By Sidney Williams
As Christmas marches ever closer, the time available to buy presents gets progressively smaller. Fear not though! Local bookstores surprisingly provide so much more than just books (and the obvious community aspect that is so loved among bibliophiles). BookPeople of Moscow in particular has gone all out with this year’s selection of local, novelty, and artisan items. Of course, we also have books…but that’s in our name, so I’ll (mostly) gloss over the books.
Unlike my previous articles, I am going to focus on what is physically in the store right now, this is because I am writing this for those harried by an impending Christmas without sufficient gifts. I am going to walk you through our store, starting at the main street entrance and going all the way to the back pointing out what gifts we offer, and where they are in the store. Luckily for me, this structure adds a good bit of longevity to this article. BookPeople of Moscow very infrequently changes its general layout, and so if in the future you are looking for a candle or a puzzle, this article will still provide an effective map for what you can expect and where. Additionally, all the products we stock are all from companies that we support, and “approve of” if you will, so if you’re looking for something like these items we can wholeheartedly recommend these brands
Now, let’s explore the store!
At the main street entrance, we have our store t-shirts on display, they have a stencil of our storefront and are available in several basic colors.
These are sold year round, and are an excellent gift for booklovers and those who really enjoy integrating themselves with Moscow’s Main Street community. Immediately in front of our front-of-store display and the t-shirts, are our stock of Smart Cookie dog treats and Paddywax diffusers.
The diffusers this year are designed with a more retro feel in mind, having round bubble-like shapes and bright colors. The dog treats are designed to fit specific needs and are made with only the best quality ingredients.
Moving past the front door, you’ll see our first candle display. They’re all put in decorative containers with a variety of scents.
Right before the sales desk and to the left, we have a collection of tarot decks.
As is well known in the tarot circle a deck must be bought by someone else in order to give it the most power, so this is the perfect opportunity to provide the occultists in your life with an excellent (and powerful) gift. There are all sorts of themes available, my personal favorite is the pasta tarot. Further in, across from the sales desk nestled in with the travel guides, cookbooks, and moleskins is my absolute favorite section: chocolates. I have actually written an article about the chocolate offered in the store before [Link] we no longer stock some of the bars that I recommended so the article needs to be updated, but it still gives a good introduction to what I personally enjoy in a chocolate bar, and what type of artisan bars we stock. This year in particular we have a lot of interesting and festive chocolate gifts, several collections including samples of different festive flavors.
We have an advent calendar-esque collection which contains four different flavors for the four advent Sundays of the month. Additionally, we have plenty of mint, and peppermint flavored bars to satisfy your Christmas flavor cravings, my personal favorite is the white chocolate peppermint bars from Markham Fitz, but the spiced rum dark chocolate looks and sounds fantastic as well. Moving almost all the way to the back we have a small section of holiday postcards and a really cool Harry Potter book collection with all seven books placed into a chest-shaped box.