This past Saturday, the man and I headed to downtown Littleton so I could pick up some tan character shoes from Penny Robin Dancewear.

After hearing patrons and staff talk highly of Savory Spice Shop (a Colorado business, located just down the street), we excitedly stopped in to see what we could find.

Spoiler: What we found is a lot of really great, handcrafted spices & seasonings inspired by Colorado landscape.

The Littleton location is not the original. The company started in Denver in 2004, when owners and fellow food-lovers Mike and Janet Johnston decided to take a leap of faith (and talent) into the retail spice industry. Suffice it to say: They found immediate and long-lasting success, and it’s for a reason.

The shop offers a large variety of spices and seasonings—over 160 blends of original, handcrafted recipes, each ground fresh in weekly batches.

They also are well-staffed with helpful and kind spice enthusiasts.

Many of their blends are named after Colorado landmarks, landscapes, or neighborhoods.

This one’s my personal favorite, since I’ll be living in Wash Park in September!

Another favorite thing about shopping here, besides supporting local and fresh food-related businesses, is that they assemble fun gift packages of related spices, seasonings, and rubs.

This one here is Front Range-inspired.

A great gift to send home to Mom and Dad if you can’t visit for that annual summer barbecue!

It’s a wonder the man and I didn’t scoop this one up for ourselves. Well, actually, we did end up getting the Onion & Garlic Tableside Sprinkle, for our love affair with pizza.

We also were beyond thrilled to finally get our hands on Za’Atar seasoning! Many recipes for Ottolenghi’s Plenty cookbook (like this buttermilk + pomegranate eggplant) have called for this ingredient, and we’ve never been able to find it!

I love that they support and stock other local Colorado businesses. Way to hit it out of the park, Savory Spice Shop! We’ll be visiting you again soon, either in store or online.

And after our visit to downtown Littleton, we went on a 5-mile hike in Waterton Canyon. What a great day… all inspired by my character-shoe errand. See? Errands can be fun.

WHAT SPICE HAVE YOU BEEN LOOKING FOR?