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Artvoice Weekly Edition » Issue v12n47 (11/21/2013) » Section: Holiday Gift Guide


Gift Guide 2013: The Gift of Giving

by Geoff Kelly
One Christmas, in the mid-1970s, I gave everyone in my family books as gifts. I found the books on bookshelves in the house, so many were quite familiar to the recipients. In fact, I gave my elder brother a copy of a Spanish-language Peanuts book that’s he’d first received in 1967, when he was 10. It said so right on the inside front cover: “For David, Merry Christmas 1967.”

45 Gift Ideas That Are Guaranteed to Please

by Artvoice Staff
Trust Us, These Will Work

Buy Nothing This Christmas

by Michael I. Niman
Really, I’m not being a scrooge here. It’s just that with most Christmas gifts either coming from sweatshops or filling dumps with toxic debris, buying more consumer crap doesn’t seem like an appropriate way to spread holiday cheer. At the very least, spending your Thanksgiving holiday weekend doing the zombie crawl at a dozen big-boxes doesn’t seem terribly creative. Why not skip the shopping ritual and actually celebrate the holiday by spreading some love to the people you care about?

Shopping Challenge: Downtown Buffalo, Lunchtime

by Geoff Kelly
Once Western New York’s retail and entertainment heaven, Buffalo’s donwtown core has been a shopping wasteland for decades. From time to time there have been signs of life, but precious few shops survive.

One-Stop Shopping

by Geoff Kelly
It’s the latest thing: Holiday markets that take place on one or two days only, playing matchmaker between local shoppers and local artisans, artists, writers, musicians—anyone with a product to sell.

Everything's On Elmwood

by Sarah Barry
With Thanksgiving falling late this year, you may be pressed for time to get something for everyone on your holiday shopping list. The Elmwood Village is a great place to take care of everything in one day. Many of the storefronts are close to one another, so you can park your car or bike and explore all the village has to offer by foot. If you’re shopping for young people, the Tree House Toy Store (793 Elmwood) offers a wide variety of classic toys as well as some of the newest trends. Locally owned and operated since 1996, all toys at the Tree House are personally selected by the owners to inspire imagination and creativity.

Main Street, East Aurora

by Geoff Kelly
There is a shopping plaza on East Aurora’s western end, and in its vicinity there are some fine gift shops. And there’s Aurora Beer Works and the Bar Bill Tavern on that side of town, too—both worthy destinations.

Go North for Christmas

by Buck Quigley
If you’re looking to cross a bunch of gifts off your shopping list this season, you should take a stroll down Hertel. This north Buffalo avenue which hosts the wildly popular Italian Festival every summer is packed with shops, markets, restaurants and bars—kind of like a mall, if malls overwhelmingly featured cool, local businesses and boasted a picturesque and convenient urban charm.



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