Area retailers offer wide variety of shore-inspired options
OCEAN CITY — One-of-a-kind gifts are the rage this year as holiday shoppers are looking for something unique. They also want to buy items that remind them of the Jersey shore, and many are looking to support local businesses.
Shoppers report they’re finding exactly what they’re searching for at area stores, boutiques and galleries, including Stainton’s Gallery of Shops in downtown Ocean City, which features more than 80 local merchants, including artists, artisans and farmers.
Recently, vendors at Stainton’s shared their views on hot holiday gift trends, providing a gift-giving guide that may provide stumped shoppers some ideas and enable others to scratch names off their shopping list without help from Santa.
Handmade resin nightlights shaped like wreaths and Christmas trees are top sellers at vendor Lynn Harrington’s ASOM Studio booth, as are her Christmas tree pictures, created using crushed glass in resin.
“Often people buy the pictures as gifts and end up keeping them for themselves,” Harrington said.
Personalized sea glass art is the number one seller for vendor Aimee Cohen of Back Bay Designs. She creates works of art with inspirational messages for anyone on a shopper’s gift list — grandparents, teachers, nurses, moms and dads. Cohen said her Christmas ornaments are “flying off the shelves,” especially Jersey shore- and teacher-themed ones.
At the Downbeach Candle Co. booth, shoppers can purchase beach-themed gel candles and scented room sprays.
“They can bring back nice memories of the shore,” noted vendor Janine Kabo, who owns Downbeach Candle with her husband, Louis. A big seller this holiday season is a keepsake jar filled with sand, local shells and sea glass, much of which comes from the couple’s secret sea glass spot in Ventnor.
“It’s like bringing the shore home,” Kabo said.
“Who can’t resist a big bear of honey?” asks vendor Alma George of Jalma Farms, a fifth-generation farm in Ocean View, with her husband, John.
George, a beekeeper, sells honey bears in various quantities. She offers specialty honeys such as cranberry blossom, pine barren and blueberry.
At the Jalma Farms booth, shoppers can purchase gift baskets with beach plum jam, aronia berry jam and a small bottle of honey. Both beach plums and aronia berries are local plants.
George said her sales reflect that “people want to support local farms. They want to give a gift that’s different — something that tastes good.”
“Almost all my work is Ocean City,” said vendor Dan Myers, a photographer from Somers Point.
Shoppers are buying photos of specific beach and boardwalk sites that hold meaning for them or the person on their gift list.
Myers noted that parents often buy surfing photos for their college-age kids to hang in dorm rooms. His most popular surfer photo captures a dune path and the surfers code on a plaque.
Without a doubt, the runaway new, must-have gift is the glitter globe — a variation of the traditional snow globe. Instead of snow, glitter swirls around.
“They have become the new collectible for all ages,” said vendor Bill Maguire, who owns The Cricket Box with his wife, Lois. “Best of all, you don’t have to stand there and shake it. The globes are battery operated on 4- to 6-hour timers. Figurines inside include: Nativity scenes, Santa, reindeer, snowmen and cardinals.
“Little kids are mesmerized by them,” Maguire said.
Judging by sales, big kids, too.
Byers’ Choice Carolers, handmade figurines, are a popular collectible from The Cricket Box — especially the customized Ocean City line of carolers, representing the Varsity Inn, Browns Donuts, Johnson’s Popcorn and Uncle Bill’s Pancake House (a caroler carrying a stack of pancakes, of course).
“People want to take home a piece of the beach, a part of Ocean City for themselves or the people on their gift lists,” Maguire said, adding that more people are shopping locally.
“At Stainton’s, you can find items you won’t see online or in a box store. It’s an experience shopping here,” he said.
Bridget Jacobson, who owns Stainton’s with her husband, Brad, and partners, agreed:
“There’s meaning to our merchandise. You can find something for someone who has everything or something that speaks to you. More people are shopping locally, supporting neighbors and friends in the community.”
One shopper who picked out an old-fashioned snowman ornament said she appreciates that local artisans make the ornaments. Four shoppers in town for a girls weekend said they stopped by Stainton’s because it’s not a major department store. “That’s why we’re here,” one of the women remarked.
Another customer admitted to shopping for “gifts for me” — in particular, silver beach-themed jewelry.
Holiday spirits
During the holiday season, lots of people like to bring wine or spirits to holiday parties. Chet Malloy, manager of Circle Liquor in Somers Point, said the old standbys — sparkling wines, champagne and Prosecco from Italy — are perfect party gifts.
Shoppers, he added, can never go wrong bringing a bottle of wine to a dinner party. And gift baskets with bottles of liquor paired with cheese and crackers or chocolate are an ideal gift for many.
Malloy noted that holiday beers, such as Sam Adams winter lager and Shiner holiday cheer, are big sellers this time of year, as are spiked seltzers made with vodka. According to Malloy, bourbon has soared in popularity — especially bourbon made at craft distilleries. Gin produced by small distilleries is in demand, and sales of fine tequila have taken off. People are now drinking Cosmopolitan cocktails with white or silver tequila instead of vodka.
Sometimes, Malloy pointed out, what’s old is new. The hot new drink is the old fashioned made with bourbon or rye.
“It’s the cocktail our parents drank,” he said.
Similarly, the Manhattan is more popular, and the martini is still a mainstay.
Gift of comfort
For shoppers on the hunt for stocking stuffers or for those who n eed last-minute gifts, handmade soaps, body butters and scrubs are a popular choice.
“Our grab-and-go bags sell really well,” said Mark Holfelder, a sales and production assistant at LEH Soap Co. in Marmora. The large bags contain three scented soaps and a body butter or scrub.
At its essence, holiday gift giving is all about evoking good feelings. At Norman’s Hallmark store in Somers Point, the shopping focus is on comfort and kindness. Shoppers are buying warm and fuzzy clothing, such as shackets — oversized shirt-jackets — that come in classic flannel plaid or fleece. They’re also purchasing family blankets, pajama pants, pullovers and socks.
Comfort foods are strong sellers — in particular, Johnson’s Popcorn, Asher’s candy and Shriver’s salt water taffy.
In the kindness category, there are several trendy gifts. Parents are buying bracelets, produced by the Little Words Project, for their daughters. The beaded bracelets have sayings on them such as “You Got This” and “Be Happy,” and are meant to be traded.
Katherine Dinger, store manager, notes that the bracelets spread positivity among teens.
Parents are buying the Santa’s Kindness ornament for young children. Shaped like a compass, this ornament has a QR code on the front that kids can scan several times as day with a cell phone.
Santa appears on the phone and asks for help sharing kindness. For example, he might ask a child to give everyone in the family a big hug — perhaps the best gift of all this holiday season.
By ALICE URBANSKI/Special to the Sentinel