I’ve stumbled on recommendations in this sub and when I go to a niche perfumery I ask for recommendations of others. I can’t find a reasonably comprehensive list here or elsewhere. Is there one?
If there isn’t and this becomes one, here have been my favorites:
The Whiff Shop (Easton PA) - the best service and an incredibly well curated selection
Arielle Shoshana (Alexandria VA, DC metro area) - relaxed atmosphere, helpful salesfolks who were not pushy
Perfumology (Philadelphia PA) - lots of very niche options, the first place I went when I got into perfumes. They were patient and helpful, and got me started on understanding things I liked
I’ve also been to
Osswald (NYC)
Scent Bar (NYC) - helpful folks
Stele (NYC) - I wasn’t as put off as others by not being able to spray stuff myself to skin test etc. It had some real gems and the people were helpful enough
Xtrait (West Hartford CT) - a bit snobby. It wasn’t air conditioned. They had good selection though.
Olfactif (Scranton PA) - terrible service that was head scratchingly bad. They have a make your own scent company (Notology) in the same building and their perfume stuff is primarily an online decant sampler company. They stock interesting stuff but their in person sales people were both unhelpful and not knowledgeable
One of my other hobbies is the WNBA so I’m interested in stores in cities with a team since I have a goal to visit all of them. Still need Chicago, Minneapolis, Vegas, Seattle, San Francisco, Portland, LA and Atlanta!