Did you know that shopping local ensures that 67 cents on every dollar remains in the local economy? Money you spend locally gets circulated right back into your community. You’re helping locals keep their jobs, create more jobs, and invest in local community initiatives.
Shopping local means keeping money local, building a better local economy, reducing environmental impact, creating jobs, connecting with the community, putting your taxes to good use, supporting local creators, getting better customer service, helping local nonprofits, getting fresher and more unique products, putting a face to the creator, keeping the community unique, and encouraging local prosperity. Whew! That’s a lot of good!
There are so many wonderful small businesses in Cincinnati so, whenever you are able, skip the big box stores and shop small instead—especially for gift giving during the holidays and for birthdays, anniversaries, retirements, housewarmings, and more.
If you are you looking for any specific or custom recommendations, just ask!
Gifts and Retail
Can’t decide what you want to give, but want to provide a number of local options? Check out the Queen City Card, which features dozens of participating restaurants, drinkeries, shops, markets, hotels, experiences, museums, and more. Click here to buy yours and to see a complete list of participating merchants.
In addition to its OTR location, the Columbus-based retro and vintage sports clothier, HOMAGE, also calls Liberty Center home. HOMAGE always has great deals after the holiday, so keep your eye out to support local for Small Business Saturday.
If you’ve got any music lovers in your life, treat them to analog tunes courtesy of Everybody’s Records, Plaid Room Records, or Shake It Records. For home decor, visit High Street, nook, Sara’s House, and Wildfire Hygge Goods. If you have a loved one with a green thumb, consider a plant from Frond or a local nursery; the gift of classes from The Budding Florist or Fern; or even a flower or plant subscription to Sadie Blossoms.
Peruse gifts at MiCA 12/v, a local art, fine craft, and design-based gift shop in OTR. Additional apparel and gift shops include The Candle Lab, Cincy Shirts, Corporate, Handzy Shop + Studio, Hi-Bred, Koch Sporting Goods, Lucca, Manitou Candle Co., Originalitees, Rivertown Inkery, SKT Ceramics, and many more.
Shop ethically and sustainably at Continual Goods, Deerhaus Decor (sustainable general store), or by buying a gift card to organic, natural Spruce Nail Shop (nail and skin services). You can also stop by &Sundries, a handcrafted soapworks and home goods maker, for the bath and body lover in your life.
For the readers, peruse the Ohio section of local reads and goods or buy a book written by a local author from Joseph-Beth Booksellers, or head to Downbound Books in Northside for books, games, or stationery. Some favorite local books include SENATE: Street & Savory, a cookbook by local chef, Daniel Wright; The Cincinnati Anthology, edited by Zan McQuade; and Walking Cincinnati, a guide to urban hikes in many of Cincinnati’s historic neighborhoods. For any Queen City lovers in your life, a subscription to Cincinnati Magazine is an excellent option.
Head to Findlay Market for one of their many events, a free tour, retail goods, or for Tablespoon Cooking Co. classes. Like food? Check out a Cincinnati Food Tour or curated cookware at Artichoke. Or you can head out to the suburbs to serve up a gift to the award-winning The Cooking School at Jungle Jim’s.
For the Kids
Joseph-Beth, King Arthur’s Court Toys, Learning Express Toys and Gifts, and Stoney’s Village Toy Shoppe all purvey toys, games, and activities for young people of all ages, including STEAM toys, board games, puzzles, and so much more.
Gumdrop, a shop for tots (and sister store to Handzy Shop + Studio), is located in Covington and purveys beautiful and thoughtful goods, such as apparel, toys, and games. Hutch Baby, an upscale, sustainable children’s boutique from NB to youth sizes 14–16, is located on Vine Street in OTR.
You can also head to O’Bryonville for LilyPad, where you engage children through purposeful play, classes, parties, and other events; Northside to enjoy an afternoon or make a donation on behalf of your gift recipient at Happen, Inc.; give a membership to The Play Library in OTR, where, you can Play & Borrow (and Play it Forward!) with a monthly or yearly subscription, or by buying playdates in bulk; give the gift of language to play dates and classes (including virtual options) through Spanish Play Dates; or purchase a membership or gift card to Happy Hangout, an indoor play space on the westside.
Markets and Craft Fairs
Patronize local and regional vendors and local food trucks at Cincinnati’s famed urban flea market, The City Flea (Holiday Market December 11) as well as The OFF Market Holiday Market, Art on Vine in November and December and Crafty Supermarket, the latter will be back in the Music Hall Ballroom featuring dozens of makers—local and regional—on November 26.
More area craft shows and various flea markets can be found here.
Don’t miss out on goings-on in Cincinnati every weekend. Head to tourdecincinnati.com where you will be prompted to subscribe to the This Weekend newsletter!
Artwork
If you’re looking to give the gift of local art, ideas include James Billiter (letterpress, woodcut, greeting cards, cross stitch, etc.), Janneke Beuerlein Art (abstract visual artist), Ellebrux (jewelry, fine art, and handmade gifts), and Gee Horton (hyperrealist visual artist). Work by James Billiter and Ellebrux can be found at The City Flea and various shops in greater Cincinnati. You can also have Southpaw Scribe create a custom calligraphy piece, support local institution Rookwood Pottery, or give the gift of classes to Queen City Clay.
Fabulous Frames & Art is not only the world’s largest Charley Harper dealer, it also features custom framing and Rookwood and Cincinnati gifts. Visit one of their four Cincinnati locations to see their goods.
Pets
Our four-legged friends are family and, thus, we like to spoil them as such. I recommend doing so at Argos All-Natural Pet Food and Supply, Findlay Market, Fuzzybutts Dry Goods, Jungle Jim’s Market, or by finding your neighborhood Pet Wants. Brewhaus Dog Bones is a not-for-profit company dedicated to providing vocational training for young adults with disabilities. Their handcrafted treats are oven baked from whole grains sourced from local microbreweries. For a complete list of community vendors where they are sold, click here.
Experiences, Not Things
Give the gift of wonder from the Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati, Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens, Duke Energy Children’s Museum, EnterTRAINment Junction, Kings Island, or Madcap Puppets.
For the 21+ crowd, consider giving a Craft Connection, Cincy Brew Bus, Brewing Heritage Trail, or an American Legacy Tours tour; creating a custom six pack at Higher Gravity or Root Cellar; picking up a hard-to-find bomber from Cappy’s; or attending a beer or wine tasting at Jungle Jim’s Market or Marty’s Hops and Vines.
Check out one of Cincinnati’s excellent museums in the Cincinnati Museum Center, Cincinnati Observatory, Fire Museum of Greater Cincinnati, Harriet Beecher Stowe House, National Underground Railround and Freedom Center, Railway Museum of Greater Cincinnati, Reds Hall of Fame and Museum, Taft Museum of Art, or give a membership for a loved one to the American Sign Museum. (General admission to the 21c Museum Hotel, Cincinnati Art Museum, Contemporary Arts Center, Greater Cincinnati Police Museum, and the William Howard Taft National Historic Site is free.)
Celebrate Cincinnati’s robust arts scene with gifting a show at the Aronoff Center, Cincinnati Ballet, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, Cincinnati Opera, Cincinnati POPS Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Theatre, Know Theatre, or Playhouse in the Park. Another option would be to check out a Longworth-Anderson Series concert at Memorial Hall.
Consumable Gifts
Instead of buying more things, I recommend getting a gift card to a small business or restaurant so that they can try a new place or patronize a favorite. A gift card may not seem fun, but I assure you that they are practical.
You can also consider a tea sampler from Churchill’s Fine Teas; coffee beans and a mug from a local coffee shop or roaster such as Coffee Emporium, Deeper Roots, and Urbana Cafe; or spices from Colonel De’s in Findlay Market.
Support Local
This is only a shortlist of ideas for shopping local this year, and is hardly a dent in every option that our city has to offer. Get out and explore, and contribute to our local economy. There are several destinations and neighborhoods in the area that offer business districts with many options for shopping local for gifts (Christmas, birthday, anniversary, retirement, housewarming, etc.), including College Hill, Covington, East Walnut Hills, Findlay Market, Hamilton, Loveland, Northside, Oakley, OTR, Westwood, and many, many more. Grab coffee and a meal in one of Greater Cincinnati’s wonderful neighborhoods this holiday season and hit up the surrounding shops.
Let the fare free Connector, Metro, Red Bike, or an electric scooter connect your trip to shops, restaurants, parks, and drinkeries when you spend time in the urban core.
To support Black-owned businesses, check out this comprehensive list of Black-owned Businesses in Cincinnati, including Food + Drink and Retail. For Asian-owned businesses to support around Cincinnati, click here. There is also an LGBTQ+-owned business list available here.
If you ever want or need custom recommendations for gifts, just ask by messaging me on Instagram or Facebook, or by emailing tourdecincinnati@gmail.com.
[Updated 11/1/2023]
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