Your Guide to Shopping Local This Holiday Season
It’s the season of giving!
Make each gift count by giving back to a small business at the same time. Throughout our lives, our small businesses have sponsored our Little League teams, employed our family members, and contributed to the magic of the holidays with holiday lights and festivities. The more they earn, the more we get.
Let’s help our mom and pops put food on the table, put their kids through college, and pay down their mortgages in thanks.
Buy a gift from one of these Queens gift shops!
Lockwood is the passion project turned business of local Mackenzi. She calls it the “culmination of her decade plus love affair with retail, mixed with a massive crush on the borough Queens, and just a dash of business + design mixed in for good measure.” She has since turned Lockwood into a local chain: while her flagship store is in Astoria, she also has outposts in Jackson Heights and Greenpoint. Greenpoint is her first expansion outside of Queens and a safe haven for Queens-dwellers turned Brooklynites seeking the comforts of home.
Send Christmas cards designed by artisans right here in Astoria:
Unisphere Holiday Greeting Card at Lockwood
Photo Credit: Lockwood
If you have a general idea of what to get a friend but haven’t nailed down specifics, Lockwood also has these generously priced and sized care bundles! They come in a variety of themes, ranging from “calm journaling” to “kid’s toy chest.” You can also make your own.
Side B, launched this year, has its roots in Newtown HQ, which sells new and thrifted clothing, collectibles, and art. Side B, however, provides a curated selection of small-batch eco-conscious artisanal products with an emphasis on those that are women-owned or PoC-owned. With that in mind, we’ve selected jewelry that might be a good gift for your best friend (or yourself, let’s be real.)
Mellow Pea Pendant - Hokusai "The Great Wave" at Shop Side B
Photo Credit: Side B
Maybe they don’t like jewelry but everyone misses home. With travel restrictions, your best friend may not be able to go home but you can certainly bring “home” to them.
Each Homesick candle uniquely represents a different state or country. While we like the Oklahoma candle best for its sweet vanilla and cinnamon scent, the Mexico candle is said to smell of freshly made tortillas, jalapeños, butter, cream, and sugar.
There is also nothing a smidgen of chocolate couldn’t make right. Enter Schmidt’s Candy, which has been around since 1925. Run by Margie Schmidt, who comes from a long line of candy makers, everything is as her grandfather did it. Each piece of candy is handmade and imperfect but her customers don’t care.
“Most people say, ‘Marge, I don’t care about the box. I want your candy.’ So that’s the highest compliment, and it keeps me going,” she says.
Try their assorted caramels, chocolate-covered marshmallows, chocolate-covered Oreos, and thin mints.
Want some seasonal cheer? They’re offering filled Christmas baskets for $25.00.
Interior of Schmidt’s Candy