🔒 Pick up the perfect gifts at these outlets, small businesses you’ll only find in Houston
HOUSTON – Where we spend our money issues and once we purchase native, our money does extra good for our neighborhood than it does once we store at big-box shops, so whenever you go searching for surprises, whether or not they be for a birthday, vacation or main life milestone, take into account supporting native entrepreneurs.
Sure, nationwide chains supply the benefit of one-stop procuring and so they make it simple to order gadgets on-line, however when you hope to find one thing eccentric or sudden, one thing really particular on your particular somebody, small businesses are your greatest wager. They merely care extra about their prospects and choose with nice consideration a list related to them.
I’m pondering of the zany reward outlets that carry art work by Houston-based artists who’ve a aptitude for making our hometown into masterpieces, the longstanding document shops that promote native musicians, the family-owned toy shops full of retro collectibles priced to promote, the reward outlets at native museums, the stacks-style bookstores, the place you may say, “My sister likes Virginia Woolf,” or “My husband’s into science fiction” and a discerning bookseller will begin pulling out choices for you. The type of locations which might be a pleasure to browse and be at.
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In an effort to focus on our neighborhood’s small businesses, we’ve assembled a listing of 40 stellar outlets promoting gadgets you’ll really need to give . . . and get.
This listing is on no account definitive and we’re grateful for suggestions. Drop them in the remark part and so they’ll be thought of for inclusion in an replace to this text.
👒 Apparel
Dao Chloe Dao
Houston designer Chloe Dao catapulted into the nationwide highlight after successful “Project Runway” Season 2 in 2006. Her eponymous boutiques in Rice Village and MKT Heights promote her locally-made collections, in addition to a number of fastidiously curated merchandise.
Multiple areas, chloedao.com
Magpies & Peacocks
The nonprofit design home Magpies & Peacocks upcycles textiles diverted from landfills. Its mission is to disrupt the cycle of waste in the vogue trade and mitigate its monumental environmental and social affect. Magpies & Peacocks affords attire, purses, canine equipment, jewellery and extra.
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908 Live Oak Street, (832) 299-5609, magpiesandpeacocks.org
Manready Mercantile
This rustic-chic menswear retailer in Houston’s Greater Heights space sells denim, leather-based equipment, knives, candles, pantry gadgets and quirky gifts sourced from manufacturers that make their merchandise in the good ol’ US of A.
321 W Nineteenth Street Suite B, (713) 861-6618, manready.com
Paris Texas Apparel Co.
Paris Texas Apparel Co. is predicated in Houston and was based in 2012. From humble beginnings in the founder’s storage, the business now operates two retail areas and an e-commerce website which boast a group of males’s gifts and attire.
Multiple areas, paristexasco.com
Shudde Bros Hats
Shudde Bros. Hatters bought its begin in 1907 as the Shudde Southern Hat Company on Trinity Avenue in downtown Houston. Over the years, Shudde Bros. made a reputation for itself, outfitting the likes of John Wayne, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, and James Henry “Red” Duke, Jr. President John F. Kennedy, President George H. W. Bush had been additionally amongst the household’s notable clientele. Even Sam Houston was a Shudde Bros. buyer, nicely posthumously at least. In 1936, the Shudde brothers restored Houston’s hat, which is now on show at his residence in Huntsville. In 2007, after a century at its historic Houston location, Shudde Bros. shuttered its manufacturing unit and moved into its present residence at Brookwood Community, a residential program in Brookshire for adults with disabilities. With the transfer, got here a brand new mission. Now, all internet income from the hat store profit Brookwood.
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1502 FM 1489, (281) 375-2214, shudde.com
Tootsies
Shopping for somebody who loves all-things designer? Try Tootsies. Since its inception in 1972, the luxe vogue emporium has supplied the newest designs from the most-esteemed vogue homes. Here’s a list of some of the designers the store carries. The retailer’s stylists may help you find the perfect reward on your designer man or gal. The Houston retailer has non-public appointments, curbside pickup, complimentary valet parking, free parking, free reward wrapping and on-site alterations.
2601 Westheimer Road, (713) 629-9990, tootsies.com
Two Tequila Sisters
No, they’re not likely sisters. Yes, they do like their tequila, notably when it’s blended with Topo Chico and splash of lime. Longtime associates and neighbors, Debbie Rank and Eryn Elliot are the dynamic duo behind the Bellaire-based business Two Tequila Sisters, an clothing store providing Insta-worthy, custom-made denims jackets. To say these jackets are a tad much less tame than the typical blue jean jacket is an understatement. Each and each one is tricked out to the nines with vibrant embroidery, sequins, patches, pins, cloth swatches, trim, and extra, all organized for optimum flare . . . and that means. Many of the items Elliot and Rank create incorporate their prospects’ most treasured gadgets. Think swaths of marriage ceremony clothes, outdated ties, letterman patches and the like.
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(713) 253-2055, twotequilasisters.com
🎨 Art
Jim Koehn Art
Jim Koehn is a Houston-based artist with a aptitude for making our hometown into masterpiece work. His watercolor and acrylic works function iconic Houston locales like Minute Maid Park, River Oaks Theatre, Numbers Nightclub and Cactus Music — locations that might have personal significance on your reward recipient. Did you get engaged there? Make a long-lasting reminiscence? Bring slightly little bit of the713 into your space with considered one of these watercolor prints. Koehn additionally does home portraits, National Park indicators and accepts commissions.
(713) 252-1659, jimkoehn.com
The MFA Shop
In addition to the postcards, espresso mugs, and T-shirts which might be normal fare at museum outlets all over the place, the MFA Shop shares an array of eclectic gadgets like handmade jewellery, Avant Garde kitchen wares, mobiles, and crochet kits.
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5601 Main Street, (713) 639-7360, mfashop.mfah.org
📚 Bookshops
Becker’s Books
Becker’s books in Houston’s Spring Branch East space, is a 3,500-square-foot wonderland of nooks, crannies and labyrinths filled with tens of 1000’s of titles. Its slender, twisting aisles yield the most incredible surprises — there, you may ferret out that pulpy paperback or hardcover. You would possibly find a placing version of an outdated favourite or an intriguing title by an creator you don’t even know.
7405 Westview Drive, (713) 957-8088, beckersbooks.com
Blue Willow Bookshop
Located in an unassuming strip mall at the nook of Dairy Ashford and Memorial in West Houston, the charming store has been a bookstore since 1973 — it modified arms, and names, in 1996 when the unique proprietor retired — and boasts an giant stock of kids’s books and grownup fiction.
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14532 Memorial Drive, (281) 497-8675, bluewillowbookshop.com
Brazos Bookstore
If new, modern books are what you search, proceed to Brazos Bookstore at 2421 Bissonnet Street. It’s a candy, tidy store that shares a fastidiously curated number of up to date and basic literature, poetry, artwork and structure monographs, and the like. The cabinets listed below are meticulously ordered and the books, thoughtfully displayed. The workers is soft-spoken, educated and fairly discerning.
2421 Bissonnet Street, (713) 523-0701, brazosbookstore.com
Murder By The Book
If you’re searching for somebody who adores clues and diversions, make your approach to Murder By The Book, the metropolis’s oldest impartial purveyor of thriller literature. Opened in 1980, the impartial bookstore on Bissonnet Street close to Kirby markets itself as “one of the nation’s oldest and largest mystery specialty bookstores.” Step inside, have a look round, and also you’re inclined to consider them. There are books all over the place. The retailer shares over 25,000 books — new and used, hardbacks and paperbacks, first editions, collectibles, thriller magazines, and extra.
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2342 Bissonnet Street, (713) 524-8597, murderbooks.com
Quarter Price Books
Quarter Price Books, at Shepherd Drive close to Lexington Street, shares about 25,000 uncommon and classic books. They fill the complete store. They’re on cabinets, in containers, on tables, at the entrance desk; there are hardcovers and paperbacks; fiction, historical past and artwork.
3820 Shepherd Drive, (713) 520-5009.
☕ Drinks
Boomtown Coffee
Searching for some high quality beans for the espresso lover in your life? Pick up a bag at Boomtown, a hard-core espresso store serving its personal small batch artisan roasts.
Multiple areas, boomtowncoffee.com
Houston Wine Merchant
Sandwiched between Montrose and River Oaks, independently-owned retailer Houston Wine Merchant first opened its doorways in 1984. The store’s stock is huge and consists of tons of of thoughtfully chosen effective wines and spirits. Most of the stock is listed on the web site, which permits prospects to buy on-line and request in-store pickup or supply choices.
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2646 S. Shepherd Drive, (713) 524-3397, houstonwines.com
🥧 Food
Cacao and Cardamom Chocolatier
Founded by Sugar Land native and chocolatier Annie Rupani in 2014, Cacao and Cardamom affords an enormous array of beautiful, hand-crafted chocolate treats in intriguing flavors like mango caramel, 5 spice praline, and cardamom rose. Build your personal field or buy a variety from the signature assortment.
5000 Westheimer Rd Suite 602, (281) 501-3567, cacaoandcardamom.com
Common Bond
Surprise somebody with macarons from Houston’s beloved bistro and bakery chain. Yes, the croissants, kugelhopf, and turtle brownies are beautiful, however the macarons are really the showstoppers. They’re aromatic, delectable and are available in flavors like tiramisu, strawberry, white chocolate lavender, and birthday cake. Oh, and so they come in lovely containers perfect for gifting.
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Multiple areas, commonbondcafe.com
Goode Company
Know a homesick Texpat? Lift their spirits with a small token, or higher but, style, of Texas. Houston’s Goode Company ships its beloved pies, breads, smoked meats and jerky nationally and in our estimation there’s hardly a greater approach to consolation Texas compatriots a good distance away. Goode Company’s merchandise are packaged and designed to stay contemporary and stand up to transport. With that mentioned, the gadgets are perishable and do have a restricted shelf-life so hold that in thoughts when inserting your order. Goode Company ships nationwide.
(713) 529‐1212, shop.goodecompany.com
Hope Farms
This city farm close to downtown Houston grows inexpensive produce, trains and mentors new city farmers and affords common cooking and gardening lessons for youngsters and adults. Hope Farms proffers its items, in addition to wares from different native makers, at pop-up produce markets and online. Giftable gadgets on supply embody tea and low blends, uncooked honey, potpourri, spa merchandise and seasonal produce baskets. Cooking lessons and subscription memberships are additionally accessible for buy.
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10401 Scott Street, (713) 520-0443, hopefarmshtx.org
Three Brothers Bakery
This longstanding Jewish bakery — now in its fifth technology of household possession — produces a full line of breads, pastries, cookies, specialty dessert desserts and pies, in addition to {custom} desserts. The traditions of Three Brothers Bakery started in Chrzanow, Poland in 1825, and had been preserved regardless of the household’s focus camp imprisonment throughout the Holocaust. Their liberation and subsequent transfer to Houston introduced Eastern European scratch baking traditions to the metropolis.
Multiple areas, 3brothersbakery.com
🎁 Gift outlets
British Isles
British Isles, which opened in 1993 in Houston’s Rice Village, is quaint, kitsch and affords a large number of charming wares from throughout the pond — collectibles, casual and formal dinnerware, crystal, toiletries, residence décor, toys, playing cards, and a large array of imported groceries, together with tea, biscuits, chocolate, marmalades and extra, certain to please British expats and anglophiles alike.
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2366 Rice Boulevard, (713) 522-6868, britishislesonline.com.
HMNS Museum Store
The expertly curated reward store at the Houston Museum of Natural Science doesn’t disappoint. Its merchandise are so various, it’s a vacation spot unto itself. Here, historic fossils and valuable gems are bought alongside roasted crickets, accessible in an assortment of flavors like orange creamsicle, mango habanero, and white cheddar, and plushies formed like planets. Shoppers with unique tastes will love the giant number of Tahitian pearl jewellery and costly souvenir containers carved from uncommon Desert Ironwood sourced from the Sonoran Desert, whereas goofballs like myself will take manner an excessive amount of pleasure in gadgets like this pastasaurus pasta serving spoon.
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5555 Hermann Park Drive, (713) 639-4629, museumstore.hmns.org
My Flaming Heart
Searching for one thing cute, quirky and slightly off-beat? Try Judy Masliyah’s store, which shares an eclectic assortment of Mexican people artwork, classic cowboy boots, pin-up clothes (hand-made by Masliyah herself), vintage curiosities and classic trinkets.
3622 Main Street, (713) 533-1147, myflamingheart.com
Space Montrose
More than 200 artists and makers — the majority of whom are from Texas — are featured at this Montrose gem nestled between Agora and Common Bond. Opened in 2012 by husband-wife duo Carlos and Leila Peraza, the store proffers a quirky-cute assemblage of giftable items together with plushies, attire, stationery, face masks, mugs, and artwork prints. New artists and choices are added to the cabinets consistently.
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1706 Westheimer Road, (832) 649-5743, spacemontrose.com
💌 Greeting playing cards
Anvil Cards
No matter how heartfelt the phrases, it can at all times imply extra to learn them in a card than a textual content, electronic mail or social media publish. Rather than shopping the card aisle of a pharmacy chain or big-box retailer, attempt Anvil Cards, an area greeting card store on the nook of Bissonnet Street and Morningside Drive. Here, you’re certain to find one thing particular on your particular somebody. Anvil carries tons of of card designs, some unique works and designs from native Houston artists, and others from a few of the greatest impartial card outlets and letterpress card studios in the nation.
2356 Bissonnet Street, (832) 433-7837, anvilcards.com
🏡 Home décor
AG Antiques on West Nineteenth
At this longstanding store in the Heights, you may snap up vintage treasures — collectibles, furnishings, glassware, you identify it. Representing greater than 30 native distributors, the stock adjustments consistently. Cousins Cynthia Anhalt and Debbie Greenbaum function the store in the similar space the place their grandfather opened a dry items retailer 90 years in the past.
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313 W Nineteenth Street, (713) 862-1009
August Antiques
Browse a sprawling number of New England-style antiques, plus uncommon books, pottery, interval lighting and classic gardening gadgets at this family-run store in Historic Houston Heights.
803 Heights Boulevard, (713) 880-3353, augustantiques.com
Bering’s
Established in 1940, Bering’s affords high quality {hardware} gadgets for the residence, upscale gifts together with china, crystal, Big Green Egg Grills, Yeti Coolers, candies, scrapbooks, and stationery in addition to gadgets for the kitchen and yard.
Multiple areas, berings.com
Biscuit
Born out of a love of conventional hospitality, trendy sophistication, elegant interiors and a focus to element, Biscuit carries its bespoke bedding line in addition to a curated number of residence equipment and gifts. At Biscuit Kids, positioned throughout the avenue, you may find a group of bedding, décor, and gifts for youngsters.
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1614 Westheimer Road, (713) 598-4821, biscuit-home.com
Kuhl-Linscomb
A specialty store so giant you’ll want a map to find you manner round, Kuhl-Linscomb sells high-end designer items and furnishings in a five-building campus encompassing two metropolis blocks close to Kirby Drive and West Alabama Street. Founded in 1994 by wife-husband duo Pam and Dan Kuhl-Linscomb, the sprawling division retailer carries every part from kids’s toys to skincare merchandise to mid-century trendy furnishings.
2418 W Alabama Street, (713) 526-6000, kuhl-linscomb.com
🎧 Music
Cactus Music
Many document searches start and finish at Cactus Music, Houston’s oldest impartial music purveyor. The monster emporium carries widespread information and obscure ones in nearly each class and likewise shares new and used CDs, cassette tapes, DVDs, and even the occasional 8-track.
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2110 Portsmouth Street, (713) 526-9272, cactusmusictx.com.
Vinal Edge
It’s simple to whereas away a day digging by way of crates in search of the perfect document at Vinal Edge. Opened by by native DJ and musician Chuck Roast in 1985, the Houston Heights store is a venerable treasure trove for music lovers, stocking uncommon, used and new vinyl albums and CDs, plus turntables and audio system.
239 W Nineteenth Street, (832) 618-1129, vinaledge.com.
🧙♀️ Oddities
Texas Art Asylum
Going do-it-yourself this go-around? If you’re the artful kind, swing by Texas Art Asylum to stock up on provides. A spot that describes itself as a “creative reuse” store that’s “part craft store, part thrift store, part salvage yard and part antique store,” the 6,000-square-foot EaDo warehouse is certain to get your artistic juices flowing. Here, count on to find an eclectic array of ephemera — jars of rusty nails, license plates, stained glass, damaged jewellery, limbless mannequins and so forth.
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1719 Live Oak Street, (713) 224-5220, texasartasylum.com
The Magick Cauldron
A longtime Houston fixture serving the metropolis’s pagan set, The Magick Cauldron payments itself as “Houston’s premier Pagan religious supplier.” A purveyor of all issues occult, The Magic Cauldron affords every part from uncommon herbs, {custom} incense, candles (some skull-shaped), talismans and crystals to nicely, precise cauldrons, Ouija boards, wands, alter pentacles, Tarot Cards, rune units and even a Nineteenth-century vampire searching equipment bearing a hefty price ticket of $7,500. But hey, it’s a small value to pay for the energy to conquer vampires, proper? Not a lot for mysticism? The Magic Cauldron additionally carries jewellery, Renfest paraphernalia, Steampunk garb, armor and an array of medieval weaponry.
2424 Montrose Boulevard, (713) 523-0069, magickcauldron.com
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Third Planet Sci-Fi Superstore
Housing tons of of 1000’s of comedian books and collectibles, the huge blue constructing off the Southwest Freeway close to Kirby Drive is the oldest, largest impartial comedian ebook retailer in the state.
2718 Southwest Freeway, (713) 528-1067, third-planet.com
🧸 Toy shops
Big Blue Whale
Nostalgic favorites are bought right here — assume stick horses, magic 8 balls, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, rubber chickens, Jack in the Box and the like.
237 W Nineteenth Street, (832) 623-6990, shoplocaltoys.com.
Misfit Toys
If you grew up in the ‘80s or ‘90s, a trip to Misfit Toys will feel like a step back in time. Owners Paulina Gamino and Daniel Rivera stock their shops with vintage toys, memorabilia, and collectibles as well as modern toys. Expect to see tons of Star Wars figurines, Transformers, Power Rangers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
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Multiple locations, misfittoystx.com
Super Happy Incredible Toys
The store is a wonderland crammed with retro collectibles like G.I. Joes, Hot Wheels, Matchbox cars, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, many of them still in their original boxes.
740 W 20th Street, (832) 516-7176, facebook.com/SuperHappyIncredibleToys
Young, Wild and Friedman
This sensory play business was launched by Houston mom Julie Friedman in 2018. After her daughter Evie was diagnosed with a speech disorder called apraxia of speech and a doctor recommended sensory play, Julie began assembling sensory kits which included homemade scented dough, and items like gems and cookie cutters to inspire Evie’s creativity. Evie had a right away constructive response. With a normal kitchen mixer and a few assist from some associates, Julie began YWF. Today, YWF is a sensory play subscription equipment with month-to-month themes. Every field has three scented play dough balls and quite a lot of textured objects for teenagers to create a scene and use their imaginations. She additionally outgrew her kitchen and operates in a 18,000-square-foot warehouse space the place she employs greater than 30 Houston ladies.
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[email protected], youngwildandfriedman.com
🛒 What would you add? This listing is on no account complete and we’re grateful for suggestions. What small businesses do you frequent? Where do you store in individual to get nice gifts? Drop your suggestions and insights in the remark part beneath and so they could also be included in an replace to this text.
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