Newell and I did our weekly bit again with Mark Scott at WBFO's studios. This week's topic was one that Newell was uniquely qualified to talk about, having been a business owner (Thunder Bay) on Elmwood Avenue for several years.
When Mark asked about shopping in Buffalo, it was pretty much a knee-jerk reaction to come up with all the reasons one should shop here, from supporting locally-owned shops, to avoiding the mall rush, to finding unique gifts. The problem then was in everyone we left out when we were naming names and shops. Happily, the list of potential shopping spots is long.
Obviously, a yellow page listing will tell you what you need to know about finding things by category, but for those of you with an open mind, friends and family as unique as the item you may be looking for and a little holiday time on your hands, park your car on a city street and explore the storefronts.
One thing we didn't mention is that there are places that will allow you to make your gifts (jewelry and ceramic) as well as places that sell kits to make fun things (Albright Knox Gift Shop and Tree House Toys).
We also didn't mention antique shops (Allen, Elmwood, Hertel, Connecticut, Niagara), where one can find any number of things that people might never buy for themselves, but would love to receive. Ditto the great area restaurants that offer gift certificates.
Since we can't mention everything that's available, we'll let the comment boards fill in. If you're looking for something special and don't know where to find it, post your query here; there's probably many an avid shopper out there with an answer for you.