Retail Tales: Spending Money On Stuff You Can't Eat By Eve Zibart Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, April 3, 1998

A few places lure me back time after time, money or not. (Letters refer to the establishment's location on the Bethesda map.)

Ancient Rhythms – A This resin- and frankincense-scented gallery is like an Indonesian street bazaar and a medieval Arab trading ship, transported together into one small and pleasantly motley jumble. It's populated by stone Ganeshas and wooden demons lounging among Japanese bowls and North African textiles, raw silk pillows and burnished river stones, soaps, settees, coffee tables, screens and all sorts of decor for those whose preferred metaphor is dark and exotic and ethnic without being ethnocentric. Nice jewelry, too. 7920 Woodmont Ave., 301/652-2669.

Aveda – H Need to make scents of it all? This is billed as more than a boutique, it's a "lifestyle store, spa and salon," but don't let that appointment-only tone stop you from walking in off the street. The spaworks are in back, and there are wonderful things to sample for the home as well as for the body in the front room: candles and aromatherapy oils, environmentally friendly cosmetics and cosmeceuticals, and even just a few select smart pieces of jewelry. And if you aren't ready to plunge into the product line, the staff will be happy to give you a sample or two to try. 4807 Bethesda Ave., 301/652-1610.

Bethesda Place fountain – D This isn't a store, but it is one of my favorite pre-dinner destinations, a combination Japanese rock garden and semi-classical fountain in the courtyard formed by office buildings along Wisconsin, Old Georgetown, Woodmont and Edgemoor. (To spot it from Wisconsin Avenue, look for the water world mosaic in the sidewalk.) It reminds me of the original Bethesda, a pool in Jerusalem that was, as they say, touched by an angel, whereupon it acquired healing powers. This one, too, goes a long way toward erasing a rotten 9-to-5er.

East of L.A. – G This frankly funky collection of gifts and home accessories is more like a really cool rummage sale from a group house of riot grrls, plus a few "nice" contributions from their moms (scarves, candles, hostess gifts, soaps and photo frames) thrown in. See-through plastic bud vases in flower colors (and clunky watches to match), Cheerios and Elvis clocks, neo-Romantic neck chains and scrap metal diaries, pig-headed corkscrews and dog-headed salt-and-peppers, those "gem"-encrusted steel utensils and mother of pearl-sided pens – it's a very '90s mix of disposable chic and statement design on a budget. It even looks like a side porch, with a semi-serious picket fence and chicken-wire garden that formally, if not firmly, divides it from restaurant/nightclub Lewie's equally indoor-outdoor cement-floor bar thang. 6845 Reed St., 301/951-0411.

Georgetown Book Shop – C There are several first-rate second-hand book shops in Bethesda, but this might be the only one you safely negotiate in 30 minutes. It's especially worth browsing for military history, vintage fly fishing volumes, coffee table art books and "real" literature. Like all used bookstores, it has the nicest possible staff. And since the clientele is smart and decided in its keep-or-cash-in tastes, you may find a fairly recent title at even better prices than on the Barnes & Noble discount table, not to mention review copies and a few handsome CDs. 7770 Woodmont Ave., 301/907-6923.

The Glass Gallery – E This most beautiful of stores, tucked away underneath Parioli in one of those curious neoclassical architectural mews, stocks vases, bowls, shelf pieces, wall hangings, platters, glass jewelry and such other objets in a variety of styles that may open your eyes to the beauties of hand-blown or etched glass. Consider a vase almost consumed by lascivious vines and decadent Japanese iris, all in glass the color of a shadowy riverbank in a pre-Raphaelite painting; and across the room and equally beautiful, a heavy, huge-lipped bowl etched with stylized Northwest-Indian wolves padding across its gray-green watery surface. I want them both. 4720 Hampden Lane, Bethesda, 301/657-3427.

Spring Mill Bread Co. – F Not that real bakeries are a novelty any more, but this is a nice small one, and there is nothing more soothing after a lousy day than the smell of fresh bread. Of course, it may also make you hungrier, but a free slice 30 minutes before dinner works like a bowl of soup, taking the edge off your appetite. At least, that's what the diet books say. And the "baker's dozen" frequent buyer's card means that with 12 loaves, you get your 13th free. 4961 Elm St., 301/654-7970.

Urban Country – B If the dream of Ancient Rhythms is dark and heavy, the lure of Urban Country is sun and a second house, preferably in the Hamptons. It's faux folk fo' faux old money, Ralph Lauren meets Martha Stewart's wood distresser – and yet the result is so perfectly T&C or H&G that you're not surprised people are paying a couple of thousand dollars for a peeling-paint chest like the one you put out for the trash collectors 20 years ago. The stray salvaged column, the "weathered" gardening markers, stuffed animals and angels and teddy bears just a little too primitive to be cheap . . . well, if Urban Country seems to have gone a little heavy into the cute market in recent years, it still has a wonderful eye for offbeat tableware, rainy-weekend reading sofas, coffee-table knickknacks, wedding-party linens, Halloween witches, candle holders, bookmarks, mirrors, etc. 7801 Woodmont Ave., 301/654-0500.