The Scarlet Sage Herb Co.

"I met Erin Masako Wilkins at a now-shuttered San Francisco herb shop called Scarlet Sage. She was teaching a class about moxibustion, the therapeutic East Asian practice of burning mugwort leaves over acupressure points. Wilkins is an acupuncturist and herbalist whose book Asian American Herbalism, published this past October, draws from her Japanese heritage, education in Traditional Chinese Medicine, and clinical practice in Sonoma County, California. Reading the book was a revelation: Asian American Herbalism gave context, provided recipes, shared history. It spoke to an ancestral knowledge I’d been raised with but had been lost to me, personally." - Rachel Khong

"The word 'apothecary' gets thrown around a lot in reference to beauty shops, but this Mission store is in fact a real-deal apothecary, complete with shelves of medicinal herbs, natural remedies, and essential oils. It can be tough to make sense of it all, so thankfully the staff is knowledgeable and eager to help. For those looking to expand their horizons, there are informational books and a metaphysical department if you're into that sort of thing."