From Main Street · By the Family at Sunrise
Our family runs a jewelry gallery at 7254 E Main St — the shop has anchored this block since the 1990s, and we’ve owned and operated it since 2006. When friends visit Scottsdale, this is the tour we give them: which districts reward a slow walk, which cases deserve a long look, where to eat in between, and how to time the day around ArtWalk and the farmers market. No paid placements, no filler — just the Old Town we walk every morning before the doors open.
Get Oriented
The visitors bureau counts roughly 400 shops, 120 restaurants, and 70 galleries and museums here, spread across nine walkable neighborhoods. That sounds overwhelming. It isn’t — four districts do most of the work for a shopping day, and you can cross all of them on foot.
Our block — the boardwalk-and-hitching-post streetscape people picture when they say “Old Town,” with historic sites dating to the late 1880s. This is where you’ll find western wear, Native American jewelry and art, and the good souvenir shops. If you have one hour in Scottsdale, spend it here.
Boutiques strung along shaded walkways a few blocks north — the prettiest stroll in the district. Its landmarks are Bob Parks’ bronze horse fountain, framed by seasonal flowers, and the Kiva Craft Center, which sits on the National Register of Historic Places.
Main Street west of Scottsdale Road, plus Marshall Way — home to some 50 galleries and the route of the Thursday-night ArtWalk. Western bronze, contemporary painting, sculpture: if it hangs on a wall or stands on a pedestal, it lives here.
The Southwest’s largest mall, on the north edge of Old Town — the place for luxury brand names. We’ll say it once and move on: come to Old Town for the things no mall anywhere can carry.
The Main Event
Old Town holds one of the best concentrations of Native American jewelry retail in the country — specialist galleries a few doors apart, many of them family-run for decades. That closeness keeps everyone honest: when the shop that knows better is around the corner, nobody can afford to sell you a story. Start with us, then keep walking.
Why here? Scottsdale sits a day’s drive from the great turquoise mines of Arizona and Nevada and from the Navajo, Hopi, and Zuni lands whose artists define this tradition — and Main Street has been a trading street for this work for generations. The result is something no website and no big city can reproduce: real galleries, side by side, each with an owner behind the counter who can tell you where a stone was dug and whose hallmark is stamped inside the band.
That’s also your best defense as a buyer. Plenty of tourist corridors in the Southwest sell dyed imitation stone as “turquoise,” and travelers know it — it’s the most common worry we hear from people stepping through our door. The shops below are the ones we’d send our own friends to. Every one of them will answer questions about origin and artist without flinching, which is exactly the test to apply anywhere you shop.
We’re a family gallery, and the cases reflect it — pieces chosen one at a time, not by the tray. We buy turquoise mine-direct, so the stones in our cases come with their origins attached: Sleeping Beauty, Kingman, and Bisbee from Arizona; Royston and Carico Lake from Nevada. The silverwork carries names, too — artists like Calvin Begay, Effie Calavaza, and Jerry Cowboy — because with Native American jewelry, the artist’s name is the mark of authenticity, and we’ll tell you whose hands made what you’re holding.
Beyond the everyday cases you’ll find an Old Pawn case of vintage trading-post-era pieces, squash blossom necklaces, White Buffalo stone from Nevada (we’ll happily explain why it isn’t technically turquoise — and why we love it anyway), hand-carved kachina dolls, plus bolo ties and belt buckles for the western wardrobe. There’s a working bench in back for sizing, repair, and custom work — handy if a ring you fall for on vacation needs to fit before your flight home.
Honest advice from inside the trade: different shops have different specialties, and serious buyers visit several — we’d rather you compare than wonder. Wherever you are, ask where the stone came from and who made the piece. A good shop answers in detail, and enjoys the question. Before you buy anything, it’s worth ten minutes with our guide to how to know the turquoise is real.
Beyond Jewelry
There’s a version of every person on your list somewhere in these blocks. Here’s where we’d send you — neighbors included.
A rough map of the list: for the person who appreciates handmade things, The Merchantile; for the friend furnishing a southwestern kitchen or den, Bischoff’s or Mexican Imports; for kids, coworkers, and anyone who’d genuinely enjoy a saguaro on a t-shirt, Kactus Jock; for the one impossible person who has everything, a Cosanti bell — no two sound alike. And for the person you’d really like to surprise, well, you know where we stand.
Our standing advice: skip the shot glass. For roughly the price of a bag of airport trinkets, you can bring home one real thing — a piece of genuine turquoise, a carved kachina, a hand-thrown pot — that someone made and someone will keep. More on that in our authentic Arizona souvenirs guide.
Time It Right
Old Town runs on a schedule locals know by heart. Plan around two nights and you’ll see the district at its best.
Every Thursday except Thanksgiving, free, along Main Street from Scottsdale Road west to Goldwater and up Marshall Way to Fifth Avenue. Galleries stay open late and the street turns into a promenade. Our block sits right on the route.
Saturday mornings in season — roughly October through May; it rests during the July–September heat. New for the 2026–27 season: after sixteen years on Brown Avenue, the market moves to the City Hall lot at 75th Street and Bennie Gonzales Way while the Brown Avenue garage is expanded.
Most Old Town shops open seven days; we’re open 10:00–6:30 daily. Winter and spring bring the crowds; summer mornings are quiet, hot, and honestly a lovely time to have the galleries nearly to yourself.
A seasonal note: Scottsdale’s high season runs roughly November through April, when the weather is perfect and the sidewalks are full. If you’re visiting then, shop earlier in the day and expect company at the popular lunch spots. Off-season visitors trade some bustle for elbow room and unhurried conversations at the jewelry cases — not a bad trade, if you ask us.
If We Planned Your Day
The order matters more than the hour — it’s built around the desert sun.
Before You Go
Yes — the public parking garages in Old Town are free, and street parking is free but limited to three hours. A free trolley also loops the area. One heads-up for 2026–27: the Brown Avenue garage is closed while the city expands it, so aim for one of the other garages or the Civic Center area.
Most shops open around 10am. We’re open every day of the week, 10:00–6:30 — including Sundays, which surprises visitors from cities where everything closes.
Yes, with strategy: shop in the morning, take the shaded Fifth Avenue walkways, spend midday in the museums, and come back out toward evening. Locals cross the street for the shady side, and so should you.
Most galleries will, and we do — we ship nationwide, fully insured, so a squash blossom or a kachina doesn’t have to ride in your carry-on. Ask before you buy anywhere; a shop that won’t ship or stand behind the piece is telling you something.
Native American jewelry — especially turquoise — plus western and southwestern art, from gallery bronzes to hand-carved kachina dolls. It’s one of the few places in the country where you can compare several specialist Native American jewelry galleries on foot in an afternoon.
Every Thursday evening, 7–9pm, year-round except Thanksgiving. It’s free, and the galleries along Main Street and Marshall Way keep their doors open late.
Start on Main Street
If turquoise is on your list, read our guide to buying authentic turquoise in Scottsdale on the plane — then come handle the real thing. We’re the family gallery at the heart of Main Street, and we’d be glad to show you what makes a stone worth keeping. Can’t make the trip yet? Browse the gallery online — every piece on the site is in the store, and every piece in the store is real.
Sunrise Jewelry & Gallery
7254 E Main St, Suite 101, Scottsdale, AZ 85251
Open 7 days, 10:00–6:30 · (480) 425-9944