Last-minuteshopping tips

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Well, Christmas Eve is on Saturday and, if you are like us, you still have shopping to do and the good news is, it’s too late to do it online.

Good news? How could that possibly be good news?

Easy: Because it’s too late to do it online, those of us who are desperate for those last-minute presents have a wonderful opportunity to get out and about and shop locally. We’ll find some great gifts and, at the same time, help our neighbors who own the local businesses.

If you check out The Cabinet’s business page in this week’s edition, you’ll see stories on two shops that will be open on Christmas Eve and both have interesting stories to tell.

At the Frame Depot on the Oval, for instance, the Keyes Art Group is exhibiting so shoppers will have a chance to buy art created by local painters, or even an ornament. In that case, you’re not only supporting a local merchant, you are becoming a patron of the arts. And what more creative gift can there be than something created by someone who might live right around the corner from you?

Down the road a piece, on South Street, is Consigning for Good, a shop that donates money to about 70 local charities. When you buy something there, you can be sure that money is going to SHARE or the Bedford Animal Shelter, or one of dozens of other good causes. And you can choose the one you want to help. Talk about the Christmas spirit, eh?

But those are only two of the interesting shops in our area. If you are not a regular Oval shopper, you’re missing something. Ever been in JM Princewell, for instance?

A lot of us are going to be looking for that last-minute special something for that special someone, or maybe just for cranky Aunt Joan, and the Milford Oval has a lot of choices.

Plus, you can get a great lunch in any one of several places.

So, as Douglas Adams advised us in “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” don’t panic. Just hop into the car and head on down to Milford and check out what’s available. You, and cranky Aunt Joan, will be glad you did.