The second in our series on local shopping
The Internet may be a handy way to get your holiday shopping done, but to shop from your desk is to miss out on the whole experience of visiting local stores that offer not only unique gifts, but also plenty of holiday ambiance. And shopping locally helps keep money in the community, instead of going to the headquarters of a faceless online entity someplace in Chicago or New York. Shopping locally, you don’t have to travel far to find that something special for those on your holiday gift list. Besides all the interesting shopping Harvard offers, all manner of treasures and trinkets can be found in neighboring towns.
What to look for in Bolton
There are several holiday shopping opportunities that can be found along the byways of nearby Bolton, including places to buy Christmas trees, for those who didn’t put one up the day after Thanksgiving.
At the east end of Route 117 is Bolton Spring Farm, which not only sells Christmas trees, wreaths, roping, and kissing balls outside, but also draws shoppers inside with the scent of hot mulled cider and freshly-made apple dumplings wafting in the breeze. Inside, shoppers can shake off the wintry chill with hot cider or coffee, sample the dumplings and other goodies from the bakery, and explore the Christmas shop, which is decked with ornaments, Santa and snowman figurines, and scented Yankee candles. The store is open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. through the end of December, except for Christmas Day and an early closing on Christmas Eve.
At the west end of town on Route 117, Bolton Orchards offers Christmas trees and wreaths outside, and gifts and goodies inside. Besides boxes and bags of its own home-grown fruits and jugs of its renowned apple cider, the store carries a collection of private-label preserves and condiments. You can find an assortment of small gifts and stocking-stuffers and sundry specialty items for your holiday table, including pies, breads, coffeecakes, and more—all made by local bakers. Gerardo’s Bakery, located inside at the back of the store, sells not only cookies for Santa, but also biscotti, lemon squares, cannolis, and other tempting confections. And while you’re there you can pick up something for dinner—ready-made meals in the deli, perhaps, or organic meats to take home and cook yourself.
Nashoba Valley Winery, just off Route 117 on Wattaquadock Hill Road, is a wine connoisseur’s delight. It offers more than a dozen varieties of fruit wines and an assortment of wine paraphernalia, such as ice buckets, wine racks, corkscrews, wine glasses, and wine bags. In addition, it sells an assortment of fruit brandies and at least three kinds of micro-brewed beers, including the current seasonal offering, “Imperial Stout.” The store also sells a variety of “go-withs,” including private-label condiments such as smoky mozzarella bread spread and roasted tomato-basil bread dipper, and assorted Stonewall Kitchen condiments and jams. In an effort to support local artisans, the store also features hand-crafted goods such as pottery, fiber art, wooden pens, and more, made by members of the Bolton Artisans Guild.
For a unique and different gift, a visit to Reflections on Main Street might be in order. At first glance, the shop, which is located at the blinking light in the center of town, looks like a lovely stained-glass lamp store. But owner Mary Ann Fitzgerald, who relocated her business to the Bolton store from Marlborough in October, says it’s much more than that. “People think of us for occasions when they would buy flowers,” she says. Fitzgerald promotes the lamps—along with accompanying verses—as sentimental keepsakes. She notes that 70 percent of her lamps are sold in memory of loved ones. “It’s a lasting alternative to flowers,” she says. “They’re not only beautiful, but they’re also practical. They become treasured.” People buy them to celebrate and memorialize all occasions, she says, including birthdays, retirements, new babies, teachers, and holidays. Some lamps and verses can be previewed at the store’s website, www.reflectionlamps.com.
Shop for gardeners in Lancaster
Like most garden centers at this time of year, local garden shop Lancaster Gardens offers greenery and flowers to deck your halls. The store features wreaths and roping and a wide variety of holiday flowers: poinsettias in many different colors, cyclamen, and amaryllis. Shoppers can find all manner of Christmas décor, including small artificial trees, plaques, ornaments, bows, and ribbon. The shop also stocks items perfect for the gardener on your gift list: garden gloves; hand tools; pots made from clay, stoneware, and plastic. They also have pots made in Lancaster from a material called hypertufa, which is a lightweight natural alternative to plastic or cement.
Poinsettias at Lancaster Gardens. (Photos by Lynda King)
A selection of toys at Wood-n-Things Crafts in Berlin.
Jams and jellies at Berlin Farms.
Next stop—Berlin
You may not think of small, rural Berlin as a place to shop, but among the retailers you’ll find there are a farm store, a store filled with handmade wooden toys, and a store featuring high-end, high-quality Native American jewelry.
Berlin Farms, 200 Central St. (Route 62) in Berlin, is a New England farmstead, circa 1867, that is protected under deeded conservation, and specializes in the care and breeding of endangered barnyard animals. But it also has an ice cream stand in the summer, a cozy restaurant for Sunday brunch, and a large farm store brimming with things to look at—and buy. From Christmas trees to Christmas ornaments, an extensive collection of farm preserves, and original pancake, cookie, and brownie mixes cleverly packaged in glass canning jars, there are ideas for gifts and stocking-stuffers for just about everyone on your gift list.
Farther west on Route 62, past the center of town, is a little-known treasure: Wood-n-Things Crafts. The store is chock full of everything wooden: hand-painted miniatures perfect for filling antique printer’s boxes or little curio cabinets; row upon row of original, hand-painted Christmas ornaments; hand-painted plaques and candleholders. Walls and counters are filled with sanded, unfinished shelves and racks and a large collection of unfinished toys, including toy trucks and airplanes in all shapes and sizes, doll houses, doll-house furniture, and high chairs and cradles for favorite dolls. The store doesn’t accept credit cards. Owner Karen Hill, who does the painting on the wooden creations made by her husband Dave, says that helps to keep prices low.
Just around the corner from Wood-n-Things, on Coburn Road, you’ll find the Silver Buffalo Gallery, which represents the works of hundreds of Native American artists from all over the Southwest. The store carries an assortment of Indian artifacts and a huge collection of jewelry, including estate jewelry that features vintage turquoise and silver pieces. Lovers of Native American crafts will find handmade wooden flutes, pottery, baskets, beadwork, porcupine quill boxes, and more. The store periodically invites Indian artists to visit and show their work. This weekend David Rosales, of the Supersmith Collection, will be on hand with his collection of hand-inlaid colorful mosaic sterling silver jewelry with semiprecious stones.
On to Acton
Kitchen Outfitters, at the intersection of routes 27 and 2A in Acton, is a dream come true for the cooks on your gift list, offering just about anything a devoted cook could ask for. Embossed shortbread pans, muffin tins in every size, tart tins in assorted shapes and sizes, ramekins, pie plates, pie birds—they have it all. If it’s cookware you’re after, there are big pans and small—from frying pans to Dutch ovens and stock kettles—in stainless steel and cast iron. There is colorful cookware by LeCreuset and Emile Henry, and for ethnic cooking there are bamboo vegetable steamers in multiple sizes, empanada molds, tortilla presses, and more. Appliances? Mixers, coffeemakers, espresso makers, toasters, frialators—all there. For holiday baking you’ll find cookie sheets, cookie cutters, cookie molds, cookie cooling racks, embossed bundt pans, and a wide variety of cake pans.
Nearby you’ll find The Woolpack, a fiber artist’s delight. The store is filled with yarns in all weights and colors, knitting and crochet needles for every project, and shelves of books packed with ideas and patterns. There are felting kits and dyed fleece for felting projects. Displayed throughout the store are sweaters, scarves, and more, knitted, crocheted, or woven by store employees. Patterns are available for all samples, and the store even offers workshops on making some of them.
For those who like nothing better than a good book to read, Willow Books on Route 2A has shelves full of them. The store, owned by Acton resident David W. Didriksen, has been a fixture in Acton for 15 years. Besides offering books on every subject imaginable, the store offers greeting cards, wrapping paper, scrapbook albums, and a cozy café. Didriksen says that his store offers a better alternative to the big-box book stores at the mall. “We have employees who actually read the books and can offer personal recommendations,” he says. He points out that his store features books that have local regional appeal, such as the collection of books on New England. Didriksen says that shoppers filled with “chain-store fatigue” will find something different at his store and the many independent stores that line Route 2A. “We’re part of the community,” he says. “We don’t just serve it.”
Willow Books and nearby stores help promote the shop-local experience by offering gift cards to each other’s shops.
A little farther south on Route 2A you’ll find Handworks Gallery of American Crafts. Owner Glenn Johnson, who started the business in 1976, says the store represents the work of more than 200 American artists. The shop is filled with high quality crafts in a wide range of prices. Works include pottery, sculptures in stone and clay, glass, jewelry, and photography. Johnson says that each purchase comes with a card that includes a brief biography of the artist and something about the piece.
