Wink - Noe Valley

Wink sells, cute eclectic gifts for all occasions, or even for yourself. Shelves are artfully arranged with toys for the person who has everything, from cloth dolls fashioned to look like they are made out of pieces of poop, to Gamma Go clothes and nick knacks, to nice design-oriented household items and gifts for babies, both the human and the four-legged variety. The cards are beautiful, and stocked with a wide range of interesting occasions. The staff are friendly.

4107 24th St
San Francisco
CA 94114
415.401.8881

Tiger - Hammersmith

Tiger is stocked with random knick knacks, toiletries and kitchenware that could be found at Big Lots, but they seem nicer here, probably because of the quirky Scandinavian merchandising. Just like IKEA, shoppers wend their way through a maze of beautifully displayed wares. Instead of furniture, the products are note pads, kitchen towels, small toys and household items sold at bargain basement prices.


41-42 Kings Mall, King Street
Hammersmith, London W6

Earlybird -- Stoke Newington

At first glance Earlybird looks like so many of the card and gift stores scattered around London. Cute small items like home wares, retro decorative items, stationary, tradesman mugs, gift bags and other carefully selected gift items fill the shelves. Unlike most other shops, at Earlybird some of the collection of greeting cards and wrapping paper are designed and made on the premises by illustrator and part owner Dominic Early.

This is also one of the only places to buy the hard to find "I heart Hackney" badges. For those who want to assert that they live in the "good" part of Hackney, "I heart Stokey" badges are also for sale. In fact, being in Stoke Newington, the shop stocks a lot of "I heart Stokey" paraphernalia, including mugs, bags and t-shirts.

86 Stoke Newington Church Street
London, N16
020 7923 3504

Feria Ubana - Inner Sunset

This is more like it.

Held at the Canvas Gallery on Lincoln Way, this Urban Fair is what I expected at Pandora's Trunk last night. Those who like jewelry and accessories hit the jackpot. Handcrafted baubles with a modern aesthetic shared table space with Victorianesque pieces in strange proportions.

Among the gifts for wry children, stuffed monster dolls, made more for parents than their kids, were among my favorites.

The only things that were a bit dodgy were bags made out of reclaimed materials, straight out of ReadyMade magazine and pillows in burnt out velvet that may be good for those who like to decorate with gargoyles.

I went with good intentions of buying Christmas presents, but left with gifts only for myself.

Canvas Gallery
1200 9th Ave
San Francisco, CA 94122
415.504.0060