Milagros Mexican Folk Art — Attraction in Seattle

If you ever need a pick-me-up on a gray seattle day, step into this incredible shop and feel your spirit rise. This is HANDS-DOWN the most well curated collection of handmade Mexican pieces that I have ever seen in one place. The objects may seem pricey at first glance, but are a steal when you consider the obviously expert workmanship and high quality of materials used to create them. This is your average Pike Place Market souvenir shop, but I found plenty of smaller, reasonably priced gifts and mementos for others and myself. Rarely do I feel compelled to rave about a store, but to anyone out there who appreciates fine hand-made art, this Milagros is a must-visit. Also, if the rest of this review wasn't enough of a clue, I would NOT bring children (much less animals) into this shop, too many temptations and disasters waiting to happen, so just save everyone the heart-attack and let junior gawk from the other side...

I came in here with my boyfriend, this is important: we’re both brown (I’m Latina and he’s not). I was drawn into this place for the obvious reason lol we were the only brown people in the store. I was looking for something to send to a friend for a gift exchange we were doing. I found a couple of beautiful pieces but due to price I had to pass them up. So I kept searching. Anyway we ended up being in there for a while. There’s a lot of stuff in there and I wanted to make sure I saw everything. I see there’s this old white women standing at the counter just staring at us. She kept following us around and darting her head/eyes in our direction. By the time I found something I felt too uncomfortable to purchase the item due to her presence. We ended up leaving frustrated by this women’s treatment toward us. If you’re going to be selling my culture you could be more...

If I could give zero stars, I would. How is this store not a clear example of cultural appropriation? It’s deeply upsetting to see traditional Mexican art and handmade goods—sold for just a few dollars by the original artisans in Mexico—marked up to outrageous prices here, some even in the thousands. It’s exploitative and disrespectful. As a Latina, I find it offensive to see a white woman profiting off of my culture while showing little to no respect for its roots or the communities behind the work. This isn’t appreciation—it’s appropriation, and it’s happening at the expense of the very people these items are meant to...