Kaycee Roy

Each year, it seems the list of gifts to buy just gets longer and longer. There’s parents, grandparents, longtime friends, cousins, aunts, uncles, siblings and even coworkers. As you work your way down the list, finding thoughtful, original and unique gifts can sometimes be difficult. Overall, the season of giving tends to translate to the season of spending.

With that said, the look on the faces of those receiving that special something you give them is always priceless.

So where should you go to check off all the people on your list? This year, try going down the street. Worcester is full of locally owned shops, boutiques and craft festivals that can help you find everything you need to satisfy even the pickiest people on your list.

Shopping local will not only help you, it will help your community. Every time you chose to go local instead of rushing to a department store, you are helping a real person who has taken the time and effort to create something unique.

For months, local businesses prepare for the upcoming holiday season and the high demand it brings. An employee at the Crompton Collective, a curated boutique marketplace in a historic Worcester mill building at 138 Green St., Kelsey Bosselait said, “We have a ton of people during the holidays. Actually, December is really busy for us, which we love.”

Bosselait said weekends are usually nonstop for the collective, but emphasized the importance of supporting local businesses – and therefore supporting the entire community.

“We always think it’s really important to try and support local business and to be putting your money back into the community. With all the local artisans we have, when you buy something from one of our booths, you’re supporting that person directly, as well as the staff that work in the shop.”

In the same mill building is Seed to Stem, a boutique that specializes in natural and unique gift items. Owner and operator Virginia Orlando said preparation for the holidays is something that they take very seriously. Seed to Stem has been in Worcester for nearly seven years, and Orlando said it wasn’t a very easy when they first started, “It was very difficult in the beginning. There were a lot of out-of-pocket costs that we had because we didn’t want to take out loans.”

That experience in the beginning is something that can be easily forgotten as a consumer. The expenses of owning a business fall on the owner, and that’s certainly not easy when raising a family or trying to save for the future.

Orlando said, “Keeping money in the community is very important to the growth of business and the development of community. Having money going to real people and making sure money is going to those who need it, versus going to a department store where it could be going anywhere, is very important.”

Seed to Stem has expanded its current location and is starting an online shop. Orlando said she’s excited to see what the holidays will bring.

Shops aren’t the only place to go, either. Events like stART at the Station (Dec. 2) at Union Station and The Holiday Festival of Crafts (Nov. 23-25) at the Worcester Center for Crafts are great opportunities to find some truly unique items while you help your community. This year, The Holiday Festival of Crafts will celebrate its 50th anniversary.

Honee Hess, the executive director for the Worcester Center for Crafts, said, “We’re really excited to be able to continue to offer this service to the community and to the artists.”

The festival is held the weekend following Thanksgiving, making it an excellent option if you want to take advantage of Black Friday shopping without having to risk losing an arm and a leg in the mall.

“Our whole theme is that we’re the alternative to Black Friday and big box stores. We have many, many people who come here over the three days of the festival who prefer when they’re giving – or when they’re giving to themselves – to look at artist-created, handmade, American products,” Hess said

“What people tell us is that there is this connection,” Hess said, “people to people, so you know that someone actually made it and spent time and energy and their artistic talent on it, and you transfer that to whoever you’re giving it to.”

She added, “The connection with the human activity of making is something that you can only find through art.”