Local Loot: Old Meets New

It’s December and just in case you're not burnt out from Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, now’s your chance to really shop around town.

Week by week through Dec. 23, we’ll be showcasing certain merchants of Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow, allowing the shop owners and managers to point us to their favorite must-buy goodies of the season. This week’s theme is old meets new with new stuff at the vintage shop and traditional loot made new.

So buy local and go to:

’s proprietor Stephanie Leggio wants to spread the holiday word that this shop has new things too, with lots of unique cards and ornaments this season. (But let's not overlook the basement, where there's a slew of vintage cocktail dresses that any holiday party girl will covet.)

• The mercury glass ornaments from Belgium are big rippled globes, silvery and wrapped to grab-and-go with fun tags like “A big fat ornament for you," $13 and $16.
• Creative cards with not-your-average greetings like “I’m still stalking you” are an easy item. The recycled paper is an earth-friendly bonus, $5. 
• An indesctructable yet stylin' duct tape, animal print wallet made by the crafty Roxanne of Nyack, all of 14-years-old, $18.

Everything’s a find at . But Manager Karen Ringen points us to these particular items of the moment:

• Banner flags in “rainbow chicken” or “folk tales” motifs, stamped from handcarved blocks, and good for indoor/outdoor festive decoration, $28-$40.
• Wood takes a high-tech turn with this assortment of simple yet elegant carved wooden iPad/iPod stands by Hannah in Pennsylvania, $25 iPod, $60 iPad.
• A Biggs and Featherbelle soap sampler with delectably scented half-bars, such as the “Holiday Edition” with flavors like “citrus/peppermint” and “bay rum and lime,” $15.
• Word chimes bring peace and serenity with their soft sound and their messages like “shine” or “balance," made from fair trade beads and bells by Jendala, $28.

’s Colleen Goudie is a master curator. There aren’t a ton of items in her shop on Main, but all the better to hone in on the affordable luxuries, each one a special gift usually made in America. 

• Ladies will love the feeling of fur but the kindness of faux with these soft lined mittens and eternity scarves from Hat Attack of the Bronx, $48 mittens, $68 scarf.
• The perfect hostess gift: long matches in reusable cases adorned with Swarovski crystals pattered into peacocks, keys, butterflies, $35.
• “Girlfriend gifts,” says Goudie, for when “a card is too little but a present is too much,” these cute little items come boxed and tagged. There's a bee (“bee mine”), forget-me-not flower, and more. Card plus tchotchke, $10.
• A candle that when used up becomes a beautiful wine glass – these Moroccan-style glass candles from San Francisco are made of hand-poured soy, $25.

Come back on upcoming Fridays for great gifts for kids, the beverage edition, Sleepy Hollow shops, and more suggestions from our readers.

Find something special for holiday gift-giving at a shop in town?