Great Escape: Let Your 'Imagine'ation Run Wild

You need to get away for a while. Maybe just for an hour or two. It has been February school vacation week, after all. The kids were home all week.

Here's a place you might be familiar with as a former Barrington specialty store and gift shop. It moved to Warren after a controversy over the colorful cow it used to attract drive-by customers.

Yes, it's Imagine. It took up residence in a former consignment antique shop that was renovated from the historic Lyric Theater on the corner of Main Street and Miller Street in Warren. You can't miss the colorful facade that marks its location.

The shop is more adorable than ever, even for someone like me who doesn't like to shop. But I can roam through the store's three levels for at least an hour or more even if I'm not shopping.

I always think of Imagine, though, as the first place I go to find greeting cards and unusual hand-made jewelry when it's a birthday or gift-giving time. But it's hard to ignore the unusual and delightful selection of novelties and Life is Good clothing and kids toys and gifts and unique wall hangings (there's a deer that talks to you).

Of course, if you really want to take a break, you can wander to the first-floor Lyric Twist ice cream parlor just inside the entrance to the store. It's not far from the rows of candy and the parade of cows and a talking butler who offers a greeting when you step through the front door.

Yes, Imagine still has its colorful cows. Seven of them, in fact.