November 4, 2004

The Church Lady

Church Apothecary

Okay, so it’s gotten to the point where you’re scared to open the medicine cabinet for fear of being buried under an avalanche of product.

Seriously, how many grape-seed vaporizers, tea-scented soaps, and hemp shampoos does one person need?

Get ready to trash the whole lot and start afresh. Kati Kim — the same hip gal who brought girlie boutique Doe to Haight Street this fall — will provide you with everything you’ll ever need. Her new shop, Church Apothecary, in Upper Noe Valley, is a 340-square-foot, funked-up Victorian-era beauty emporium inspired by New York’s C.O. Bigelow.

The neighborhood store is stocked with high-end homeopathic remedies (Boiron, Naturopatch, Traditional Medicinals), hair and body products (Kathleen Lewis, Dr. Hauschka, Chidoriya, Red Flower, Korres), and baby goods (Little Twig, California Baby), as well as books and gift items (Thomas Paul journals, Iittala glassware, Tarina Tarantino hair accessories). Private label goodies made with Yerba Buena Mint are coming soon. In sum, the perfect excuse to throw out all that unused product and replace it with something new.

And so the cycle continues.

Church Apothecary, 1767 Church Street, between Day and 30th Streets (415-970-9828).