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Holiday Shopping in Point Roberts

By Meg Olson

Gas is expensive. Malls are crowded. Psychologists are studying something called “retail rage.” For anyone but the committed shopaholic, Christmas shopping stress can sour the season. Keep your dollars at home and you can sit down to an eggnog at Brewster’s to celebrate checking off everyone on your list whilst others sit in traffic.

Despite the “where’s the town?” often heard from new visitors, the Point has a hearty collection of retailers and most of them are along Gulf Road and Tyee Drive. As in many small towns you can find a lot of things in unusual places: toys in a gas station, candles in a café. The number of service businesses in town is also growing and who wouldn’t like a month of yoga classes for Christmas? Or their very own webpage? Or a yard of gravel?

Local restaurants also offer gift certificates in addition to being places to relax during your Point Roberts shopping tour.

Point Roberts Electric
They have hot tubs. That sums it up really. Sure, they have stoves and refrigerators and all that stuff and they’ll bring them to your house and set them up. But hot tubs. Nothing says “I love you” like a hot tub.

Larry’s Liquor
More portable liquid warm-ups are on the shelves down the road at the local liquor store. There are box sets to suit every taste in spirits: a Drambuie coffee set with stainless thermos, a hot buttered rum set, a vodka martini set with a shaker and a variety of small and inexpensive stocking stuffers.

Nielson’s Building Center
Neilson’s is more than a hardware store, but they do have power tools and power tools are almost as sure a bet as hot tubs for Christmas. The store also has great toys, especially for bigger kids, like skimboards and a wealth of paintball accessories. They have lots of gifts for the deck and patio type, like wind chimes, outdoor fireplaces and bird feeding accessories and supplies. Nielson’s is the Point’s source for Christmas trees, scheduled to go on sale December 1.

Dylan’s
Next stop on the road down Tyee, the Shell station is more than a gas station. Dylan’s store is also a coffee roastery and custom bakery that will be combining some of their most popular items in seasonal baskets on sale soon. They also have special holiday food and drink items for sale, and have the perfect gift for the pooch on your list – homemade dog cookies.

International Marketplace
Across the street is the supermarket. More than groceries. They have Christmas stockings and ornaments and teddy bears and puzzles and dolls and little wee golf club sets and miniature monster trucks. And they have the groceries too, with a custom meat department that will fill the needs of any holiday chef.

MP Gas Station
Around the corner on Gulf Road is another unusual gas station, this one the nadir of kitsch, stocking stuffer and gag gift central. Lighters shaped like pigs or clown fish, foot cream, incense, dynamo flashlights, racy playing cards, an ever changing selection of “what the heck is that?!”

Blue Heron Gallery
At the end of Gulf Road you will encounter the highest density of holiday items in town. Paintings, jewelry, ceramics, textiles, greeting cards, mobiles, stained glass, the wrapping to bundle it up and the ornaments to hang on the tree you put it under. The guest artist until Christmas is Heidi Baxter with custom Murano glass beads as necklaces, bracelets, hatpins and earrings.

Caffe Capanna
Start with a list of holiday treats from homemade granola and cookies to chocolate truffles, pick what you like and the staff at the café will whip up en eye-popping customized holiday basket. They also have candles, bath salts and soap for a soothing bathtub basket which, while not a hot tub, is a welcome way to soak the winter blues away.

Westwind Marine
Now we loop around on Marine Drive to the local chandlery, which has an eclectic collection of books and casual clothing of a maritime flavor. Sticker books of all sorts are an inexpensive stocking filler. On the marine service end you can always get the boater on your list a gift certificate to lighten the bite of that spring haul out.

Liberty Wine Merchants
It’s never too cold for champagne. Especially in a hut tub. Open weekends until Christmas, Liberty Wine Merchants, wine merchant to the stars, has the right champagne no matter what the budget. They also have the right wine for any meal, and the expertise to help you find it. New additions for the holidays are top-notch olive oil and herb-infused sea salt.