for a kleenex, then run back to the register and studiously ignore me! Ask if folks are looking for gifts, who for, etc… Also, turn on some lights and you’ll get more foot traffic. There are some very good LED low-​energy display lights now.

There are a lot of nice things in this store, but the prices are insane. For example, they had some «recycled» cashmere scarves. These were basically pieces of black cashmere (from used sweaters or something) sewn together to make a scarf. I’ve made a few scarves like this myself, and even though I can barely sew, it only took me about 20 minutes to put one together. And the materials come from Goodwill or similar. So when I flipped over the price tag, I was stunned to see that they were asking $ 258 for one of these scarves. $ 258! Who buys this stuff?

I love this store and I wander in quite often — regardless of whether or not I have any extra cash dollars to spend. The store always smells wonderful, the sales people are very friendly and pleasant, and they don’t mind if you wander around touching and smelling things and leave 20 minutes later without buying anything.
That said, when I have bought clothes or housewares here (they often have pretty good sales), I’m always really happy with the purchase and feel like my dollars have gone towards something of high quality that was made with care and that more than the usual amount of those dollars have gone directly to the person or people who created the thing itself.
And they like my little dog and always give her pets.

Atomic Garden is a neat little gift shop and fashion boutique on College that is nicely organized, well appointed, and fun to look around even when most of the merchandise isn’t either my style or consistent with my gender preferences. One notable exception are some cool recycled wood frames and artsy wall pieces.
Another highlight of coming here is the big friendly Yellow Lab that really makes you feel welcome.

This is the store that I have been waiting for on College.
Elegant yet has a post– post– grunge style, ethereal objects of desire, yet it is eco-​conscious, with a very friendly service.
Clothes sitting on vintage ironing boards, and hanging from grandma’s old wooden hangers. The feel of the place is spacious with lots of room to touch, feel and breathe in this old world of eclecticism and craftsmanship. of the genre as Evan B Harris paintings.
Prices is not what you go to this store for. The prices will remind you to buy only what you really love and be inspired by.

I love how different this store is! I bought a beautiful necklace for my daughter as a Christmas gift this year, and I was happy that the necklace was made by a local artist. True the clothes are price, but you get what you pay for, and what you pay for is quality, and the fact that it isn’t made in China.
I’ll be back for more goodies :)

Call me crazy, but I really don’t think it’s that expensive — and I’m speaking as an underemployed freelance writer who drives a beat-​up, 20-​year-​old Volvo and lives on a pretty darn tight budget.
Granted, some of the clothes here are out of my price range (and, truth be told, they’re out of my size range, so I don’t really focus on that part of the store). But I think that a lot of the housewares are relatively affordable. I stopped in this weekend, for instance, and there were gorgeous, organic cotton queen-​sized blankets for $ 56, beautiful raw linen tea towels for under $ 20, pretty tote bags for under $ 40, etc. I often come here for birthday and housewarming gifts for friends and relatives, and can usually find something really lovely for less than $ 25.
Unless you’re shopping at Wal-​Mart, IKEA, or Cost Plus, these prices seem very much in line with what you’ll pay for similar items elsewhere. Plus, even though I watch my spending very carefully, I am willing to pay a little bit more for beautiful things that are handmade by skilled artisans and that use natural materials.
Of course, there are pricier offerings as well. But for the most part they strike me as being worth saving up for — really lovely, finely crafted items that you’ll hold onto for a long time. And at the end of the day, I’d rather have fewer things — but things that I feel good about owning — than a bunch of made-​in-​China junk.

Probably the best thing they carry is LuLu Organics Hair Powder– «For hair on days of unwash». For a white girl like me with thin hair that quickly gets oily at the roots, this stuff is great product, it’s good for your follicles to get a rest now and then, ya know? It’s the darling of beauty editors across the nation and I keep reading about it, so I was stoked to find a store that carried the sample size at $ 11 so I could try it before splurging on a $ 40 container!
I also spied some cute glassware I could use to bring some class to my desk at work.
Otherwise, I won’t really be too into shopping their clothing racks, but I get what they are after, and I support it in concept and spirit, if not financially!

The prices here are just not right. It would be unsustainable for almost anyone to buy these «sustainable» goods. I don’t think anyone other than a successful entrepreneur or big shot corporate lawyer could afford any of this, unless they were weighing between groceries for the week and a tank top. Way to send the message that sustainability is for rich people, or that if you want to make a statement about small scale production, start with consumers who already have everything they could possibly want (sorry, I mean «need»).
Let’s examine the «rescued paper» notebook:
$ 18!
How is such a price justified???
A notebook which requires no material production (just a few minutes of «rescuing» that anyone with enough motivation could take care of at the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse for a dollar or two) and a bit of block printing and binding and WHAM: rescued paper notebook. $ 18???
I like to support aesthetically beautiful store such as this and local entrepreneurs, and I’m certainly on board with a wide-​spread cultural change toward sustainability. It’s just that this is what I picture when I’m in this store: someone with Prada sunglasses and a $ 5,000 purse hopping into their SUV with a new «sustainable» $ 130 simple cotton hat… feeling great because she’ll soon be one-​upping all her friends because they have Marc Jacobs fall hats whereas she has this much more enviro-​conscious one-​of-​a-​kind one.
I suppose this is the dilemma of small-​scale conscientious production. Pardon my whining, but there must be a better way.

Under the guise of smoking a cigarette, I snuck away from my guy friends who were drinking at George & Walt’s, and into this store. The scent of the store lured me in, seriously. It was like walking into a yoga studio, with the serene white décor and the fresh scent.
Atomic Garden is all about recycled and sustainable goods, for hippies with money. I was so tempted to splurge on a $ 130 pair of wool/​cashmere knit hand warmers (like gloves, but without fingers) or some all-​natural bath salts or even a set of handcrafted letterpress stationary… but I felt super guilty for shopping for myself when I need to buy Christmas gifts for other people.
I will most definitely be back — and there goes my 2007 Federal Tax Refund!