Many shoppers hit the stores on Thanksgiving night for early Black Friday specials in Lynchburg and across the country. Big discounts on big electronics were the number one deal shoppers waited for in our area including some who camped out all day on Thanksgiving at Target and Best Buy.
Black Friday shopping offers many discounted prices on everything from toys for the younger kids to video games for the ‘tweens and teens and big screen TVs for mom and dad. That’s good news at a time when the economy is struggling.
Many shoppers prefer to spend their holiday dollars at local businesses. That’s what Small Business Saturday is all about: keeping local money in the local economy by shopping at small retail stores. Lynchburg offers a wide variety of small retailers.
One of the oldest specialty stores in Lynchburg is The Farm Basket www.thefarmbasket.com, located at 2008 Langhorne Road. The Farm Basket’s facebook page states, “Welcome to a place that embraces the traditional, while exploring the new and unexpected.” Farm Basket is a great place to find gift items of all varieties. Many are made in Virginia including a wide selection of Virginia peanuts and wines. Farm Basket also carries many lines of high end kitchen and household products, a large selection of gourmet food gifts, grills and grill accessories, and a wide variety of UVA and Virginia Tech items.
Boonsboro Shopping Center, located at 4925 Boonsboro Road, is made up of many local specialty stores. These stores include Jasmine and EI Randle for women’s clothing, R Coffee LTD for men’s clothing, N’Tended for Kids for children’s clothing and gifts, Silver Thistle for quality gift items for your home, and Outdoor Trails for camping, hiking, and outdoor gift items.
Located near the shopping center is Virginia Garden Supply at 4614 Boonsboro Road, offering garden gifts and a wide variety of plants. Boonsboro Road runs into Rivermont Avenue and the specialty stores continue. Meelheim and Scott, located at 2486 Rivermont Avenue, offers kaleidoscopes, Russian lacquer items, American glass art, and fine jewelry. Also located on Rivermont Avenue is Riverside Runners, where you can find a wide variety of running shoes as well as gift items for runners.
Givens Books and Little Dickens, located at 2236 Lakeside Drive, is a combination of bookstore, teacher store, and children’s gift store. There are many books including those written by local authors or with local topics. The children’s section contains wooden toys, science and craft kits, and much more. The teacher store offers many items that parents and students would also appreciate as gifts.
Penelope is the largest seller of sterling silver in the Lynchburg area with two shops, located at 120E Simons Run and 14805 Forest Road. Penelope also has locations in the Richmond, Charlottesville, and Farmville areas.
Sweet Caroline Gifts is located at 21289 Timberlake Road on the west end of Lynchburg. it’s a little hard to find beside a lawnmower repair store but it’s worth looking. Sweet Caroline specializes in handcrafted items including home decor, American Girl doll clothes, gift scrapbooks and greeting cards, and much more and the prices are great.
The downtown Lynchburg area is home to many specialty stores. The largest gift store in the area is Accent Flags and Gifts, located at 1716 Main Street. From flags to gourmet food items, there’s a lot of variety offered at Accent. Also located downtown is Estate Specialists with two locations, 1228 Commerce Street and 1300 Main Street. Estate Specialists is the largest single-owner antique and estate seller on the East Coast.
The Lynchburg Community Market houses the Heritage Crafters Gallery with a wide variety of handcrafted gift items, all made by local vendors. Also downtown is The Galleria, located at 915 Main Street. Inside this building, there are several small specialty stores: Corset Corner, Cheryl’s Dancing Leaf, and Co-Co’s Jewelry. There are many choices of small stores up and down Main Street carrying a variety of gift items.
Whether you’re looking for clothing or antiques, toys or jewelry, stocking stuffers or deck the halls items for your home, Lynchburg’s small retailers invite you out to spend Small Business Saturday on the streets of Lynchburg.