OverDressed for Life

Tail of the Yak on Ashby Avenue in Berkeley has announced that they will close in June. After 51 years I guess it’s time – nothing lasts forever, but still, it’s sad.

Tail of the Yak is a small gift store offering items like embroidered ribbon, paper lanterns, handmade fruit-shaped paper surprise balls, linens, glassware, candles, cards, journals, and other delightful things. Much of the merchandise is imported from around the world including Mexico, Ukraine, India, and Japan. One of the biggest draws to the shop is a large glass display case of antique jewelry – Georgian, Victorian, Art Nouveau, Art Deco. Rings, earrings, beads, and brooches galore!

Co-owners Alice Erb and Lauren McIntosh have curated the shop to reflect their unique aesthetic, which has become well known and much admired. Cross their threshold into a charming world where the wood floor creaks with every step, signs are printed in calligraphy by hand, and cooing doves greet you from their grand antique birdcage.

My mother introduced me to The Yak, as it is affectionately known, when I was still in high school. Later when I was working at the nearby shop, Primavera, I used to pop into The Yak and peruse the antique jewelry, none of which I could afford at the time. But there was one turquoise and coral ring that I fell in love with and so I put it on layaway, feeling guilty as I was supposed to be saving up for a move out of state. I made that move just fine minus a couple hundred dollars, and I still have the ring!

The Yak reminds me of my mother because we often went there together. For many years it was a destination on either my birthday or hers. Lunch and then The Yak where we looked at the jewelry, picked up beeswax candles and other small treats. When I visit there now by myself, I sense her presence next to me.

There are fewer and fewer stores like The Yak. The modern world is edging out such places of magic and charm. What will be left? Amazon. Walmart. Target. Corporate big box stores with no soul. So it’s important to support the shops that are still here – Lacis, Stone Mountain and Daughter for fabric and notions, Bills Trading Post for Native American jewelry, Elmwood Stationers, are a few I can think of in the East Bay.

The Yak is still here too, until the end of June.