November 25, 2020
•
5 min read
Santa Shops Local is a campaign aimed at highlighting seven local Edmonton businesses that would make great destinations for your holiday dollars this year. We think now more than ever, spending your money in the community is so important.
Sure, hitting up Amazon might be the easy thing to do. But these days, supporting local business can be just as convenient. All but one of our featured local spots have websites and all have ways to purchase their products online.
Covid-19 has rocked our communities and changing restrictions have placed some huge challenges in our way.
The way we see it, the only way through it is by doing it together. Thankfully, the Edmonton community is as tight-knit as they come.
So this Christmas, tell Amazon to take a hike and spend your dollars locally. We guarantee good feelings knowing your money is supporting someone’s dream.
Starting Monday, November 23rd we will feature a different local business for seven days. Each day, you have a chance to enter to win. After all the businesses have been featured, we will tally the votes and select a winner by random draw.
The Prize: A $50 Gift Card to one of the featured shops of their choice! ENTER HERE.
You can enter as many times as you want every day to increase your chances of winning. At the end, if your name is the lucky one we draw, you choose which local business you liked the most!
Want to get to know our local businesses a little better?
Head below and learn more about our seven featured choices:
Want to help out? Share our blog on your social networks and let friends know where they can spend their holiday bucks this year!
Majesty and Friends was founded by Julie in 2001. Her passion had always been crafting and sewing, so she worked hard for years juggling work and her side hustle until she was able to break out into a retail space of her own.
Julie is a lifetime proud resident of the Edmonton Northside and Treaty 6 land and loves the communal spirit of the City. She isn’t afraid to say it like it is, and we found her to be down to earth and easy to talk to.
During the pandemic she has been able to transform her website so customers can shop online.
Majesty and Friends is located in the heart of Highlands, Edmonton and features a curated selection of Local Edmonton and Canadian Artists, Designers, and Makers.
The shop is alive with personality and that’s all thanks the founder, Julie. She also sells her own crafts which are fun, magical and quirky… just like her. Most of the goods featured are colourful and bright, from enamel pins and ceramics to unique homemade gift cards.
Tanjeryne, Denise & Amy began their entrepreneurial journey together by taking over Lucid Yoga, a yoga collective located in downtown Edmonton.
We spoke with Tanjeryne, one of the yoga teachers behind City and Soul. Her hopes for starting the collective was to provide a place for teachers and holistic business owners to come together and support one another in the community.
Tanjeryne works to uplift any business that joins the collective by helping them market themselves online. To adapt to tightening Covid restrictions, Tanjeryne just launched an online option for her students to participate in class without having to come in-person.
She also encourages people to rent their co-working space for a myriad of other purposes including workshops and events.
City and Soul is a niche co-working space for wellness practitioners and yoga teachers located in North Central Edmonton. Local yoga teachers and holistic specialists are invited to rent space in the collective to provide a welcoming space for their clients to receive various services.
City and Soul is warm and inviting, even featuring custom designed walls that absorb carbon emissions. The decor is warm and bright and includes a calming yoga room, massage room, and cozy offices for reading and working.
To learn more about City and Soul, click here.
Bloom Cookies Co. was founded in 2011 by Ashley Benson, a proud Edmontonian and a skilled baker who loved making treats for friends. Ashley recognized a space in Edmonton where dairy-free and vegan goods were in high demand but seemingly low supply. She decided to try her hand at this niche set of baking skills and boom: Bloom Cookie Co. was born.
The beautiful thing about Bloom Cookies and why we love them so much is the vibe around the brand. Their cookies are made in a nut-free kitchen without the use of animal products so more people can enjoy them. Their space is just as inclusive. The environment is inviting and cheerful, and their doors are always open to cookie lovers from all walks of life. That’s the beauty behind a Bloom cookie.
Bloom Cookies originally started at Farmers Markets like so many local vendors do. But fans of their cookies quickly multiplied and soon they were displaying their tasty vegan treats at cafes and restaurants across Edmonton. Fast forward to 2018, Bloom opened its own brick and mortar bakery on 124th Street.
Covid-19 has definitely thrown some curve balls their way, but we have been very impressed with the creative ways they have tackled those challenges, including a new cookie delivery service. We actually wrote about them in another blog post. Check it out below.
Also Read: How To Pivot Your Business in a Covid World
Dr. Micheal Kreuzer had been in the optometry industry for a few years and was tired of how eyewear was being operated in Edmonton. Following his entrepreneurial intuition, he decided in order for things to change he had to take things into his own hands. Thus, Glasses Half Full was born.
Glasses Half Full is an optometry and glasses shop located in Downtown Edmonton. You notice the difference between this storefront and other eyewear shops almost immediately. The space is bright and open, with beautiful plants and foliage lining the main window.
The glasses displayed are exclusively boutique independent designer frames. As a millennial focused eye-wear store, they carry everything from glasses to sunglasses, prescription snowboarding goggles and even some local artisanal jewellery.
Micheal and his team are changing the way you think about the traditional optometrist experience. Glasses Half Full recognized that millennials wanted an eye experience that catered to them, which means focusing heavily online.
They are one of the first spots in Edmonton where you can book your appointment, reorder lenses or view your patient profile directly from the website. They are laser focused on the customer experience and even offer unique services like personalized custom frame fittings.
.png)
Hideout Distro was founded by Tory Culen, a community-minded Edmontonian creative. Originally, Tory worked from a tiny space until she moved her studio into the basement of the Mercer building on 104th Street. With the extra space, people started to come by to purchase goods, participate in workshops and expressed interest in the storefront experience.
Tory realized that this was a great opportunity to not only start selling her own goods, but other local products from artisans she had made connections with.
Hideout Distro is an Edmonton general store housing a collection of unique goods by local independent artists, designers and musicians. The shop is bright and hip, featuring everything from vintage clothing and handmade leather bags to artisan colognes, soaps and sprays as well as various handmade jewelry.
Currently, Hideout Distro features 100 local artists and established brands and designers. Did we mention the shop is dog-friendly?
Tory eventually landed a lease in the highly sought after 124 Street District and we would like to say the rest is history. But like so many small businesses in Edmonton, Covid threw some unlikely challenges in the way.
The first few months at the 124th location found Tory working long hours on her own. Eventually, she was able to hire staff to help her manage her growing customer base. Once Covid hit, she was back to being a one woman show, navigating everything to the best of her ability.
After a few months, Tory was able to hire back one staff member and has been adapting to this new way of life ever since. To meet Tory is to appreciate how humble and hardworking she is.
Opening a business while navigating the pressures of a pandemic is no easy feat, and she has managed it all with grace and a lot of determination.
Check out the Hideout Distro online here.
Co-owners and best friends Robert Eccles and Prudie Anderson were both experienced hairdressers looking to make a change in their lives. Thus, Shop Chop came to be, a place to get a great cut and pick-up some quality products that were made from people right in your own neighbourhood.
Eccles and Anderson have a huge love for this city and the opportunities it has afforded them and that love of local roots is felt in the four walls of Shop Chop.
Shop Chop operates as both a gift shop and salon located on 102nd Ave and 107th Street in Downtown Edmonton and positively screams of fun. The salon is at the back of the store and is blocked off by a soundproof wall that gives the space a comfortable yet private vibe.
Up front, find the gift shop full of uniquely eclectic items with everything from specialty-made jewelry to candles, hair care, cards and more.
It’s unique concepts like this that are revitalizing the traditional Edmonton market space, and we are here for it!
Free Love Feathers is the brainchild of the lovely Ally Bower. In 2015 she spent time in Australia and was inspired after a local woman braided some feathers in her hair on the beach. She instantly fell in love and purchased heaps of feathers to bring home for friends. She also realized they made beautiful earrings and thus, Free Love Feathers was born.
Free Love Feathers remains an active side project for Ally while she pursues her Massage Therapy License. In the last six months, she has also begun selling feather hair extension packages. In the past she has even adorned up-cycled hats with different feathers and trinkets -- a perfect accessory for when festivals return to our lives.
Ally loves the festival and market circuit here in Edmonton and her favourite part of the process is seeing her customers' eyes light up when they find the perfect pair of earrings. While Free Love Feathers does not operate a store front, you can shop and buy their products directly from Instagram
From our team to your home, we hope everyone has a great holiday this year. We know 2020 has been a slog for all of us, so remember to kick back and pat yourself on the back for surviving it all. Want to ENTER TO WIN a $50 Gift Card to one of our featured businesses? Enter Here. Contest ends November 29th, 2020.
Want more local Edmonton content in your life? Follow us on Instagram!
.png)
.jpg)
.jpeg)
