The Best Places to Shop for Local Holiday Gifts This Year

‘Tis the season for holiday gifts and, whether you’re buying for your favorite dog walker or your closest friends and family, we have one big suggestion: Shop local. It feels good and it does good.

Shopping local keeps money in the community, of course. But it’s more than that. It’s the absolute best feeling to walk into a store and know exactly who curated everything you’re seeing (and who also happens to remember your best friend’s favorite scent and what book your dad devoured last year). We are lucky to have so many small businesses around us.

Greedy Reads
Fells Point/Remington 
This sweet independent bookshop, owned by powerhouse Julia Fleischaker, is known not only for shop dog Audie but its wide range of books. The super-knowledgeable staff always has excellent suggestions, and there’s a great selection of adorable bookmarks and stickers for stocking stuffers. Might we suggest a doozy of a gift: tickets to the popular Greedy Reads Sunset Cruise & Book Swap.

Also around Fells Point: A Day In June, Fells Point Surf Co., The Sound Garden, Brightside, and The Seasoned Olive.

Found Studio
Hamilton-Lauraville
Look no further than this Lauraville boutique for not only great gifts, but the sweetest interaction with owner Kacey Stafford. Stafford’s shop is like a warm hug, with rows of ornaments, tons of locally made products, pretty packaged soaps, great earrings, Orioles and Ravens sock hats, candles, Hanukkah socks, and crab jammies for littles.

Also around Hamilton-Lauraville: The Margaret Cleveland at Walther Gardens, Snug Bookstore, Wockenfuss Candies, Domesticity, and Zeke’s Coffee.

Becket Hitch
Greenspring/Ruxton
Kohli Flick—the face of this Green Spring Station shop—is a delightful ray of sunshine on IG, talking about new and favorite items and how she uses them in her own home. Flick loves the holiday season and stocks her shop with pretty platters, jewelry (like bangles and gold earrings), key chains, perfume, cookbooks, cute pajamas, funny holiday cards, needlepoint pillows, and really good stocking stuffers.

Also around Greenspring/Ruxton: Wee Chic, Nova Man, Ruxton Mercantile, Gundalow Gourmet, South Moon Under, and Monkee’s of Baltimore.

Currency Studio
Station North
The brainchild of Michael Haskins Jr., this Station North boutique feels like shopping at an art gallery—or in your coolest friend’s closet. Find baseball hats, his famous T-shirts and pullovers, plus items like vintage baseballs, passport covers, and jewelry—all inspired by art and architecture. Shopping here is like a gift in and of itself.

Also around Station North: MICA Store, Artists & Craftsman Supply, Sophomore Coffee, and Ouftur.

Mt. Royal Soaps
Remington
A Remington staple, this bath and body shop—founded by three soap-obsessed friends, Pat Illes, Matt Williams, and Sam Kiffe—is stocked full of sugar scrubs, bath bombs, bubble baths, shower steamers, candles, tea towels, beard balms, and, yes, soaps. All the products are still made small-batch in Baltimore.

Also around Remington: Baltimore Museum of Art gift shop, Bird In the Hand, The Charmers Club, B.Willow, and Baltimore Photo Space.

In Watermelon Sugar
Hampden
This Hampden staple—just steps from Miracle on 34th Street—knocks out perfect storefront windows each season, but especially during the holidays. Owner Leslie Stevenson fills her magical corner boutique with felt ornaments, holiday gift wrap and tags, advent calendars, lotions, jewelry, cookbooks, home furnishings, and sweet kid gifts, including knit dolls. Stevenson and her team are also well-versed in recommending the perfect present for anyone on your list.

Also around Hampden: Balston Mercantile, Bazaar, Atomic Books, The Wine Source 

Paper Herald
Mt. Vernon
Owner Ashleigh Coaxum fills her Mount Vernon stationery shop with everything a papyrophiliac (yup, that means paper lover) dreams about—notebooks, calendars, planners, fancy stationery, and letter-writing sets. Have a friend who swoons at the thought of a really good pen? Look no further. Coaxum is uber-knowledgeable and also gets it when people freak out about writing utensils.

Also around Mt. Vernon: Ceremony Coffee, ReLeaf Shop, The Doll House Boutique, and Paris West.

Doc Taylor’s Toy Emporium
Ellicott City/Catonsville 
Since actual toy stores are getting harder and harder to find, this Ellicott City Main Street shop is a true gem. Overcrowded rows of toys fuel childhood nostalgia—back when days were spent playing with doctor kits, dolls, slime, spy kits, puzzles, games, train sets, Calico Critters, squishy cubes, and tons of cars and trucks. It’s pretty impossible not to find exactly what you need.

Also around Ellicott City: Su Casa, Bohemian House, Backwater Books, Bee Inspired Goods, Sweet Elizabeth Jane, Charm City Links & Co.