Restocking the Stocking

Sure everyone runs around rampant from discount to drug store the week after Christmas, eagerly searching for that 75percent-off, blowup snowman or a half-beaten-down collection of faux greenery. But there are some amazing finds for the most discerning of tastes, even if the bank account cannot ordinarily subsidize discerning taste.

Boutiques aplenty are stocked with treasured trinkets that only a month ago were marked up well beyond their wholesale price. Case in point: Check out Tinker's (2409 Westwood Ave.). Although their holiday stock is dwindling, there are still key finds and unusual mementos perfect for stowing away as next year's gift for someone special. For the Jimmy Buffet fan in your life, pick up a miniature, decorated resin-palm tree in a tiny snow globe and let them shake, shake, shake that beauty. My own Parrothead - Big Sis P.J. - may delight in this tiny token of affection next year, if I can still find it at the store. There was also a beautiful blown-glass flamingo ornament that would look perfect on her Lilly Pulitzer-meets-Hodge Podge tree.

Dogged consumers also must hit Mongrel (2924 W. Cary St.) before the rest of their leftover stock runs out. Boxed cards that normally cost a king's ransom are now readily affordable for any lowly member of the court. You'll find some beautifully etched cards, intricate designs and unique styles.

Also Tweed (11743 W. Broad St.) is busy restyling their store, but the upscale goods are still ripe for the picking. Twisted metal ornaments, holiday cocktail napkins and assorted holiday-themed home goods are perfect host and hostess gifts for next year's soirees. Strawberry Fields (423 Strawberry St.) is busy relinquishing its collection of adorable holiday accents. Winter Wonderland tableware, Victorian-designed decorations and a girl snowboarder tree ornament (that I would have bought for myself if a friend hadn't already put it atop my present this year) were all items that drew my coworker's and my attention away from the hot lunches clutched in our hands.

Some of these items might already be gone when you get there, so get there fast and think - if you stock and store now your life will be that much easier next December.

Court Squires
Associate Editor