Friday, December 4, 2009

Break the chains! Chain stores, that is...

Independent retailers are an important part of any community. They keep money local and usually provide more personal service than your multinational conglomerate superstore. Just in time for your holiday shopping pleasure, here's a list of some suggested alternatives to big boxes and chain stores.

Toys
Instead of: Toys R Us (or Target)
Shop at: Stamford Toys on High Ridge Road

Books
Instead of: Borders, Barnes & Noble
Shop at: Barrett Bookstore in Noroton Heights (I know it's not in Stamford, but it's close enough.)

Jewelry
Instead of: Kay's, Zales
Shop at: Nagi Jewelers on High Ridge Road, José Grant on Summer Street, Marco Jewelers in Ridgeway, or a bunch of other independent jewelers around town.

Baby clothes, etc.
Instead of: Carter's, Baby Gap
Shop at: Kaleidoscope in the Bull's Head Plaza

Chocolates
Instead of: Godiva, Lindt
Shop at: Chocopologie in South Norwalk (Turns out that Schakolad is a chain.)

Heck, even groceries
Instead of: Stop & Shop, A&P
Shop at: Palmer's Market in Noroton Heights

Any other suggestions?

12/5: Here are a few more!

Ice cream
Instead of: Baskin-Robbins, Carvel
Shop at: Gofer Ice Cream on High Ridge Road, Sunny Daes on Shippan Avenue

Home improvement
Instead of: Home Depot
Shop at: Karps Hardware, Keough's Turn of River Hardware

6 comments:

Streets of Stamford said...

Thought of one more!

Prescriptions, etc.
Instead of: CVS, Walgreen's
Get your Rx filled at: Hope Street Pharmacy, Saladi's on High Ridge Road

Scott said...

Pizza
Instead of: Domino's, California Pizza Kitchen
Eat at: ANYWHERE ELSE. Literally. Pizza chains have no place in a city with over 55 local options.

One dimensional? Yes.
Witty and informative? Absolutely.
stamfordpizzatour.com

Scott said...

...and you thought you'd avoid spam with the word verification doohickey.

Anonymous said...

sorry, gofer ice cream is a chain.
(never knew that, turns out they are.)

Streets of Stamford said...

Anonymous: True, Gofer is a chain, but it's a small locally-owned one, unlike, say, Baskin-Robbins.

Scott said...

Gofer also doesn't take too kindly to plucky, one-off comments, so tread lightly.