Vancouver Weekend: We're Thinking....Last-Minute Gift Shopping

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      Need something to do this weekend? Here are five one-of-a-kind shops where you can knock every name off your gift list in a hurry.

      Front & Company, 3772 Main Street

      Most people know Front & Company for its extravagant window displays and consignment program (and the discounted vintage wear that fills its racks as a result), but the hip Main Street shop is also a treasure trove of weird and awesome trinkets.

      You’ll want to hit up Front’s adjoining gift store in particular, where you’re guaranteed to find something cool for even the most hard-to-shop-for names on your list. Think zombie sleeping masks, bicycle-shaped pizza-cutters-slash-bottle-openers, feline-covered yoga mats, and ceramic money banks modelled after the unmistakable faces of Albert Einstein and Chairman Mao—and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

      If all that successful shopping has you feeling like you deserve a little something of your own, try diving into a few bags of Archie McPhee's Exploding Popcorn Candy. Or you could mosey on back to Front's main space to snag that gently worn Mackage coat you've been eyeing. We won’t judge.

       

      Pop-culture fanatics (including Star Wars fans) will love the variety of merchandise on offer at Golden Age Collectables.
      Golden Age Collectables

      Golden Age Collectables, 852 Granville Street

      It’s December 23, you need a Creeper mask and a diamond pickaxe, a set of Adventure Time shot glasses, a Bart Simpson stuffy, a Yellow Submarine lunch box, and anything, anything at all related to Five Nights at Freddy’s, even if it’s just a key chain.

      Where you gonna go? It’s a no-brainer: Golden Age Collectables has been sourcing the best and most obscure pop-culture merch imaginable for some three decades, providing expert advice and swift gift solutions to anxious parents, partners, or anyone who got the Marvel Universe nutjob with the lightsaber pen and the Voldemort-shaped coffee mug in their office secret-Santa pool.

       

      Hit up LaLa’s on the Drive for everything from body products and jewellery to adult colouring books and sock monkeys.
      LaLa's on the Drive

      LaLa's on the Drive, 1748 Commercial Drive

      The shop may be small, but the eclectic assortment here covers everything from hostess gifts to stocking stuffers to kids' stuff. For her, check out the vintage-look Barefoot Venus collection of body lotions and bath oils that look they’re straight off Clara Bow’s night table, or Lucky Feather necklaces—delicate bicycles, peace signs, and wishbones that come on cards with personalized messages.

      Buy your favourite scribe a notebook or journal emblazoned with everything from pugs to coffee cups, or, for the closet artist, adult colouring books with elaborate scenes of enchanted forests and imaginary cities. For kids, retro sock monkeys and tin tops are a blast from the past. And kitschy owl salt-and-pepper shakers, gourmet barbecue salts, copper Moscow Mule mugs, and retro Christmas napkins will please the cook in the house. Yeah, that about covers everything.

       

      Welk’s General Store is stocked with toys, candles, art supplies, hardware, and more.
      Welk's General Store

      Welk’s General Store, 3511 Main Street

      Even if you’ve left absolutely all your Christmas shopping to the last possible minute, you don’t have to feel like Homer Simpson desperately trying to spend his nonexistent bonus at Circus of Values. (“Oh look, a little squeak toy. It says it’s for dogs, but she can’t read.”) It sounds like a cliché (and, well, it is one), but Main Street’s best-kept secret, Welk’s, has something for everyone, from toys and games for the kids to hardware and art supplies.

      For the hipster foodie, how about a bottle of Noble’s Tuthilltown Bourbon Barrel handcrafted maple syrup or Scrappy’s Firewater Bitters? For the unrepentant facial-follicle ironist, a tin of Element Botanicals’ Man Up Moustache Conditioner and Wax is a must. For the homebody with civic pride, there’s the Vancouver Candle Co.’s scented selection, each named for a different local neighbourhood.

      And for the black-humour-loving hostess with the mostest, look for handgun-shaped ice-cube trays and zombie cookie cutters.

       

      You’ll score points with aspiring and pro bartenders alike with just about anything—including the three-headed-tiki-seahorse punch bowl—from The Modern Bartender.

      The Modern Bartender, 28 East Pender Street

      Consider yourself blessed if you’ve got an aspiring Professor Jerry Thomas on your list; to make for a truly happy Christmas camper, just add alcohol. And then top it off with the tools and ingredients for turning their home into the second coming of New York City’s Slowly Shirley or Seattle’s Canon bar.

      Enter the Modern Bartender, which carries a staggering array of cocktail syrups (try finding Jack Rudy Elderflower Tonic at No-Frills), bitters (there’s no proper Old Growth without Apothecary Cherry Cedar bitters) and dried herbs (now nothing’s stopping you from making your own lavender-infused vodka).

      Knowing full well you can’t make a truly classic cocktail without the right tools, the Chinatown specialty store also carries everything from Usagi Cobbler shakers and Hoffman barspoons to Beachbum Berry Pearl Diver glasses to straight-outta-Kentucky mint-julep cups. The downside of the Modern Bartender is that you won’t get out the door without dropping a load of cash on yourself (try resisting the sea-foam-green three-headed-tiki-seahorse punch bowl or the make-your-own-gin kit).

      The payoff? The next time it’s happy hour at home, that amateur Professor Jerry on your list will—thanks your thoughtfulness—be serving up a Blue Blazer, mai tai, or 30th Century Man instead of Sailor Jerry and Five Alive.

      Running every Thursday, Vancouver Weekend spotlights five Straight-approved places around the city worth discovering.

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