We got the news that Common Scents, the tiny but popular cosmetics store next to the
former Noe Valley Music spot, is closing at the end of the year
via Twitter a few days ago – and we finally have more details. The owner is moving to Florida at the end of the year after a 44 year run (!) and will continue to sell a similar collection of lotions and potions online
starting in March 2016. In the meantime, as the sandwich board out front says, three more months to shop.
Sad to see
another shop on that stretch close – and here’s hoping something interesting and useful takes it place.
We wish you the very best! Thank you for being a Noe Valley Merchant and all that entails!
ReplyDeleteI am the current owner of Common Scents and i have worked at Common Scents for something like 17 yrs and bought it from Linda and Helen in 2011. I had hoped to make it to 50 yrs but this will have to do. We all see what is happening to this town/city.I am happy to be here one more xmas as i know we are a part of many peoples holiday traditions. Mine too! I lived on Elizabeth St for 20 yrs and have been here in SF for 30.I will miss my good neighbor Sam at Good News and so many things about this beautiful city.
ReplyDeleteI have so much enjoyed shopping at Common Scents. Your presence in the neighborhood will be missed. Thank you so much for staying through the holidays and giving up all time to stock up.
ReplyDeleteCommon Scents had already been in Noe Valley for a couple of years when I moved to the neighborhood in 1974. Now it's one of the last (if not the last) from that era. Amazing and glad they could stay open with internet competition for as long as they did. The quality of their products and always friendly help in the store made me come back over and over. Good luck Jan, will miss seeing you both in the store and on Elizabeth St.
ReplyDeleteBeen shopping at Common Scents since the 70's. Seen so many great independent businesses close over the past half decade. Bit by bit, business by business, the City is losing it's charm, originality, creativity, and general good vibey feeling. Thanks for all your years of supplying me with soaps, lotion, potions, etc. without having to do much more than walk a few blocks to get immediately what I needed. Now everything is online ordering, waiting for delivery, hoping you'll be home when it is delivered so some scumbag doesn't steal the package from the front stoop. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteI used to work at Common Scents in the 70's and early 80's. So very said to hear about the closing. It is a Christmas tradition of mine to shop there. I always stop by when in the neighborhood. I will miss the small town feel of the store and the friendly and helpful service. Thank you for being such a wonderful presence in the neighborhood for all of these years.
ReplyDeleteCommon Scents was an amazing place, a magical place. I worked there for a handful of years and really enjoyed every aspect of the job and the then-burgeoning neighborhood. It was retail without the gimmicks--no hipster-meets-born-rich conformity that you find in the City now. The customers were a hoot and the bosses were an amazing duo. Not to mention the vast luxury and organic lines of lotions, creams, shampoos, and soaps, etc. (don't get me started...I still miss this!).
ReplyDeleteSadly, SF is becoming a city for the rich, which displaces all of us who have actively chosen not to go down the tech route. I think the closing of Common Scents (and the boom of Whole Foods) attests to this.
Jan, I miss Common Scents SO MUCH! At some point you thought you might open an online version offering a limited product line. Is that still an option? I'm running out of Common Scents collagen elastin cream and can't find any other product as good as this one.
ReplyDeleteHello. I also relied on Common Scents for all the years I lived in San Francisco. I want to place an order via internet. Can you give me the right address. There are so many and I want the one I have been using for almost 40 years- the real China Musk.
ReplyDeleteThank you,
Heidi
Do anyone know if there is a web site to order from now that they are closed?
ReplyDelete