Brilliant little store! Full of vintage odds and ends from the early 1900s. Signs, soap, cuff…read morelinks, books, posters, bags, cups, candy, cards, ornaments, etc etc etc. Perfect shop for fans of old-school!

Highly recommend great gifts and lace friendly staff.read more

A brilliant little shop tucked awway in the Devonshire Arcade right at the bottom. Although it is…read morequite small it has a huge range of gifts and candles. It also stocks a variety of more ethinic jewellery and clothes. I love to visit here just before Christmas as it is perfect for grabbing a few canndles as presents. I also love to browse their selection of candle holders and you can often find something a little bit different that looks gorgeous. They also sell incencse sticks and room fragrances in scents such as the smell of baby powder which is actually quite nice. Their novelty range is fab and they had the little bath ducks that lit up and flashed before anywhere else around here and they made fantastic unusual gifts. Although it is a little bit expensive the quality is very good.

Find unusual presents here! It looks from the outside like it is all tie-dyed and beaded (and there…read moreis some good stuff in that vein if you're buying for a nut-eating hippy (that's not my term!)) but if you go inside to poke round there's also lots of posh toilettries like neals yard and other niche brands so you can get something much more exciting and cute and stylishly packaged than from e.g. Boots.

The Beehive is an adorable little fair trade shop on Potternewton Lane. It is a somewhat petite…read moreshop and it sells a range of fair trade products. Products include kitchen cupboard bits and bobs such as coffee and tea, honey, jam, peanut butter, chutney, nuts, rice, pasta and chocolate. They also sell a variety of intricate hand-made greetings cards which are very pretty and unusual. Their range of gift items includes some very cute wooden toys, pottery, candles, stationery and jewellery. They also try to order in any product you'd like that they don't have in. They used to have a tiny café in the adjacent room, which sadly is no more...but if you have seen how tiny the room really is you can probably imagine why! The fact that all the products at The Beehive are fairly traded is a breath of fresh air when so many shops have murky supply chains and questionable ethics. But it is not the defining feature, because as well as having ethics the wares on sale would stand out in any gift shop or grocers for their careful design , high quality or scrumptious taste! When I popped in for a browse around the Beehive the two women running the shop were absolutely lovely - so welcoming and friendly! A shop with ethics, top notch products and perfect customer service - what more could you want?...It must be said though that their opening hours are a little sparse so you have to be sure to catch them at the right time!

This small shop has a great range of all things fair-trade. There are greetings cards crafted by…read morepeople in Bangladesh that are so much nicer than generic mass-produced cards for only £2.50, a good price for such quality. A few wooden toys are for sale and fair-trade chocolate, tea, jam, honey, coffee. Some really nice pieces of jewelry are for sale also, which makes it a great place to pick up a present with your mind at ease that a minimum amount of exploitation has taken place for the sake of your purchase. The ladies in there were really sweet and friendly saying hello, thank you and goodbye numerous times. They even apologised for the state of the shop that day as they had just had a delivery of food goods. Its a bit out of the way but I will be purposely passing by to buy my fair-trade Easter eggs this year.

My friend and I were going for a wee jaunt in Rawdon and we came across this delightful shop. She…read morehad just passed her driving test so I suggested a drive out to a random Leeds town and we decided to visit Rawdon - it was a total off the cuff find! The layout of the shop is most curious, being on the corner of the street almost, the shop itself opens out on the the street at both sides! This was a little disorientating from the inside, but I soon cottoned on. From one entrance you were met with a plethora of beautiful glass ware, hand made delightful wine glasses, little trinkets and key rings, beautiful cardigans, home ware tea sets and other gorgeous gift items. My favourite of this room was a lovely Indian (?) style lamp shade like a metal framed globe with different coloured gems which made up the body of it. At £55 I decided to think on it, but it was beautiful. Upstairs was a gallery of different floral prints, material prints and other really interesting art works. In the other room through to the other side of the street was a lovely hand made card section (situated in the through-fare) and then a gorgeous jewellery and toy section where we were greeted by a lovely sales lady. The shop is beautifully laid out, with exquisite and imaginative gift items from all kinds of indie designers and crafters, and it was most definitely worth stopping by. Prices range with some sale pieces, but expect to take a while as it is mesmerising!

This is a really lovely gift shop and emporium of beautiful things!…read more It is just by Rawdon Traffic lights so really easy to find. The shop stocks lots of lovely, unusual gift items for a variety of budgets. It is a wonderful place to go in for a browse around (no doubt you will find something you love) or to look for a special present. This shop is always my first port of call when looking for a mother's day present, or gifts for my other female relatives. Staff are happy to help and quick to come up with helpful suggestions if you are struggling for ideas. It can be a little expensive, but makes up for this with the convenience of it's location

A lovely little surprise of a place in the heart of Ambleside. It makes a welcome change from shop…read moreafter shop of walking gear, Beatrix Potter souvenirs and other tourist shops. There are 2 floors full to the gunnels of all kinds of products from great British designers as well as some other cool Europeans ones too. All modern, funky little unique designs from the Sedburgh Soap company Bud Duck, the Big Tomato Company, Suck Uk who produce the most adorable Salt and Pepper Bots and quirky stationary products from Takkoda, to name just a few. Some of my favourite finds in the store were the cookie stamps, adorable magnets in the shape of sparrows and Babbushkups, a trio of Russian Doll inspired glasses.

I love this store... mostly because they have such an assortment of items that I can find something…read morefor everyone I am shopping for... and myself of course. I particularly love the journals/books. Last time I purchased a Listography journal, this time I purchased a journal that gives you hundreds of topics to write about. Not just any kind of topic, but things like: Write a love letter to a person you dislike, What would you buy from the SkyMall catalogue and why?, or write a ransom note. More stuff to keep me from actually being productive! I also purchased a humorous Mother's Day card (my mom is American, but I feel the need to send her a card on British Mothering Day as well... lucky she is, two Mother's Days in one year) and a coffee mug for myself that says 'BLIMEY' and on the back it explains that it is an exclamation of surprise. Better than any tacky tourist souvenir shop. Of course there were a lot of things that I did not purchase, otherwise I would not have been able to have a very luxurious lunch... and dinner, but it is hard to narrow it all down. For example, the 'Poo Log' and the 'What My Poo Tells Me" books would be fantastic purchases for people like my brother, but completely unnecessary. If you are looking for others, souvenirs, or just something for yourself... bypass everything else and stop here!

This is actually one of my favourite gift shops, on parr with favourites in Warwick, Brewood,…read moreBridgnorth and Middlewich- I like eclectic shops that are mazes, the host other shops within them. There's a lovely cafe in the back, and a real range of things- from quality homewares, to clothes, and children's toys- with a really nice selection of cards and wrap too. I do like coming here on the run up to Christmas, as there are always lovely gifts and really beautiful decorations. It has been reduced in size slightly, but it's still a well tetris-ed expanse. I would be very shocked if you didnt find something you loved.

This has been reduced in size tremendously, I suppose rents must be high. It takes up about half…read morethe space it used to, and most of the first floor is a good restaurant that I'd review if I could remember the name. Downstairs is mainly great kids toys, gifts, fancy goods and such, but at the back now is a very nice delicatessen/fancy food place, that does good chocolates, olives and the like. There are two nice women's clothes boutiques in the other half of the old shop. In fact Yarm as a whole has had a boom in little fancy boutiques in recent years. Perhaps this explains why Strickland and Holt has had to reduce its size. Shame Stockton couldn't head in that direction too. Or is it possible to fit in another pound shop?

Very nice shop, selling lovely ornaments, novelty gifts, models, candles and a lot more…read more Very clean shop with usually the sounds of cuban music in the background, the guy who owns the place is very helpful and pleasant. Definately worth a look.

I took my Mum here recently and she adored it! On second glance, I realised that I too was finding…read moretrinkets and treats galore in every corner. Whilst it's your standard gift shop, housing all kinds of clocks, jewellery, scented candles, and the like, the items inside are actually pretty unique and interesting. I remember being particularly enamoured of their clocks, so perhaps enough hints will get me one for Christmas... ! The main event on this occasion was the jewellery. My Mum needed to pick up some gifts for the girls at work and so spent a good deal of time deciding over a few of the items that were artfully displayed on this lovely fake tree. I ended up chatting with the lady about the tree and she gave me some suggestions of where to find one, as this would solve a myriad of problems in storing my many necklaces and earrings! In the end Mum opted for two of the bracelets, sort of chunky gemstone and shiny beaded ones, and she was really pleased. The lovely lady was really patient with us whilst we mulled over the options and all in all it was a really pleasant shopping experience. One to watch for Christmas goodies!

Ilkley, darling, has a higher caliber of people, I am told, therefore their gift shops meet the…read moreneeds of these - the middle aged, the higher-middle class and the higher-earning. Bluebell Gifts is one of a few gift shops in Ilkley, a nicer shop than anything you will find towards the city of Leeds, even in the Victoria Quarter or Chapel Allerton. It sells a large range of gifts that would come under the home-ware category. Many of these are of a designer and novelty kind. There are Alessi corkscrews and salt shakers, in the shape of people; Black Ginger chopping boards in silhouettes of cats; Cath Kidston and Emma Bridgewater china that you have probably seen in someone's kitchen at some point. All of this is luxury and would make a good gift for any home-owner. They also sell scented candles, soft toys, wedding gifts, and amazingly coloured tea pot and tea cup clocks. I loved these and would have impulse-bought one if they weren't about £50!