Off the Beaten Aisle
When holiday shopping comes a-knockin' each year, it's easy to roll over, pull up the covers and wait until the very last minute. And when that very last minute arrives, more than likely, you'll join the holiday rush to the malls, where you'll fight the crowds, spend hours searching for a decent parking place and settle on the shops with the shortest lines for all your gift-buying.
We're to tell you: don't do it. It's not worth the headache, the stress or the buyer's remorse.
Instead, look to some of the unique retail opportunities Richmond offers the inquisitive shopper. Not only will you find a plethora of one-of-a-kind, affordable items, but you'll give yourself the gift of a better shopping experience.
Read on to discover some of the best locales for effective River City shopping during the holidays, or any time of year. Museum Stores of Richmond Holiday Shoppers Fair
Taking place this Friday and Saturday at the Virginia Historical Society , the Museum Stores Holidays Shoppers Fair features gifts and goods from 18 different Richmond museums. Which means you can find something for the Civil War buff ( Valentine Richmond History Center ), the gardener ( Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden ) and the grandkids ( Children's Museum of Richmond ) all in one spot.
"All of our stores support the educational mission of each particular museum," said Doris Delk , the retail operations director at the Virginia Historical Society and an organizer of the first fair 12 years ago. "We all try to bring sort of our signature pieces or the things that represent us most."
While one might imagine a room full of books, the museums' stores actually offer a wide-ranging variety of gifts, including toys, antique jewelry, kitchenware, sculptures, maps, prints, movies and much more. It might even be possible to wipe out your entire holiday shopping list in one fell swoop.
Said Delk, "In the past, the visitors have been really excited that they can shop all 18 stores, support everybody in one spot and see all the cool things that people have."
The Museum Stores of Richmond Holiday Shoppers Fair takes place this Friday and Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. Call (804) 342-9671 for more information. Quirk Gallery
The gift shop at Quirk Gallery (311 W. Broad Street) perfectly embodies the establishment's moniker: it's downright quirky. With limited edition embroidered pillows, Japanese dolls, elaborate felt necklaces and contemporary furniture made from recycled road signs, the store features a bit 'o everything
and quite a few things you never would have imagined.
"I think it's really hard to define the shop," said owner Kathy Emerson . "It's a combination of a museum shop and a retail shop, but it's very specific. Everything is hand-picked."
The hand-picker is Katie Ukrop , who has parlayed her shopping hobby into a keen eye for cutting-edge products. The mother of two seeks out artists and designers from local haunts as well as cosmopolitan areas like Philadelphia, Baltimore and New York. The result is a grab bag of unique wares with an assortment of price tags, ranging from $3 luggage tags to more than $200 for sterling silver jewelry.
"What Katie tries to do is pull people from the main gallery exhibition
to put their more inexpensive work in the shop," said Emerson. "So people can still take away a piece of the exhibition. That is a really special thing."
For example, if your wallet cringes at the price tag of an elaborate brooch by Robin Kranitzky & Kim Overstreet that is featured in this month's "Sparkle Plenty 2" jewelry exhibition, you can pick up the designers' meticulously decorated handmade ornaments from the gift shop for around $12.
The gift shop at Quirk Gallery is open from Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sparkle Plenty 2 launches with an opening reception this Friday from 6 to 10 p.m. and runs through Dec. 24. Visit quirkgallery.com for more information. Outré Gallery
Just down the street, Outré Gallery (3 W. Broad St.) presents another collection of unique gift items, ranging from Erin Taylor 's kitschy aprons and clutches to found-art furniture by Christina Stratman to handmade "plushy" dolls by VCU fashion student Michael-Birch Pierce .
"We've got a little bit of strange, a little bit of serious," said owner Bart Schultz , as he arranged a display for the upcoming "Outré Holiday Art Market," featuring "original art, innovative objects and odd gifts by original, innovative and odd elves."
The "serious" might be the lovely framed silhouettes by Wendy Schultz Wubbels (Bart's sister), while the "strange" could pertain to the neighboring "bad snowman" ornaments, depicting the not-so-friendly winter characters committing an array of vices, including drinking martinis and smoking cigarettes.
Here at Outré, a consignment gallery that welcomes both experimental and traditional work, anything goes.
"We're big on promoting student and local artists," said Schultz. "We sort of fill a niche on Broad St. because we're not a fine art gallery we have fine art, but we're not a fine art gallery. We're just a venue for local artists and creatives to show their work and sell it."
The Holiday Art Market provides a perfect opportunity to pick up gifts for the zany, the trendy and even the conservative persons on your list.
"To me, it's more fun to go and support local art and find a one-of-a-kind item, instead of buying a gift card or a sweater for someone," said Schultz. "You're not going to find any of this in a mall."
Outré Gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Outré Holiday Art Market opens with a First Friday reception tomorrow from 6 to 10 p.m. and continues through December 23. Visit outre-richmond.com for more info. Gallery5
Gallery5 's (200 W. Marshall St.) in-house merchandise store began as a way to promote the local artists who werent exactly wall-worthy.
"At first, it was to promote our local musicians," said gallery director Amanda Robinson . "We have music, film and video, spoken word and everything else here, but as far as their merchandise, you can't put it up on a wall and sell it as a piece of artwork."
Hence, the gift shop, which traditionally features CDs, videos, clothing and jewelry by local fashion designers and light fixtures made from found metal objects. For now, however, much of the regular merchandise has been moved aside to make room for a collection befitting the current "Mending Fences" exhibition, a festival of Russian culture, art, history and politics.
To complement the month-long schedule of events, Robinson has filled Gallery5's gift shop with pieces from the Russian Cultural Center in Washington D.C. and the Russian Art Project of Maryland. Included are one-of-a-kind ceramic Christmas ornaments by renowned sculptor Natalia Pavlova , etchings and prints by Vladimir Zorin , prints by nationally renowned Reuters photographer Yuri Gripas , as well as authentic Matryoshka dolls and other small crafts and trinkets.
As for the overall mission of the shop? Robinson put it succinctly: "it's showcasing unique, bizarre arts and crafts and the promotion of local artist and musicians."
Gallery5 is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. "Mending Fences" opens with a reception on First Friday from 7 to 11 p.m. and continues through the end of November. Find out more at www.gallery5arts.com. Visual Art Studio
The Visual Art Studio (208 W. Broad St.) has been promoting artistic gift-giving for the past seven years with its signature event, "Artistic Gifts," which opens this Friday. The cash-and-carry show features photographs, ceramics, paintings and more on a continually evolving basis and with consideration for your pocketbook.
"I pride myself on carrying things that you can actually afford to buy," said gallery owner Anne Hart Chay . "They aren't so far out of your price range that it wouldn't be feasible as a gift. I have different price points, but I try to keep a lot of items in the gift area under $50 and the majority of the artwork under $300."
Featured in the gift area, which is open yearround, are handmade cards, pressed flower prints, mosaic mirrors, ceramic sculptures and prints of photographs and paintings. For the avid Richmonder on your list, check out the collection of digital photographs showcasing some of the River City's favorite spots, including Carytown, Monument Avenue and more.
The main show features Luciano D'Aria 's peaceful photographs of the Outer Banks for the beachcomber in the family, while the book lover might appreciate a book sculpture by Julia Hebner . Either way, you'll be getting something unique and personal for that person on your list.
"A lot of these pieces are by local artists, and I like to support them," said Hart Chay. "It's changing the mindset of people; instead of them thinking 'oh, I'm going to go shopping at the mall,' they can come here for something unique or original or one-of-a-kind."
The Visual Art Studio is open Tuesday to Friday from noon to 6 p.m. and Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. "Artistic Gifts" opens tomorrow with a reception from 7 to 10 p.m. and continues through Jan. 26. Visit www.visualartstudio.org for more info. Hudson News at the Richmond International Airport
And, if you just don't have enough time in the week to peruse your local galleries and museum shops, there's always your last-minute resort, which, surprising, isn't a last resort at all.
The new Hudson News retail outlet at the airport features a refreshingly relevant display of Richmond-themed gifts. There are Millie's t-shirts, candles from the Virginia Candle Co., Virginia peanuts, Godiva chocolates (Godiva is always relevant) and books and gift items from various museums about town, including the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts , the Science Museum of Virginia and The Black History Museum and Cultural Center .
Not to mention the huge children's display, featuring popular characters like Thomas the Train, Teen Titans, Disney princesses, Hello Kitty, Clifford the Big Red Dog and more.
Not quite the ashtrays and ceramic bells we used to expect from airport retailers.
"We really try to make sure that our gifts are high-end and reflect the local neighborhoods, local towns, museums, cultural attractions, sports teams, etc.," said Laura Samuels , a spokesperson for the Hudson Group. "It's not a junky souvenir shop; it's more of a last chance to pick up a real souvenir on your way home, either from some place you went to or a place that you would have liked to have visited."
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