By Hazel Foster

In a world of Amazon ads, Target consumerism and cycles of planned obsolescence, small businesses may seem few and far between. A quick stroll through Princeton, New Jersey shows the opposite. 

In Miya Table & Home, located on Palmer Square W, a wooden, temple-shaped structure in the center of the store holds delicate glassware in shades of navy and cream. The small shop is the single brick and mortar location of Miya Inc., a family-owned wholesale business founded in 1947. The store tested the waters with a holiday pop-up in 2017 before opening their doors in a permanent location in Princeton the following April. It didn’t take much to draw people in. “It was a lot of word of mouth,” said Heidi Moon, the store’s director of sales, marketing and retail. From matcha bowls and tableware painted with cats to sleek notebooks, each item has been carefully selected and displayed by Moon herself. “We make buying trips to Japan twice a year and we go visit factories or we go to different ceramic shows and we curate,” she said. “We select the items that we think would be able to sell well in the U.S.” The result is a retail experience that perfectly encapsulates the intentionality of Japanese design. 

Just a couple blocks over on Witherspoon Street, another establishment seeks to transport its visitors (or at least their taste buds) abroad. At Kristine’s, founding and executive chef Nicholas Démurgé has curated a menu that brings French cuisine to New Jersey. Démurgé earned a degree in engineering and went to business school before becoming a chef. When it came to Kristine’s, he was in the right place at the right time. “The owner wanted to open a French restaurant for years and years and years. It’s hard to build a restaurant without a chef,” he said. “I was hired one year before we opened.” Thankfully, the construction took so long that he had time to work on the menu. Démurgé’s menu is diverse, but he stays true to his roots. If a non-French dish is selling too much, they remove it from the menu. You can get a burger anywhere, but an authentic croque-ratatouille is a little harder to find. 

Travel back to Palmer Square and take a trip down memory lane to a world of words and fun from the bygone days of Toys R Us. But unlike Toys R Us, jaZams is still here. Founder and co-owner Joanne Farrugia is celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the eclectic toy store, which sells trendy toys at a fair price. Farrugia initially intended to become a teacher before changing course. A trip to a friend’s aunt’s toy and bookstore in 1990 inspired her to open a store of her own in 1996. Like the home goods at Miya Table & Home and the menu at Kristine’s, jaZams has been thoughtfully curated. “Every picture book we carry, we read,” she said. They read advance copies, galleys, and e-books, and visit trade shows. For Farrugia, there’s no real sense of competition between businesses in Princeton. “Most of us who are in business together are very, very close,” she said. 

Whether it’s a Japanese zodiac dragon figurine, a French affogato, or a whimsical lava lamp disco ball on the shelf or the table, community is what drives business and brings Princeton together. 

Whether or not you’re interested in revisiting your childhood memories of colorful toy stores, expanding your heart and home to the Japanese culture or giving yourself a taste of France, community is what drives business and brings Princeton together.