If you’re looking to knock out your holiday shopping this year without the dubious aid of Amazon — thus keeping your money, and hopefully our small businesses, in the community — Orlando has you covered with a plethora of shopping options for all ages and interests.
For jewelry and stylish threads, amazing finds are lying in wait all over town. First off, we have to mention Dear Prudence in Audubon Park (instagram.com/dearprudenceorlando), where you can find all manner of fashionable jewelry, accessories, clothing and funky gifts. This will, sadly, be the neighborhood staple’s last holiday season at their current location, as they’re switching over to a hybrid pop-up and online-seller situation. For the edgier friend or loved one, Chainkiller and SteampunkGarage (find them both on Etsy) deal in wearable heavy metal, all custom-made. The aesthetics are more punk and alternative, but the craftsmanship is top-tier. Both will be popping up all over town this holiday season at various markets. So will Lou Jewels (loujewels.com), the brainchild of metalsmith and artist Shannon Cartwright. Her minimalist designs are infused with whimsy without tipping over into wacky, sure to be appreciated by any creative spirit forced to work a day job.
For home goods and decorative items, shop local and you’ll be rewarded. We’ve called out Gold Dust Home (golddusthome.com), housed in an adorable Mills 50 bungalow, before — but we stand by our conviction that nowhere else in “meatspace” Orlando will you reliably find objets and items to please the most terminally online shopper. Veer Collective (veer-collective.com), on the other hand, is perhaps the most of-Orlando shop in Orlando; sitting inside Alchemy Salon’s digs in the Milk District, it’s an ever-changing selection of locally created scents, sculpture, tie-dye, ceramics, fiber art and more. The former Heavy in Winter Park has morphed into Garden Tiger in Ivanhoe Village (hellogardentiger.com) and is a great place to score new leafy friends of all varieties of stylish vessels for same. Golden Bee Fleurs, also in Ivanhoe, offers up unique and creative floral arrangements great for a host gift, as well as artisan cheese, tree ornaments and more (thegoldenbeefleurs.com).
For eclectic stocking stuffers for interests all over the map, try Nevermind Millie on Edgewater (nevermindmillie.com). The corner store offers up gift items like buttons, keychains, stickers, hats, pens all with clever pop-culture callbacks — and it shares space with Impact Fitness Studio, which cleverly camouflages exercise in the guise of just dancing to club hits for 30 or 60 minutes. (Fun and sweat, how Orlando can you get!) Atomic Horror on Colonial (atomichorror.com) has the monster-movie fanatic in your life sorted with every possible type of ghastly ephemera on offer. The Winter Park boutique Frank on Morse Boulevard has a little bit of everything; plenty of homewares, soaps and candles, jewelry, stationery and even items for the kids (frankshopwp.com).
Hobbies and collectibles are also well-represented with a legion of area retailers. The music fans in your life will be spoiled by purchases from the likes of Remix Records, Rock -N- Roll Heaven, Park Ave CDs or the newly expanded and relocated Foundation Records in College Park — the latter also have a heavy selection of vintage rock tees from the 1980s onward. (Find them at remixrecordshop.com, instagram.com/rocknrollheavenorlando, parkavecds.com and foundationrecordsfl.com.)
Budding shutterbugs who don’t want to depend on smartphones can be outfitted with film cameras courtesy Kiwi Camera Service (kiwicameraservice.com) and Colonial Photo & Hobby (cphfun.com). Both spots have staff on hand to help you find the camera that’s right for you. Colonial Photo even develops film on-site.
Fans of the geekier side of life will be pleased by gifts from area collectible emporiums like Acme Superstore in Longwood, Living Dead Comics in Curry Ford and Blackbird Comics & Coffeehouse in Maitland. Acme (acme-superstore.com) is a strip mall unto itself packed to the gills with comics, toys and ephemera from 60-plus years of fandom. Living Dead (facebook.com/livingdeadcomics) is a cozy spot near Clemons Produce stuffed with toys, Funko Pops, comics and graphic novels; while Blackbird (theblackbirdroost.com) is a great place to for the next generation of funnybook fans to get stocked up on their reading (plus they serve coffee!).
5 local gifts that won’t be returned:
Doug Rhodehamel Christmas ornament: Exclusively(!) sold at the eclectic and elegant Golden Bee Fleurs in Ivanhoe, this robotic ornament will both spice up your holiday decor and support a local legend. Artist Rhodehamel whipped up these multicolored retro-style robots that would make your tree or wreath look that much more futuristic and festive. Call it R2, call it Robbie, just don’t call it Scrooge.
Endless Apple Pie or Endless Cherry Pie mead: Just released a couple weeks ago by Mills 50 mead purveyor Zymarium Meadery, these two new flavors are attractively bottled and offer autumnal vibes aplenty. These dessert meads are made with local honey, pie spices and Michigan fruit sourced directly from small orchards. Sample in their taproom if you’re at all indecisive!
Burrow Press books: For your recently transplanted friend or native Floridian loved one, a selection of tastefully designed volumes from Central Florida’s Burrow Press is just the thing. We suggest Florida Man: Poems, Revisited, by Tyler Gillespie; All the Places We Love Have Been Left in Ruins, by Ariel Francisco; Radio Dark, by Shane Hinton, and Bright Lights, Medium-Sized City, by Nathan Holic.
Hellcats College tote bag: No longer just the province of the NPR set, tote bags are officially “in” amongst the clued-in of all ages. If someone on your gift list is tote-curious, local design and T-shirt company Hellcats USA has the best one in town (and those Burrow Press books would fit into it so nicely …). This black tote is festooned with stylized illustrations of a butterfly, tombstone, snake, intertwined broken hearts, a rose, spider web and several more foreboding symbols. Bonus: They’re also selling a gift-tag sticker set for the holidays.
Event tickets: If you’ve got dinero to spare-o, a season subscription to the Orlando Ballet, Orlando Philharmonic, Opera Orlando, or Orlando Shakes 2025/26 season would be a big swing. But even if you can’t swing that, consider an Orlando Fringe FestN4 package for the January “mini Fringe,” or VIP opening night party and screening tickets for next April’s Florida Film Festival, or tickets to next spring’s Beer ‘Merica or Brunch in the Park (presented by yours truly). For some people, it’s all about experiences, not objects — but you can still keep it local!
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This article appears in Dec 4-10, 2024.