Earth Treasures Us owner Thomas Huber said the items in his store reflect his wife's heritage.
"My wife is actually Indian," he said. "She is East Indian, grown up in Thailand. So, to bring in things from India is very natural."
The store at, 3025 Central Ave. N.E., carries clothing, souvenirs, jewelry, tapestries, furniture and incense from Thailand, India, Indonesia, Japan, China and Vietnam. Huber said he and his wife, Rajnee, travel to Asia each year and hand-pick fabrics and goods to carry in their store.
"Vietnam is the only country we don't go personally," he said. "It is our traveling. We lived in the countries and my wife speaks the languages. So, it's a home-based business."
Huber said the merchandise they buy is from cottage industries and housewife groups.
"Because this is the home-country of my wife, we really take good care that the merchandise you are getting is manufactured under the fair-trade principals and is ethically desirable," he said.
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Huber and his wife met 19 years ago in San Francisco. They moved to Hawaii and started their business. In 1996, they came to New Mexico and started selling their goods at the Santa Fe Flea Market.
"So, we started bringing in some hand crafts and natural fiber clothing from Thailand, and (it) was really successful at the Santa Fe Flea Market," he said. "We had, for a little while, a retail store in Santa Fe and then we focused on wholesale. For seven years, we had no retail. We only sold to retail stores."
Huber said they started a temporary store at the Coronado Mall in 2004 and stayed there for a year and a half.
"We only wanted to do that for the Christmas business but the reception was so unbelievably positive because people like the hand-made things - the one-of-a-kind. It's really unique."
After that, they moved their store to Nob Hill.
"We started looking for a location, and Nob Hill is simply, for us and what we are doing, the best part of town," he said. "We really loved to cater to the Albuquerque community, and our reception was absolutely great. So, this is almost our second year."
Rajnee Huber often helps customers find accessories, such as bindis, headpieces, hairpieces, bracelets and necklaces that match their outfit.
"The store was great," customer Carrie Field said. "The help was amazing - great customer service, like, right away."
Field, who is from Los Angeles, said she really liked the floor-length dresses from Thailand.
"I got three dresses - two red and a blue. This place is amazing."
Rajnee Huber said the store is very popular with people from out of town.
"We have a lot of people who are in the movies, who come and shoot movies," she said. "They come and shop here. We've sold a lot of cotton shirts to movie stars, directors, people helping with the project. We've sold a bunch to them."
Rajnee Huber said the store doesn't carry many modern items.
"People come in and ask if we have some very traditional Thai or very traditional Indian or Japanese or Chinese (outfits), so we keep those for those people," she said. "We don't have very much modern style, just those with the spaghetti tops. We import them from Thailand."
Earth Treasures Us
3025 Central Ave. N.E.
For store hours, call 505-872-0226
