Five Alternative Holiday Shopping Ideas

We're thankful today for deeply-held things: family and friends and quiet contentment; food and laughter and shelter, all shared with loved ones; patience, hope and the willingness to be of service. Come tomorrow, though, on what has become a national shopping holiday? We're thankful that we live in this beautiful, amazing city, with all of its astounding variety of gift-finding options. Here are five uniquely New York City places to check out this holiday season, most of which will be gone by New Years, but all of which should inspire.  

The WIRED Holiday Pop-Up Store 2009 in the Meatpacking District

With its fifth annual New York City Pop-Up (meaning: temporary) shop, WIRED magazine has gone deep into the Meatpacking District for its definitive gallery of the highest high-tech across all consumer categories--computers, games and electronics, obviously, but also clothing, children's toys, camping gear and housewares. You can't  actually purchase anything at the WIRED Pop-Up (except for branded t-shirts and the like), but you most definitely DO get to get your hands on and play with all sorts of crazy, amazing gear.

Just a few of our favorites things: the Dyson Air Multiplier fan, which is bladeless and beautiful and astonishingly effective; the cute-as-button plush reddit alien 4GB USB flash drive; playing the just-released Super Mario Bros for Wii on a big-screen LCD; the lovely iF Mode folding commuter's bicycle, the Bo Concept Rock Chair; and, of course, all the free samples of Bustelo Cool caf? con leche in a can. The Wired Holiday Pop-Up 2009 is located on 13th Street between Ninth Avenue and Washington Street, and is open from Wednesday through Sunday, 12:00 noon until 9:00 p.m., through December 27.  

The Young Designers Market in Nolita

Every weekend all year long some of our favorite designers and vendors of contemporary clothing, jewelry and other accessories set up their tables in a somewhat beaten-down old church gymnasium on Mulberry Street. We love the energy and creativity and variety of the offerings here; the friendly, flea market atmosphere and the reasonable prices; the goofy t-shirts and funky jewelry and cool bags; and, for the holidays, the knowledge that you won't be able to find most of these items anywhere else, making your gift unique. The Young Designers Market is located on Mulberry Street between Houston and Prince Street, and is open every Friday through Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Japan Brand Pop-Up at Felissimo in Midtown

Felissimo Design House, in that gorgeous turn-of-the-century townhouse in midtown, is always worth a visit, even if many of the pieces in its ever-changing, always-elegant inventory are beyond our budget. That said, we're definitely heading there at some point weekend to see the Japan Brand Pop-Up, a lovingly curated selection of artisanal objects from its namesake country, including all sorts of paper goods, linens (the incredibly soft Imabari towels are beautiful), furniture, clothing and fashion accessories (it'll be interesting to see what the cedar bags by Monacca are like), home decor, kitchen tools (we love the lightweight cast iron cookware from Kawaguchi) and even food. AND the prices promise to be reasonable. The Felissimo Design House is located on West 56th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues. You can shop the Japan Brand Pop-Up within on Monday through Saturday, from 11:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m., from now until December 24.

Here/Nau/NYC in Soho

We've long loved the look of Nau, the Portland purveyors of stylish, rugged, outdoorsy-yet-urban clothing for men and women, and we're equally admiring of their commitment to green manufacturing processes and promoting sustainability. All of the fixtures in this handsome Soho pop-up, for example, were scrounged from the streets of Manhattan and Brooklyn and put to creative (re)use. Of course, none of that would matter if Nau's clothing wasn't so terrific, especially, we think, their outwear, which doesn't look like everything else on the market. Great stuff. Here/Nau/NYC is located on Mercer Street between Spring and Broome, and is open now from Monday through Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., on Sunday until 6:00 p.m., through December 31. December 7 to December 23, the store will be open until 7:00 p.m. on Monday through Thursday, and 8:00 p.m. on the weekends.

eBay Pop-Up Shop in Midtown

Ok, so we're more curious than truly excited about the online auctioneer's massive Pop-Up on West 57th Street, open this weekend only, maybe because we don't really understand how it'll work. The people at eBay promise there will be lots of internet kiosks and "handheld tablets" to shop from? but we already have a computer at home, right? Also in the store: fashion and beauty products from the somewhat ordinary likes of Norma Kamali, Anthropologie, Michael Kors and Smashbox, as well as electronics and home and garden wares. Are the prices going to be exceptional? Will there be giveaways? Exclusive offerings? EBay seems to do many things right, so we're going brave the hordes and stop by to see what their first-ever non-virtual store is all about.  The eBay Pop-Up is located on West 57th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues, and will be open tomorrow, Friday, through Sunday, November 29.

Bonus sales and values info!

If you're looking to shop for your loved ones at more traditional venues this weekend, be sure to stop by Black Friday 2009, a comprehensive (if slightly chaotic) site that attempts to bring together links to the ridiculously low Black Friday prices of every major retailer you can think of. Here's the link, and have fun! http://bfads.net/

Posted at 02:47PM Nov 26, 2009 by Scott in Events  |