Kingston is the perfect place to explore to complete your holiday shopping list. Read on to discover an eclectic array of small businesses, including a family-owned business selling butter- and lime-infused olive oils and a pottery store boasting unique mugs and bowls.
Shop on us! Receive a $100 Visa gift card when you book an overnight stay between November 18 and December 22 with select hotels. Book a package online!
Sweet treats
Cooke’s Fine Foods and Coffee
61 Brock Street
If you’re unsure what to get for a gourmand friend, visit Cooke’s Fine Foods and Coffee this holiday season.
Stepping inside this nineteenth-century building in the heart of downtown Kingston, you’re met with the smell of freshly brewed coffee and shelves of eclectic sweet treats, including tart jams and creamy chocolates from Europe. Cooke’s sells candies, chocolates, and cookies you can’t find at the grocery store. You can also purchase gourmet sauces, baking supplies, or gift baskets. Cooke’s curates beautiful arrangements, including a cheese lover’s basket, chocolate lover’s basket, and tea lover’s basket.
Visit Cooke’s website to learn more about their products. Read Meet the maker: The Cooke Family to read about the shop’s longtime owners.
Card’s Bakery and Goods
115 Princess Street
Card’s Bakery and Goods sells fluffy vanilla cupcakes topped with red and green frosting and soft banana or carrot bars for the sweet-treat lover in your life.
In addition to their seasonal cookies, cupcakes, and bars, Card’s also sells a variety of baking and kitchen supplies. For the cook in your life, pick up a spatula or an embroidered apron, as well as a bag of fresh gingerbread cookies they can dig into on Christmas morning.
Craft breweries
Daft Brewing
768 Princess Street
Kingston has a variety of breweries selling classic light lagers and dark amber brews for the beer lovers in your life. Daft Brewing offers beers infused with blood orange, lemon balm, and lemon sour or raspberry lemon flavour. Their tall-canned beers are decorated with colourful art from local Kingston artists.
Riverhead Brewing Company
631 Fortune Crescent
Head over to Riverhead Brewing Company west-end location and purchase one of their tall cans for that lager lover in your life this holiday season. Try the Tropical IPA, with citrus and tropical fruit notes or Feel the Glow, an amber beer with hints of caramel.
Spearhead Brewing Company
675 Development Drive
Spearhead Brewing Company sells a selection of beers and non-alcoholic beverages you can give this season. Grab a can of Spearhead’s famous Hawaiian Style Pale Ale or AKWA, a refreshing non-alcoholic beverage featuring hints of tropical fruit. For someone who enjoys a darker brew, try Skeleton Park’s Amber or Autumn Fyre.
For more beer shops to visit this November and December, read a guide to Kingston’s breweries.
Miscellaneous gifts
Amanda’s House of Elegance
70 Princess Street
Amanda’s House of Elegance offers claw clips, essential oil candles, and dainty rings and necklaces perfect for gifts. Buy your girlfriend a necklace with her initial dangling from the silver chain, a light blue retro Bluetooth speaker, or a Taylor Swift-themed coaster for her morning coffee.
Amanda’s also offers Christmas items such as sparkly pinecone candles and glass tree ornaments. Visit Amanda’s Princess Street location to explore their home accessories, candles, jewelry, and more.
Novel Idea
156 Princess Street
Buy a cozy mystery or heartwarming romance novel for the book lover in your life at Novel Idea. The downtown bookstore sells the newest fiction and non-fiction releases, as well as titles by local Kingston authors. Finish your bookish gift off with Novel Idea’s pens or a journal.
Can’t find that fantasy novel your daughter or son put on their wish list? Novel Idea can place a special order, delivering the book to the store free of charge.
Minotaur
78 Princess Street
Minotaur boasts a plethora of puzzles and card games perfect for gifts. From classic playing cards to escape room puzzles to family night trivia to unique brain teasers, there’s something for everyone at Minotaur.
Their selection of games is always changing, so visit their downtown shop and see what games you can put under the tree this holiday season.
Lazy Daisies
227 Princess Street
With its bright purple exterior, this shop selling eclectic home goods and accessories is hard to miss.
Lazy Daisies offers products straight from your daughter’s Pinterest board, such as pastel water bottles, sunglasses, keychains, home goods, and interesting candles that smell like fruity cereal or fresh laundry. They also boast a wide selection of stationery, like planners and notebooks, perfect for friends headed back to school in January.
Black Dog Pottery
58 Queen Street
From green mugs to cobalt blue plates with watercolour gradients, each item at this Kingston pottery store is meticulously crafted by local artist Marc Lemieux.
Black Dog Pottery has been selling their handmade functional and ornamental pottery for more than 25 years. Pick up a pair of wine cups to make a holiday toast or a jewel-toned porcelain serving tray for that friend who loves hosting charcuterie nights.
Fashion
Montreal Street Collective
39 Montreal Street
Step inside this thrift store to find some unique gift ideas. Montreal Street Collective has 10 clothing vendors in the shop every month who curate their own sections, so you’ll encounter new cozy sweaters, or sophisticated button-ups every time you step inside.
As well as clothes, Montreal Street Collective sells a variety of housewares and handmade goodies perfect for stocking suffers. If you want to create a sentimental gift, head over to the area of the store where you can make your own charm bracelets.
Whit Kingston
239 Princess Street
This clothing and accessory shop offers a diverse selection of collections to suit the unique interests of everyone on your list this holiday season.
Shopping for a Queen’s alumnus or student? Whit Kingston has its own Queen’s University collection that includes toques, crewnecks, and mugs. For music lovers, look at “The Hip” collection, boasting stickers and T-shirts honouring the famous Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip.
They even have a holiday collection with Christmas-themed candles, cozy slippers, and ornaments.
From Levi’s jeans to Kingston sweaters to Taylor Swift stationery, Whit Kingston is a treasure trove of holiday gift ideas.
Visitor Information Centre
209 Ontario Street
The Visitor Information Centre offers Kingston T-shirts, sweatshirts, toques, and more for anyone who’d love a touch of Kingston charm under the tree this December.
Their selection of Kingston patches, stickers, and pins make the perfect stocking stuffers as well.
Self-care
Glow Spa
234 Princess Street
Pamper someone this season with an e-gift card from Glow Spa.
Glow Spa offers facials, massages, and a relaxing thermotherapy experience where customers step into a hot tub, sauna or steam room, move to a cold plunge, and rest before repeating the process for one, two, or three hours. Thermotherapy has a myriad of health benefits, including improved circulation and stress relief. Beyond their rejuvenating treatments, Glow Spa sells nourishing lip balms, soothing serums, and other skin care staples to add on to the e-gift card.
Bonus: Stocking stuffers
Kingston Olive Oil Company
62 Brock Street
Pick up some mini sampler bottles of handmade lime-infused extra virgin olive oil or champagne white vinegar to tuck into Christmas stockings.
Kingston Olive Oil Company is a family-owned business specializing in small-batch olive oils and balsamic vinegars, ensuring the freshest quality products. As well as classic olive oils and vinegars, they also sell specialty products that you won’t find anywhere else, such as pink guava rose balsamic vinegar, and butter-infused EVOO.
At Kingston Olive Oil Company’s tasting bar, you can taste a selection of oils and vinegars before deciding on the perfect bottle.
Kingston Food Tours
Delight the foodie in your life with a gift of tickets for Kingston Food Tours.
Kingston Food Tours offers two walking tours year-round. Their “Classic Kingston” tour includes exclusive tasting experiences at local restaurants peppering the city’s downtown core. Customers gain insight into Kingston’s history while eating crispy tacos and handmade pastas. Their “Tapas Tour” stops at four restaurants where customers sample small tastings paired with an alcoholic beverage or mocktail.
Downtown Kingston ornaments
Multiple locations
Give an ornament of a significant Kingston site or structure, like the Wolfe Islander III or the old K&P train station. Since 1994, Downtown Kingston has released an annual holiday pewter collection. Kingston-themed ornaments are available for purchase at the Grand Theatre box office (218 Princess Street), Slush Puppie Place box office (1 The Tragically Hip Way), and the Visitor Information Centre (209 Ontario Street) throughout November and December. To get a discount on new ornaments, just show $25 worth of receipts from downtown purchases.
This year, Downtown Kingston offers five ornaments commemorating Kingston’s iconic landmarks (and one ferry). The first ornament to be released is of the old K&P train station (now home to the Visitor Information Centre), available for purchase starting Monday, November 18.
The ornament depicting 178 Ontario Street, home to Mio Gelato, will be released on November 25, and the Wolfe Islander III ornament comes out on December 2. The LaSalle Causeway ornament releases on December 9 and The HIP Sign, commemorating The Tragically Hip, will be available for purchase on December 16.
You can also purchase a selection from previous years’ releases online.
