By: Kayla Gardner for Avid Reader & The Dirt
Raise your hand if you haven’t finished your holiday shopping this year.
Me neither.
This holiday season has swerved into view as suddenly as a bicycle on Third Street. Not to mention the fact that this year Christmas is on the least cheerful day of the week: Monday.
Look, I get it. It’s tough to resist the urge to hit “Buy Now” when scrolling through twenty different versions of the same product that all say it will arrive before Christmas. But you didn’t choose to live in Davis because of its proximity to a fulfillment center for an online company. Davis’s bikeability, its long standing local businesses, charming downtown events, and the culture of caring are why you chose to live here. Not to mention its proximity to one of the most prestigious universities on the West Coast.
So let me help you out! Here are five ways you can avoid doing your holiday shopping on a website that we all know and begrudgingly use.
- Need a gift for a book lover?
The Avid Reader is offering a book subscription where you can choose to gift three, six, or twelve newly released books to someone. The books are delivered to the recipient’s house once a month! If the reader in your life prefers audiobooks, you can gift them a similar audiobook subscription through Libro.fm and select the local bookstore you want to support with your purchase. The best part is that you can do both of these options from the comfort of your own home!
- Need a gift for someone who invites you to board game night?
Two Davis businesses sell tabletop games! Avid & Co. features family favorite games and puzzles that are perfect for kids of all ages. Davis Cards & Games offers a wide variety of board games for collectors, tabletop enthusiasts, and that one friend that is obsessed with Catan. Both of these shops have websites that you can shop from and select in store pickup OR ship directly to your loved one.
- Need a gift for an artist or art collector?
Davis has such a thriving art community and offers a variety of options for you depending on how much time you want to spend shopping. If you’re looking for something quick: The Paint Chip offers gift cards that will satisfy the medium mixing artist in your life. If your person is more of an art collector, the Davis Craft & Vintage Fair, The Pence Gallery’s Holiday Market orThe Artery are the perfect places to visit to find unique, one of a kind items that would delight anyone with an eye for fine art.
- Need a gift for a kiddo?
If you’re shopping for someone between the ages of newborn – 6 years old, you cannot go wrong at Avid & Co. or Bubble Belly. Avid & Co. has all the toys and trinkets any toddler needs to chew on play with and Bubble Belly has the cutest, the softest, the squishiest clothing that every baby needs. I would like to petition them to carry matching clothes for adults as well because they are just so stinking cute.
- Need a gift for someone with a green thumb?
Let me tell you something: your friend who likes plants will be so polite if you give them one of those pre-potted plants from Home Depot but they will immediately repot it into a plastic container with proper drainage when you turn around. Picking out a pretty pot seems like a nice thing to do but if it’s going to kill the plant after a month—it’s not worth it! So where can you get gorgeous plants that are properly potted? The Growing Groves! They have plants for both the beginner and the ambitious plant parent. If your plant friend is more into gardening, they would love a gift card to The Redwood Barn Nursery. And if your green thumbed friend lives out of town I guarantee they would love a gardening book shipped to them from The Avid Reader. Trust me on this.
Shopping local is one of the easiest ways to keep your community alive. So before you click that button for free two day shipping, check out what the Davis businesses have to offer. They might surprise you.
List of Locally Owned Davis Businesses that would love to be on your shopping list:
Books
Libro.fm (audiobooks, pick Avid Reader as your local bookstore)
Avid Reader
Logos Books
Toys and Stuffed Animals
Avid & Co.
Newsbeat
Games and Puzzles
Avid & Co
Davis Cards & Games
Avid Reader
Arts & Crafts
The Paint Chip
Davis Craft & Vintage Fair
Home Goods
Davis Farmers Market, Craft and Vintage Fair
L Street Furniture and the Vintage Advantage
Davis Home Trends
Plants
Growing Groves
Redwood Barn Nursery
Davis Farmers Market
Jewelry
Bella Luna
Lu’Ro Jewelers
Clothing and Wearables
Pinkadot
The Wardrobe
Boheme
Shoes
Fleet feet
Sole Desire
Generations Family Footwear
Baby
Avid & Co
Bubble Belly
