Drees

Ruth Ann is amazing! Her style & taste is impeccable! As a business owner I have always look up to her as a role model! Her staff is always the friendliest and the products are always the best of quality. Great job!

This is tied for 1^st place in my «favorite gift shops of Olympia,» along with Compass Rose. I often put together lovely care packages for friends, my mother, and my grandmother in this store. Their selection is timeless and appropriate for many demographics. I’ve also used this as my go-​to store for seasonal décor and fine soaps.
My only complaint-​thus the reduction of one star– is that I’m treated very differently when I come in wearing business clothes after work (very attentive staff) than when I’m bumming around in athletic wear on the weekends (I’ve experienced times where no staff greet me when I’m dressed casually). My husband has also commented on this. It makes the staff seem less genuine.

Words cannot express how much I love this store. Run by the sweetest woman, Ruthann Panowicz Goularte — a woman who truly understands customer service. I find myself circling her store for hours, admiring the beauty of her visuals, the lavish gifts and amazing furniture. I want my whole house to look like Drees. Her husband, David Goularte has his interior design office right next door too!
I don’t even live in Olympia, but I have to drive up to her store once a month to stock up on my home décor.
Love love love!

Drees is the BEST gift/​specialty/​decorator store in Washington.
The items are high-​quality, and beautifully displayed. The customer service is perfect.
Drees is not a bargain store. But you will find items that enhance your home, and add elegance to your life.
In a town full of head shops and panhandlers, Drees is my escape.

Headed into Drees to find some new reader glasses and was struck by how if you are looking for one stop local xmass shopping in Olympia Drees would be the spot. Buy local, and buy quality a great combination!

love, love, love it! It’s the kind of place i like to go when i need a «fix» — a little time out from the daily grind — a place to go and get inspired by the wonderful things there. They have things to fit every budget — from that special something for your Easter basket to home décor to the perfect greeting card. It is a treasure.

It’s interesting to read such mixed reviews of my favorite shop in Western Washington. My sister and I live in the Seattle area but plan several day trips a year to Olympia just to visit Drees. This store has items you will see nowhere else and its readily apparent that everything in the store has been chosen with great care. This store is not for bargain hunters but it is for anyone who loves beautiful, well made, timeless things. We find the service in the store very cordial, helpful and always well-​meaning. Ruthann clearly chooses her employees with the same care she chooses her stock. Though one could interpret the motivation of an attentive salesperson as suspicion, we have always felt that they were simply at the ready to answer any questions or help in anyway they can. I certainly cannot afford the majority of the things in Drees but always enjoy the opportunity to see and handle such special items. Visit Drees, you won’t be sorry.

Its my third time at Drees today. Yes, its true, its a high-​end store and they carry some pretty pricey stuff. We only go there when we really need something special for the house of to get gifts for a particularly hard-​to-​please person who’s already got everything. Its nicely decorated with friendly employees. Ask for Paul, he’s a sweetheart. You’ll fall in love with their Holiday selections, which are always unique and delightful. This store makes me happy. What I like most about Drees is that they carry the Hickory Chair brand of furniture, which is a top-​of-​the-​line American made furniture brand. Yes, this brand is pricey but furniture from this brand lasts for generations (just like Baker Furniture). Lookie, we’re not the posh hoity-​toity kind of folks, we just appreciate quality furniture and Drees is one of those places where you can buy such furniture in Olympia. Higly recommended place to go visit when in downtown Oly.

What’s not to love about Dree’s? It is well merchandised, they have a great selection of beautiful things, and a helpful staff. Although, I am not at the point in my life where I do my furniture shopping there, I can’t wait until I do. And I love their selection of glassware and linens.
Drees is an Olympia institution. Thank goodness there is somewhere lovely to register for china, buy stationery, or decorate your house.

Great store. Fun to poke around in around the holidays. I often pop in here whenever I’m downtown. I get stationary here, cards, etc. I have bought numerous birthday presents, Christmas presents, you-​name-​it over the years.
I noticed the last few times that I’ve been in though — That I have been followed by one or two of the employees. At first I didn’t think much of it — Then I realized that they were checking to make sure I wasn’t shoplifting! Horrible! I couldn’t believe it! First it made me sad — For all the times that I’ve been in the store, that they wouldn’t remember me AT ALL?! Most of the staff is very friendly, but there are a few ladies who seem to think I’m going to rob them blind. No one should be made to feel that uncomfortable when they walk into a business.

Drees offers unique and fine items for any home or person. While the store is likely more appealing to the ladies, there are prizes for everyone; from soaps to stationary, kitchenware to tabletop, distinctive accessories to furniture items. Ruthann and her staff have an enduring sensibility for simple and sophisticated luxuries.
Drees service for furniture orders and white glove delivery, bridal registry, gift selection and wrapping as well as special orders is first rate.
If you want to outfit your home, prepare for a special event in life or convey your grace through distinguished notes or gifts, allow Drees to wow you. I’ve never had a disappointing experience.

Not a whole lot of furniture here, but there are plenty of nice gift opportunities in the tableware and personal hygiene (soap) categories. But I’m not writing my review about any of that — this review is about Drees giving you the opportunity to show your family and your family friends that you possess the epitome of good manners and taste and were raised properly, by sensible, well-​cultured parents.
Barring the fact that the above is probably not actually completely true, Drees’ vast collection of tasteful paper invitations, announcements, and thank-​you notes will give all concerned a satisfactory illusion that you belong to an elite caste of upper-​crust society, possibly even speaking with a slight British accent and possessing an irreproachable level of class.
There are enough binders in the store to almost guarantee you’ll find something that fits your personal style, and if you talk to the (female) owner of the store, she’ll make sure your fine paper products reflect the necessary proper wording. For example, did you know that if you’re having your wedding in a church, the wording is «request the honour of your presence», and if you’re getting hitched elsewhere not church-​related, you say «request the favor of your company»? I did not know this, nor all the other small wording nits involving names and abbreviations and what-​not, but I’m sure my mom’s aunt twice-​removed sure would have.
We received invaluable assistance with designing and ordering our wedding invitations and thank-​you notes. Next time we need to announce something on fancy paper to a small subset of the world, we’ll go straight to Drees.

Not really a furniture store, more like high-​end gifts, decorative items, tableware, etc. They have some nice things and I’d shop there, were it not for the bad manners of the salespeople, which I find shockingly rude. The last straw was a shopping trip with my sister. We both noticed a salesperson following us around the store and wondered why as she did not offer comments or help. Suddenly it dawned on us that she was checking to see if we were shoplifting. Having given her no reason to suspect us, we found her behavior insulting. Haven’t been in since.