The Original Twin Peaks Store – Alpine Blossom and Gift Shoppe in North Bend, Washington

Being a Twin Peaks fan in the 1990s, there were not many easy options for finding officially (or unofficially licensed products). The ease of Internet shopping with two-day delivery had not been invented. Instead, you had two options – contact Bruce Phillips, an avid collector who published a mail order catalog of Twin Peaks goodies, or visit the Alpine Blossom and Gift Shoppe during a visit to North Bend, Washington. For this Cyber Monday, I’m kicking it old school with a look back at this original Twin Peaks store.

WHERE WAS THE ALPINE BLOSSOM AND GIFT SHOPPE LOCATED IN NORTH BEND?

Alpine Blossom and Gift Shoppe was once located at 213 North Bendigo Boulevard in North Bend, Washington. It’s about a block north of Twede’s Cafe which was the Double R Diner exterior (and a few interior scenes in the Pilot, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, and Season 3).

An Associated Press photo from May 24, 1991 showed shop owner Joanne Richter with several Twin Peaks products.

She owned and operated this local flower and gift shop beginning in 1979. Before Joanne and her husband Corbet took ownership, the location was named Bob’s Flower Shop. The owner Bob approached Joanne while she was working at the bank located across the street. He informed her that he was going to sell the flower shop and go into ministry

Around 1985, the Richter’s expanded by adding a Hallmark card shop. A few years later, they purchased the entire building which once housed a Sears shop.

“Now, we had 6,500 square feet, a big flower shop, a gift shop and a Hallmark card shop,” explained Joanne to David Garfield in a December 28, 2021 IBA Blog article.

Long time Twin Peaks fan and original Bookhouse Boy Travis Blue shared this image from the day he took Frank Silva, who played Killer BOB, to the store.

Travis remarked, “I felt so cool taking him there. I mean, it was THE store to me as a kid. Their jaws dropped when [Frank] came it.”

I don’t even know what I’d do if Frank Silva visited my work.

During my research, I discovered another employee of Alpine Blossom, Beverly Bramlet, who unfortunately passed on August 28, 2017. According to her obituary, Beverly worked part-time at the shop for 14 years.

“She worked part-time at Alpine Blossom for 14 years, 10 years at Gildersleeve Linoleum, 4 years as cashier at Mar L [sic] Cafe during Twin Peaks, 5 years at Dress Barn and last at Samsonite Luggage where due to health she had to quit. Her goal was to work until 80 but had to quit at age 78.”

You may have seen her if you visited the shop in the 1980s or 90s.

According to her Facebook page, Joanne retired in 1998 after 19 years of service in the North Bend and Snoqualmie Valley area. But like many places in this region, there is rich history behind this location.

HISTORY OF 213 NORTH BENDIGO BOULEVARD

Before it was the Alpine Blossom, North Bend residents could visit Smith’s Department Store. According to the Snoqualmie Valley Museum, Jay J Smith purchased this store in March 1921 from Tom Terhune who operated it as the “Kash Savin’ Store.”

Between 1930-1940, the shop changed names (see the building on the far right). This image above is Bendigo Boulevard looking south from Third. On the northwest corner of 2nd Avenue and Bendigo, you’ll see Sucke’s Gillmore Gas Station. Beyond it on the right side would be the location of the North Bend Theatre, which is still in operation today.

Sadly, I didn’t find much information about the shop’s location after the 1940s, other than the current 6,396-square-foot building was constructed in 1954. It’s unclear who operated the building from 1954 to 1979 when the Alpine Blossom opened.

But why Alpine Blossom? This image above from the Snoqualmie Valley Historical Museum may offer a clue.

WHY WAS THE SHOP NAMED “ALPINE BLOSSOM”?

The above photo from 1970 shows a remodeled downtown North Bend with a new Alpine-inspired look designed by Henri Dubois and a crew from Fall City. Originally a landscaping architect, Mr. Dubois came to North America from French-speaking Switzerland where he helped plan and design Butcharts Gardens in Victoria, BC.

North Bend even had a festival – Alpine Days – from the 1970s until the it’s rebranding in 2014 to the Festival at Mount Si. An August 7, 2014 article in the SnoValley Star, provided some additional details about the “Alpine” name.

“The festival has been a tradition in North Bend for decades. It was formerly known as Alpine Days, a nod to a public relations campaign that dates back to the 1970s. That’s when the city of North Bend marketed itself as a Bavarian village, similar to Leavenworth in Eastern Washington.”

So perhaps that’s how the name stuck. Alpine Blossom may have been a nod to the former Bavarian-inspired design that was downtown North Bend.

ALPINE BLOSSOM AND GIFT SHOPPE EXTERIOR

Thankfully, the Twin Peaks Visual Soundtrack, which was released by Warner Music Vision in maybe 1992 for the Japanese market, offered a look inside this shop.

Here is an exterior view of the shop from that video.

Long time Twin Peaks fan and former Twin Peaks Fan Festival organizer Jared Lyon took these photos of the shop on August 18, 2001.

Here is a look at the shop’s exterior from January 24, 2020.

During my visit to North Bend in October 2019, I stopped by this former Twin Peaks wonderland. Today, it’s home to North Bend Nails and Pet Place Market.

INSIDE ALPINE BLOSSOM AND GIFT SHOPPE

To see the inside, we either need a time machine or should reference the Twin Peaks Visual Soundtrack again. The shop offered Hallmark cards, flowers, gifts and much more.

The Twin Peaks merchandise was found along the front window (seen in the last image above). Judging by the attire and Christmas decorations, this video was most likely shot at the end of 1991 (maybe November or December).

In an December 30, 1990 article for Tulsa World, reporters Jim Puzzanghera and Elizabeth Wasserman went in search of answers as to why there was a shortage of pies at the Mar-T Cafe in North Bend. During their visit, they stopped by the Alpine Blossom.

“We drove past the 400-year-old Douglas Fir at the Snoqualmie Historic Log Pavilion and stopped at the local purveyor of ‘Twin Peaks’ paraphernalia. The windows of the Alpine Blossom and Gift Shoppe in North Bend were filled with T-shirts and sweat shirts, and when we stepped inside we found ‘Twin Peaks’ hats, visors, cassettes, compact discs, cards, buttons, posters and the store’s specialty, ‘A Log from `The Real Twin Peaks.’

The logs were a deal at $3.95 each. ‘My husband gets them out of the yard. Then I put the signs on them. They sell like crazy,’ Joanne Richter, who runs the shop with her husband, Corbet, told us, as we got in line at the register to pay for a T-shirt ($14.95) and button ($2.95).

The log was a customer’s idea, she said. ‘The first one I sold, we just went in the back room and laughed and laughed and laughed,’ she said. Joanne

Richter wanted to make sure we saw everything, so she drew us a map on pointing out the mill and the high school.”

The same article also mentioned Beverly Bramlet who I discussed above. At the time, she was working at the Mar-T Cafe.

“Inside, Beverly Bramlet, 63, wearing a purple and turquoise dress and big gold earrings, stood next to the cash register and a sign on the nearby juice machine that said, “Pie to go $2.16 a slice with tax.”

Between seating customers, she revealed that the cherry pie had not even been in the original David Lynch-Mark Frost script. The pie was famous now only because the cast and crew wanted a snack while filming in the Mar-T in the middle of the night. “They all got hungry, so they got into the pie and they wrote it into the script,” Beverly told us, taking off her glasses. Now on some mornings lines form outside the diner, and the owner has put a ban on the sale of whole pies.”

TWIN PEAKS ITEMS FOR SALE

Thanks to a posting from July 16, 1991 by Larry Yaeger on alt.tv.twin-peaks, we have a good idea of what was carried in the shop.

Larry and his wife had visited North Bend and Snoqualmie area and provided a brief trip report. He stated that the shop was “still doing a brisk business in TP-related goodies.” Larry also reported that the Alpine Blossom took orders by phone.

“You can just call them and give a credit card number and have a wealth of amazing [Twin Peaks] stuff show up in your home! And they are delightfully prompt about orders, too.  (They were out of stock on a couple of items while I was in town, but they took my order last Wednesday, and the materials
showed up here at my home today, Tuesday; I get the feeling it would have been even quicker if they hadn’t had to wait for their supplier!) I have no affiliation with these folks, but they are very nice, and offer a lot of great [Twin Peaks] stuff. “

Here is a listing of items he found along with prices

Click on the image to enlarge.

Even more items from Larry circa 1991. I’m incredibly thankful that he took the time to share this list and that the Internet preserves these things (nothing ever really goes away online).

Here’s an image of the 1992 calendar that Larry mentions. Again, I’m thinking the video was shot after his visit in July 1991.

White mugs with a generic mountain for a “Twin Peaks Coffee Break.” Notice the retail sign behind the mugs. Many prices appear to match Larry’s notes.

A 2015 posting from TwinPeaksArchives.WordPress.com shows a close up detail of that same mug.

A hodgepodge of Twin Peaks products including postcards, Season 1 VHS, maps, StarPics trading cards and the “Twin Peaks Gazette.”

Thanks to the incredible website, TheMauveZone.com, we can see both covers of the Twin Peaks Gazette from the video. The first is from February 1991.

The second is from April 1991. The Mauve Zone has all of the issues available to read so check them out after this story.

Another two items of note are the “Men of Twin Peaks” and the “Women of Twin Peaks” pocket cards.

Thanks to Alan Pringle’s article from 2014, we get a closer look at these cards made in 1991 by Worldvision Enterprises, Inc. What’s going on with Ray Wise’s name?!

Maps to film locations were only $.95!

The map is one thing I purchase from Alpine Blossom during my visit to the Twin Peaks Fan Fest in August 1996. Notice that it’s “Rhonda Polaski” and the site of “Laura’s Torture & Murder” are incorrect.

Another item I purchased is the “How’s Annie?” button. I also like that they had a button for the Northwest Railway Museum in downtown Snoqualmie, one of Dale Cooper’s properties he reviews in Episode 2.012.

I’m wearing that button outside Alpine Blossom when I met a French fan named Pierre. I captioned this photo in my album, “The Cowboy and the Frenchman” (a nod to David Lynch’s short film). Pierre … are you still around?

Of course, I also found the “Sounds of Twin Peaks” on cassette, where each side featured 30-minute ambient sounds of the Snoqualmie Falls and the Weyerhaeuser Mill. I’m hoping to extract this cassette again in stereo but you can read the original post and listen to the sounds” in this article.

TWIN PEAKS APPAREL

A Los Angeles Times article by Louis Sahagun from March 25, 1991, provides some additional details about sales at the Alpine Blossom. Notice the price of the Log Lady logs has increased since 1990.

“A block away from the Mar T, Joanne Richter has devoted a whole corner of her Alpine Blossom Floral Shop to ‘Twin Peaks’ souvenirs. The corner, she said with a smile, ‘is the most profitable spot in the store on a per-square-foot basis.’

‘We’ve sold 5,000 ‘Twin Peaks’ T-shirts since July,’ Richter said, ‘not to mention ‘Twin Peaks’ tapes, caps, post cards, buttons and Log Lady logs.’

Log Lady logs?

‘They’re just old logs we cut up in our back yard,’ Richter said, cradling one in her arms with a price tag of $4.95. ‘If they don’t look just right, I glue some moss on the side.’

‘A woman bought five of those logs the other day,’ marveled one resident. ‘That’s $25 worth of wood she could have picked up on the side of the road.’

There were PLENTY of tee-shirts available at the shop. In a syndicated Associated Press article by Roger Nyhus on May 24, 1991, Richter discussed popularity of Twin Peaks merchandise at her shop.

The number of shirts sold has dramatically increased (10,000) and logs are now $5.95.

“Down the block, Joanne Richter, owner of Alpine Blossom and Gift Shoppe, also has prospered from the series.

‘I don’t know what’s wrong with ABC. They’re not listening to the public,’ said Richter, who stocks one of the town’s largest ‘Twin Peaks’ merchandise displays.

The shop has sold more than 10,000 ‘Twin Peaks’ T-shirts since last summer, Richter said. And it can barely keep ‘Twin Peaks’ mugs on the shelves, selling about 12 dozen every week.

Not missing an angle, Richter has even created $5.95 replicas of the mossy log that speaks to the Log Lady. Richter said she has sold hundreds – one woman bought five. ‘If we look exhausted that’s because we are,’ she said.

And ‘Peaks’ fans are dependable, she said.

‘I’ve never had a bad check from a Twin Peaker yet . . . Lots of local bad checks,’ Richter added.

There were Log Lady, cherry pie and even C.O.O.P. (Citizens Opposed to the Offing of Peaks) shirts. The latter is another reason why I think this footage is from late 1991 as C.O.O.P. wasn’t a thing in 1990.

An article from August 3, 1991 by Lori Moody revisited North Bend to talk about the impact of the show’s cancellation to business. Joanne again reported strong sales.

“Joanne Richter, owner of Alpine Blossom and Gift Shoppe in North Bend and a self-described ‘Twin Peaks’ fan, started selling T-shirts last July. A section of the shop is now devoted to ‘Twin Peaks’ paraphernalia, including earrings, mugs, logs, trading cards, books, hats, visors and an upcoming calendar.

‘We’re disappointed the show is off the air, (but) our sales are just as good as ever,’ Richter said.”

There were white and black tees emblazoned with the Twin Peaks Sheriff Department logo.

I purchased a black tee and took a close up photo of the logo. It began cracking as I wore it so often in the 1990s.

Here are several additional images of the tees once carried by this shop.

I close this story with a short clip of the Alpine Blossom and Gift Shoppe from the Twin Peaks Visual Soundtrack.

If you have any additional information or photographs from this shop, please contact me at TheTwinPeaksBlog@gmail.com or leave a comment below. Special thanks again to Travis Blue, Snoqualmie Valley Museum, Alan Pringle, Larry Yaeger and The Mauve Zone for the photographs and information.