Choose Downtown for Your Holiday Shopping
By Lily McEwen
There are countless reasons why you should support your local retailers every day, but there are even more reasons to support them this holiday season.
Not only are you keeping your money local, where it will be used to improve your very own city, you also get more personal interaction with business owners—who know the store better than anyone else.
Shopping locally means your money will go to these amazing and helpful store owners and their families, rather than a big corporation. It’s almost like you’re buying gifts for their families, too!
You can see their unique items right in store before deciding on a gift, rather than seeing it on a screen. Which is never quite the same as the real deal.
Christmas is a special time for everyone, and our businesses know that, and look forward to making your time as special as they can.
We checked in with a few business owners to hear what they have to say about shopping locally with them and all of our Downtown businesses this year.
Obi’s Kitchen
Some people we shop for, shop enough for themselves, and it can be difficult to find something special that they don’t have already. Obi’s Kitchen has thought of that already, and has a perfect solution for you!
They have unique, pre-made gift baskets made up of their secret ingredients, or they can make custom gift baskets just for you. You can call or message them with your price range and your desired theme, or pick out your own secret ingredients and hand over the list. Their elves will head to work and even Christmas-ify it for pick up or delivery.
And it gets better! You’re supporting Obi’s as a local business, but they also pride themselves on their Canadian made products and locally sourced ingredients, so you’re supporting so many small businesses and Canadian farmers with just one purchase.
Miss Priss
Supporting Canadian businesses is important, and over at Miss Priss, they agree! They sell products from many different Canadian businesses like Michael Tyler, Piccadilly, Iska and more.
You can also find their holiday special items like the Solmate socks (which are made from recycled materials), and the Hatley boxers shorts and sleep shirts.
After speaking with them, I can assure you that they want you to find the perfect Christmas gift just as much as you do. They are more than happy to do special orders for you if you know what you’re looking for. Julie, the owner of Miss Priss told me, “If I don’t have it here and I can get it, I’ll get it for you!”
Those positive attributes are specific to those businesses, but every Downtown business has many of their own. By taking the time to come Downtown to shop, you also have the opportunity to stroll through our beautifully lit streets to find our five light installations scattered throughout the district, along with the bright holiday banners and garland that line the streets.
Lately there has been a lot of important focus on taking care of our environment, and Christmas is the perfect time to make a change by buying consumable gifts or gifting an experience, like a relaxing massage at The Spah or We Thrive. Maybe a new hairstyle from one of our many salons, or even paying for a new tattoo or piercing at Twisted Anchor or Feminink.
Scalliwag Toys
Many great experiences come from games and toys that we can use over and over again, and Scalliwag Toys has everything you need. You can even have a fun experience buying the gift with their Mystery Boxes, where you can buy a secretly wrapped product at a discounted price.
They also have a wide variety of unique or rare items like their Wanderhome and Sleepaway Camp roleplaying games that center around storytelling and problem solving rather than combat, a great way to exercise imagination and creativity in a peaceful, team building way.
Other rare items to be found at Scalliwags include the kickstarter Edition of Dinosaur world (hit sequel to Dinosaur Island), ocamora wooden products (hand-crafted Spanish products for young children), double sided Mudpuppy puzzles, and a uniquely curated selection of books including those representing LGBTQIA, Indigenous peoples and nature, on top of their Little Golden Book options.
Their selection of toys and games is amazing, but Scalliwag’s also does an amazing job at helping the community and those in need. Right now, they are doing their best to support Fixed Fur Life, a local group that helps spay, neuter, rescue, foster, and do emergency care for animals in the area. If you want to help, you can buy ballots and enter to win one of six prize packs.
Shopping is important during the holiday season, but as one of the Scalliwag Toys owners said when asked what customers should know about shopping local this Christmas, “Shopping locally is so important … This Christmas it helps a lot of local business owners put food on the table, and helps a lot of us stay in business. But ultimately, the true spirit of ‘shop local’ shouldn’t be seasonal. We should always want to shop local, because those businesses generally support local themselves.”
Now, that’s lots of reasons, but if it’s not enough for you, take a look around the store to see their products and chat with these lovely store owners yourself, because I could never convince you as much as their amazing products and services can.
