[Here's a treasured local gem known as Love, Me Boutique. If you haven't yet discovered this shop, mosey on down to where you'll find scads of unique gift items made right here in Canada.]
By Chara Kingston
One of my earliest Christmas shopping memories took place in my elementary school. I think I may have been about eight – old enough to feel the power and independence in making gift choices but young enough to believe that magic surrounded any holiday activity.
Photo from Love, Me Boutique's Facebook Fan Page
And magic did surround the event known as the Christmas Shopping Room.
The lead up to this shopping event began with the take-home notice for parents explaining that class by class, children would be led down to an assembly room where manufacturers and company representatives would have product for sale. I don’t remember my mother’s reaction to the notice, but think it very well could have involved some eyebrow lifting. And I don’t remember what I may have said to her in order to acquire shopping funds, but am equally certain it involved a very dramatic plea about being grown up and needing to complete this task myself. In the end shopping funds were allotted alongside a brief but serious discussion on “budgeting”. But of course, the minute I had the money in my hot little hands, my imagination went wild with visions of what could possibly be inside the Christmas Shopping Room.
And so the day came. I was giddy with anticipation. As I was guided toward this magical assembly room by carols being pumped through the loud speakers, I clutched my coin purse and went through my list: Mom, Dad, and my brothers RJ and Michael. Maybe there would be a little extra and I could justify a cute barrette?? With due diligence, I walked the whole room before making a purchase. “I can always go back”, I thought. I may have done the circuit twice. And then I panicked. The teacher had called out the 15 minute warning and I had purchased nothing. “Just pick something…anything” my little brain was yelling. My eyes surveyed the trinkets and knickknacks of mass produced proportions and my heart sank. It wasn’t right. I didn’t want to just pick up something. I wanted perfect things. I wanted special things.
In the end I only made one purchase that day. It was a handmade jewel-coloured dyed silk framed picture which read “MOM”. It was more than I had budgeted for my mother but I thought it was so pretty.
Looking back on that experience and recollecting that little girl’s dismayed heart at seeing rows upon rows of sad mass produced “stuff”, it is no wonder to me that I ended up winding and curving down a road which would lead me to opening a shop which sells only Canadian handmade goods. In planning for the opening of Love, Me Boutique, I knew my shop had to be the kind of store that I wanted then and still want today – a fun and memorable experience filled with unique, one-of-a-kind, handmade products full of colour and texture.
Love, Me Boutique opened in October of 2007. I have really only experienced two full Holiday seasons here at the shop. Last year I really felt a shift in consumer needs and wants. I had customers who declared that they were only buying from local stores and/or only buying handmade or Canadian produced. The things I wanted as a child – gifts that were perfect and special – seemed to be the wants of many of my customers. And the fact that my shop might have had a hand in meeting those expectations makes me, and my little eight year old self, smile.
Love Me Boutique is a wee shop in Halifax, Nova Scotia dedicated to Canadian handmade for wearing, living and giving. Follow on Twitter @LoveMeBoutique.
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Great post! Hats off to Chara who is running a wonderful and worthy business. Pop in and see, it is a friendly and interesting shop. I always enjoy my visits to Love,Me Boutique.
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