Give-Back Giving: Waterfront Gift Ops that Celebrate People & Planet!
For many, the holiday season is a time for presents! Gift-giving has the power to build connections, express love or gratitude, and reinforce our social ties. But, gift giving can come with a LOT of pressures and expectations, too.
Here's a few tips for getting the most out of your gift exchanges:
Givers often focus on the surprise! The wrapping! The "Wow" of it all!
But…receivers often care more about long-term usefulness of a gift over time.
The BEST gift-giving is thoughtful gift-giving, for both giver and receiver.
PLUS, thoughtful gift-giving can reach far beyond your personal exchange. The gifts you choose can protect and preserve the environment, conserve natural resources, support underserved communities, local economies, and promote artists and makers. THAT is Give-back Giving!
Give-Back Gift Ops Along the Waterfront:
Here's a holiday highlight list of shops that offer a wide variety of give-back gift options. All are within walking distance of each other and conveniently located among great waterfront retailers and restaurants!
FOBA Refillery
(Fran’s Organic Body Care and Apothecary, 1434 Fleet Street location)
FOBA is a refillery shop that creates and specializes in all-natural products for your home and body. At FOBA, you can choose a refillable container at the shop or bring your own and fill it with FOBA product. When you come back to refill, you are buying only product.
Make FOBA your go-to for for a variety of laundry, dish and body soaps, deodorants, perfumes, pet products, and a whole lot more (many made in-house)!
Fran’s shop has great atmosphere, super-friendly staff and FOBA has some great DIY classes!
DIY Natural Deodorant Class
DIY Custom Perfumery
DIY Candle Class
DIY Soap making Class
DIY Mix & Mingle Mocktails Class
FOBA Website
Patagonia Outlet
The 700 South Caroline Street Patagonia Outlet is one of six in North America. These outlets serve as consolidation points for past-season items from their stores across the U.S. That means less fashion waste and great bargains!
Their beautiful retail space also hosts events for local nonprofits, student groups and community organizations working to address social and environmental justice.
Patagonia’s owners are the Holdfast Collective, a non-profit that owns 98% of the company. Excess profits are used solely for supporting Patagonia’s mission- writ large on their store wall in the accompanying picture.
Staff-members Ian and Ty mended garments for shoppers, highlighted sustainable store goods, books and reusable gift bags - all while sharing Patagonia’s global and local efforts. Each Patagonia store even has its own budget to support the environmental partnerships of their choice!
Sound Garden
1616 Thames Street Baltimore
This Independent music store has been a Fells Point staple since 1993 and has somehow stayed afloat and vibrant against a tide of music streaming apps. Maybe because of their stellar selection of used and new Vinyl, CDs, DVDs, LPs, video games and Blu-Rays in stock at their Thames Street warehouse.
The minute you walk in, you fall under the Sound Garden spell. You can’t help but feel the pull to slow down, get quiet and start leafing through their bins, hoping to strike gold. And that’s the beauty of used: one man’s trash is truly another man’s treasure. No doubt, Sound Garden can “bring a little past into your present” (pun absolutely intended)!
Sound Garden Website
Ten Thousand Villages
1621 Thames St
Ten Thousand Villages develops partnerships with artisans in underserved, under-resourced communities. They help artisans earn income by bringing handcrafted products and stories to global markets.
The company recently closed a number of stores for a great reason- to invest in new partnerships in Guatemala and Kenya! Their stores are non-profit-run, carrying products that prioritize eco-friendly practices, preserve traditional techniques, and celebrate heritage crafts.
Sixty-three percent of their goods are upcycled, recycled or locally sourced from renewable materials. Their work has transformed the lives of 20,000+ artisan families - all while bringing thoughtful, unique gifts to the forefront and paying fair, living wages.
Other Shop Ops featuring local makers
and select upcycled gifts!
Emporium Collagia - 1732 Thames St. Fells Point - This truly lovely and eclectic gem of a shop feels like stepping into a curiosity cabinet, full of unique, beautiful, wild and weird little wonders, one of which is bound to come home with you. Much of what you will find is artisan crafted including the owner’s (Luana Kaufmann) collage work of old-world, upcycled imagery featured in frames, on clothing and holiday baubles/talismans and even on the welcome sign! Well worth the stop! Emporium Collagia Website
The Seasoned Olive - 805 S Broadway, Fells Point - This bright, cozy little shop is JAM PACKED with Baltimore-made goodies from Mount Royal soaps to Hon’s Honey, from Baltimore painted bricks to Patterson Park cutouts. There’s art, food, wearable goods and more. Really, there is something for everyone here. The Seasoned Olive Website
Zelda Zen -1634 Thames St - Spotted at Zelda Zen (amongst the fabulous and hilarious array of greeting and holiday cards) were some great vegan and upcycled bags. Zelda Zen Website
The Spice & Tea Exchange - 1635 Thames - Loose-leaf tea and a wide variety of spices. While those are bagged in plastic, there is less packaging than tea and spices bought at the grocery store AND one can avoid the possibility of plastic tea bag material (NOT GOOD) often used in commercial bags. Even better, are the various tea infusers intrinsically designed for reuse and longevity. The Spice & Tea Exchange Website
