We purchased some unique gifts for Christmas, as well as expanding my son’s polished rock collection.

Great stuff! Great Service! Nice atmosphere!

Jake says that they have the best rock collection in Northfield!

Present Perfect, your next on our shopping visit list.

…and top-of-the-line service, too…

Great prices:
http://rarepair.com/weblog/

Hey folks,

Don’t forget great stocking stuffers like Tiny’s gift certificates which are great for the teen or downtown co-worker on your list. Sweet Pea’s Loft has great gifts … I can shop there for my mother, daughter and siblings.

Larson’s has great prices on their Northfield Raider gear … also great for teenagers/boosters on your list. Monkey See, Monkey Read has bestsellers now at 20% off and wonderful older books as well. Cocoa Bean is just right for gift toppers and stocking stuffers!

The bottom line is, all of the Northfield shops offer wonderfully unique gifts and you truly can find something for everyone. Better yet, the owners and staffers at the local businesses are pleasant and helpful! Head downtown instead of the mall this season.

It is definitely quieter now. Friday and today are about as slow as I have ever seen it. I had 6 customers yesterday.

The Library was crowded, but other than that, not many were on Division betweenThird adn Fourth.

Bridge Sqauare, Fourth to Fifth, and the area around Just Foods was packed.

I do have to say, when you put up barriers, you do segregate people, either conciously or unconciously. There were definately four distinct areas for WInter Walk this year. The Third to Fourth Area, The Bridge Square-Fourth to Fifth Area (the busiest), the Fifth to Sixth area (Ghost Town), and Just Foods-Water Street Area.

It was very crowded, parking was challenging, and moving around was interesting. It would be better if the barriers were flipped, and Fourth and Fifth were blocked to traffic. That way, you could use the horse drawn wagons in a loop fashion to move people from one side to another.

It was fun, it was busy, but it was also stressful. As a family, we did Just Foods, the Library, the horse ride, and then got out of there as soon as we could. We will stop back downtown when it is quieter and calmer.

As for Xmas shopping, today’s paper has the headline: Winter Walk yields mixed results.

According to Krin Finger, owner of The Rare Pair, business and store traffic was up from last year, and Jerry Bilek, owner of Monkey See Monkey Read, said that business was up 10 percent from a year ago. But across the street at Anna’s Closet, owner Lucy Sweitzer said that traffic and business were down. “Other years, you couldn’t get through the door,” she said. “Not such [sic] much this year.”

We are accepting orders through Saturday, December 22, at 2:00 pm (which is our Saturday closing time). We will be open Christmas Eve, Monday, December 24, from 6:00 am to 3:00 pm. We will be closed December 25, 26, and 27, and will be open again on December 28 and 29. We will be closed on December 31st and January 1st. Back open again on January 2 at our regular hours 6 am to 6 pm. Our special bread for December is Jule Kake and cranberry quick bread, along with a variety of Christmas cookies.

Thank you for this venue.

Debra
Brick Oven Bakery

How about what specialty breads will be available, and ordering deadlines?

I put a few of them on our blog:
http://monkeyread.wordpress.com/

or our website:
http://www.monkeyread.com

As other have suggested, one thing folks who want to shop locally can consider doing is “packaging” items from various stores in a thematic way. For example, some posters have mentioned food as a gift idea. You could, say, combine a great cookbook from us at River City Books with a treat from Present Perfect or a certificate from the Sociale Gourmet with a bottle of wine from the liquor store, all bundled in a bowl from Sweet Pea’s Loft.

Of course, at River City our bread-and-butter (speaking of food) is books. We have a full selection of the latest bestselling hardcovers and paperbacks, including a monthly “staff picks” display of titles that are on sale for 25 percent off the cover price. We also have hundreds of bargain books in our special holidays bargains area next door.

We also carry an ever-expanding selection of popular music CDs and quite a few movies on DVD. If you haven’t checked out these sections in a while you might be (pleasantly) surprised by what you find. We may not have the quantity of the McBookstores, but we try to make up for it with quality. And if there’s a book or DVD you want that we don’t have, let us know. More than likely we can order it for you (and, if so, pick up the shipping charges).

Thanks to the other store reps who replied to this post with such terrific gift ideas.

I’m offering a great deal on holiday gift certificates for Massage and Bodywork through my business, A Peaceful Touch Massage and Bodywork. I started a home office in Northfield this fall, and I am also in an office in uptown Minneapolis three days during the week.

From now until Dec. 25, buy a 60-minute, 90-minute, or 3-pack of one hour sessions of massage, acupressure, or Reiki -- YOU the gift giver -- receive a FREE 30 minute massage and bodywork session! (Or use this gift to receive a half price hour-long massage!)

You can buy the gifts online too! For more information visit my website:

http://www.apeacefultouch.com/

Thanks!
Scott Schumacher, Certified Massage Practitioner and Reiki Master
A Peaceful Touch Massage and Bodywork
Holistic Massage -- Acupressure -- Reiki Energy Healing

At our shop we offer Holiday Decor Galore: Ornaments, candles, candle holders, stockings, stocking holders, wreaths and more.

Also it is cookie time we have mixing bowls in multiple sizes and prep bowls,
oven mitts and hand embroidered dish towels.

We also offer the storytime bear by Gund, it tells the whole Twas the Night before Christmas story. There are also other soft cuddly winter stuffed animals to choose from.

Then there is the ever popular perfect pet that sleeps, breathes and snores/purrs the cutest puppies and kitties ever, there are still lots of breeds available. You may have seen them in our window.

For the newest Northfielders we have great baby gifts for their first christmas, that includes all kind of stuffed animals and super cute hand painted onesies.

My husband Jerry Weber also offers custom woodworking, if you can dream it he can build it.

Plus we have a wide range of unique gifts for everyone in the family.

So please stop in and check us out, you never know what you might find.

Hope to see you soon!
Thanks,
Nicole Maloney
Sweet Pea’s Loft
220 Division st
507-645-6555
nicole4363@netzero.net

Be green and wrap some presents in comics paper or fabric bags that can
be used again and again.

Write a poem for someone and frame it and include a special drawing with it.

Don’t forget to send flowers and fruit. Buy a special item to add to an
arrangement. to make it special and personal.

Thank someone for all they have done for you all year long.

Have a party and invite me!

I’ll start with the good stuff:
BT McElrath Chocolates, Funky Chunky pretzels and candy cane popcorn, Johnston Honey--all made in Minnesota! Nostalgic candies and candy coal, jams, cocoa, Republic of Tea--many flavors in red, white, black, and green. We have lotions, soaps, beautiful Christmas cards, Storey People sculptures, books and prints, thoughtful quotes on mugs, journals and magnets and lots of great gift books. I also have hand picked some super Chistmas music CD’s and we have lots of kitchen stuff from dipping spices to cast iron tea pots. We sell oil cloth by the yard and also bibs, aprons and bags made out of the stuff. I sell lots of Minnesota Mittens--made by workers at an occupational rehab center in Winona, MN from leftover sweater parts. And beautiful earrings and readers at great prices. The list is long and deep of good things!

And now for the fun stuff:
I specialize in humor, and love to listen to customers laugh their way around the store. Tracy hit on the dish towels, but I also carry list and sticky note pads, napkins and coasters with MikWright outragious humor. I have mugs with phrases such as: “Food has replaced sex in my life. Now I can’t even get into my own pants”, “Because chocolate can’t get you pregnant” and (especially good for Northfield) “Stop me before I volunteer again” and “The nice part about living in a small town: when you don’t know what you’re doing, somebody else does”!!

I have Bush countdown calendars, loads of humorous magnets, books like “Towel Origami” and “Porn for Women” (pictures of hunky guys doing house chores). Credit card cases that say “Can I use my mastercard to pay my visa?” and “You’ll always be my best friend--you know too much”. Minnestota hot dish by region towels, hot dish cook books, joke books, wacky glasses, and wicked french, german and spanish books for tavelers.

And…toys!! Fake mustaches, gumby, mr. bill, inflatable moose heads, puzzles for all ages and all abilities, slinkys, rocket balloons, klutz craft kits, a whole cowboy department, a whole pirate department, superman and wonderwoman items, fuzzy dice, animal noise alarm clocks, marbles, cars and trucks, piggy banks, games, harmonicas, kazoos, recorders, and even musical jewelry boxes with either a ballerina or horse theme.

PLEASE COME IN, or call me and I will pick out, wrap and deliver--really!! I may not have a web site, but I am available for you, and open M-F evenings now through 4:00 p.m. on Christmas eve. Present Perfect is just a fun place to visit. period.
Come in during winter walk and you can taste some chocolate by the hand of Brian McElrath, chocolatier extrordinaire from 6-9!
Mary Rossing
Present Perfect, 419 Division Street, 645-9131

We sell games by Gamewright and Set Enterprises. Set, Quiddler, Sleeping Queens and Rat a Tat Cat are our bestsellers. I’ve played them all, they are winners.
http://tinyurl.com/yp6s5k

Packy Mader will sign copies of his books during Winterwalk, 7-8:00pm:
http://tinyurl.com/2htkb6

We still have some signed copies of Kevin Kling’s the Dog Says How, 20% off:
http://tinyurl.com/2ymky7

and Warren Hanson’s Kiki’s Hats, also 20% off:
http://tinyurl.com/ytg63u

We have the largest Manga selection in town, most of it is half price.

And of course we have monkeys:
http://tinyurl.com/yomhf6

Gift wrapping is free and we always sell gift certificates!
http://monkeyread.com/

Take a look at:
http://www.visitingnorthfield.com/pages/shopping.php
as well as
http://www.visitingnorthfield.com/pages/placestounwind.php