William Spear Design

This small little upstairs shop isn’t big on décor but all the pins and pulls are on display. We went in planning on buying only a few, but kept finding new ones that matched somebody’s hobby, passion or personality perfectly, making the perfect little gift from Alaska.
The quality is great, every design an original and every pin and zipper pull is under $ 15.00. What’s not to like?!

(This is more about the online store than the brick-​and-​mortar one, since Juneau is hard to get to but anyone can shop online.)
I first came across these unique pins at Elliott Bay Books, in Seattle, and immediately fell in love with their quirky designs. Sure, they have the usual flowers and birds for your grandma… but they also have body parts and organs, syringes and beakers, deck chairs and masted tallships, skeletons and whiskey bottles!
The pins are intricately patterned and made by hand. You really have to see them up close to appreciate the detail, but these aren’t shoddy made-​in-​China tie tacks. The high-​quality craftsmanship is obvious, and I get tons of compliments on mine. Most of the designs also come as zipper pulls if you’re not a pin person.
Their website is no-​frills, but easy to browse and purchase from, and each item has a funny description — you can tell they are serious about their work but have a sense of humor. And the pins are amazingly affordable — most are about $ 12 and I didn’t see anything over $ 20! You’d pay just as much for some mass-​produced trash at a chain store.
Shipping is a flat $ 3 per order and it’s FAST. I even got a follow-​up email from the company thanking me for my purchase! Even if you’re not headed to Alaska anytime soon, if you like fun, unique jewelry with a slightly dark sense of humor, check out William Spear’s awesome stuff.

William Spear is an awesome place to get an authentic souvenir from Alaska. If your travels take you to Juneau (or even if they don’t, the website), you have to stop in the cozy shop, and let your eyes wander between the numerous pins for sale. William Spear carries everything from Alaskan wildlife, to collectors pins from a long time ago.
Most of the other souvenir shops in Juneau are owned by the Cruise Ship companies, but William Spear is Alaskan owned and operated since the 1980’s and catches the true spirit of Alaska. Bill Spear is the awesome designer behind the whole business and has been designing pins for many years.
William Spear Designs is where I got my souvenirs for my friends back home, and they really enjoyed the Alaskan bears and wildlife pins.
Be sure to stop in, upstairs above the Heritage Coffee Company.