Shopping in the Valley’s downtown and Melrose Place districts just got a little easier, thanks to purse-sized treasure maps created by some local businesses.

The Small Wonders Map profiles more than 70 unique, independently owned retailers, restaurants and art spaces from 16th Street to 15th Avenue in Phoenix. Kimber Lanning, owner of Stinkweeds Music in North Central Phoenix and Modified Arts downtown, decided to produce the map after responding to a litany of requests from customers about places to eat, shop and sightsee.

“People would come in the shop and say, ‘This is great! Where else can I go?’” Lanning says. “I got tired of drawing maps on a napkin.”

Lanning went door to door, spent hours on the phone and contacted other small business owners through her involvement with Local First, a coalition of independent Arizona businesses. The process of creating the map took five months.

Response was enthusiastic from the beginning, Lanning recalls, adding that the map “isn’t about advertising; it’s about building a community.”

“This is our way to link together and tell people that we’re changing the face of downtown. The map was a way for business owners to get in on the ground floor.”

The brightly colored map, about the size of a CD jewel case, features pictures and contact information for businesses such as Lux Coffeebar, Sage Antiques, Halo Piercing and Urban Cookies.

Lanning’s Stinkweeds store, near the intersection of Central Avenue and Camelback Road, is poised for the growth she predicts will take place in the area. “In the past couple of years there have been massive changes. Now that the light rail construction is pretty much over, and the landscaping is in place and looking good, we’re ready to launch.”

The downtown area is also ripe for a renaissance, according to Lanning. “Five years ago, we couldn’t get Pizza Hut to deliver to Modified (an art gallery at 4th Street and Roosevelt),” she says. “Now we have five restaurants and bars within walking distance; we have the First Friday artwalk, and all sorts of shops open around it.”

Seventy five thousand copies of the map were printed late last year. So far, more than 40,000 maps have been distributed to consumers as well as tourism offices, the local Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Valley of the Sun Hotel Concierge Association, which facilitates events such as the Barrett Jackson Car Auction, FBR Open and Super Bowl.

The map is one more way independent retailers are helping revenue dollars stay within Arizona’s economy. By using local suppliers for goods and services, more jobs are created which otherwise would be outsourced by shopping at a national chain. Local retailers also donate a higher percentage of revenue to community charities.

Brandon Huigens, store manager of Samurai Comics, 5024 N. 7th St., sees the map as a win/win. “The artistic and retail communities in the Valley are pulling together. We’ve had people come in because they saw our listing on the map, and we also refer customers to other local businesses when they’re asking for a place to eat or shop nearby.” Huigens, an artist who conducts workshops at downtown venues and helps host the First Fridays art walk, says that business owners are going the extra mile to build a sense of community because “it’s something they love to do.”

Shelly Session, owner of Rust & Roses antique store on 7th Avenue in the trendy Melrose shopping district, was inspired by the Small Wonders map to create a similar version. Session collaborated with John Douglas, owner of nearby Figs Home & Garden, to produce the tri-fold Central Antique and Specialty Shops map, with 28 participating businesses featured.

“We’re a very tight-knit group here,” Session says. “Most of us don’t have a big advertising budget, so this idea has done really well. Customers appreciate it, too, because they want to find the smaller, specialty stores.”

Sixty thousand of the maps were printed. “We’ve used more than three quarters of them already,” Session says. “I see people walking around with the map in their hands. In six months, we’ll do a reprint.”

For more information on the Phoenix Small Wonders map, contact Kimber Lanning at 602-956-0909 or stop into Stinkweeds at 12 W. Camelback Road. For more information on the Central Antique and Specialty Shops map, call Rust & Roses, 4200 N. 7th Ave., at 602-264-4999 or Figs Home & Garden, 4501 N. 7th Ave., at 602-279-1443.