Downtown Brandon full of gift options

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This article was published 26/11/2021 (1439 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For Brandon shoppers worried about where their Christmas gifts will come from this year with supply-chain issues leading to empty store shelves, the solution may be closer than expected.

Downtown Brandon has some interesting choices for out-of-the-box gift ideas that come from both far-off places and closer to home.

Though most of the Ten Thousand Villages stores in Canada were shut down in May 2020, the Brandon location was independently owned and continues as one of four in Canada and one of two in Manitoba that are still up and running.

Many of the fair-trade products the store sells come from other countries and other continents, but store manager Meeghan Gavin said the Brandon location ordered much of its Christmas items earlier in the year and are on shelves instead of stuck on a boat or in a port somewhere.

Unfortunately, one of the store’s most popular collections of items, its fair-trade coffee beans, are in low supply as they usually arrive via British Columbia, and that province is still recovering from devastating flooding.

However, shoppers intent on getting a caffeine fix for their loved ones can always purchase a gift card that can be used when the beans are back in stock.

Thankfully, Christmas decorations and themed items are available and come from 15 different countries, including India, Nepal, the West Bank, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Kenya and Uganda.

Many of them are made from recycled and unconventional materials like magazines, balsa wood and snowmen made from gourds.

“All the artisans are paid a fair wage for the work they do,” Gavin said. “They also get what’s called a fair-trade premium … the different co-operatives and artisan groups decide what they want to use that for. They might choose health care, they might choose education, they might choose to put in a road or a cellphone tower — whatever the community feels that it needs.”

A good way to support local artists is to check out what’s available at the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba.

This weekend is the gallery’s annual Gala of Gifts sale, but items produced by Manitoba artists can also be purchased outside of the sale at the gift shop.

Monica Joshi, the gallery’s gift shop and gallery services co-ordinator, told the Sun on Thursday that for the first time ever, this year’s gala will sell mystery boxes that include an enigmatic variety of handmade goods and art pieces curated for different kinds of people that will only have their contents revealed when the box is opened.

A mystery box costs $50 for a single person and $100 for a family of four, but the contents inside are valued at $100 to $200. Eight single boxes are available as well as two family boxes.

According to Joshi, the gallery decided earlier this year to emphasize local goods for sale at the gift shop after relying heavily on Winnipeg-based artists for a long time.

“It felt like we were almost ignoring artists from Brandon and the surrounding area,” she said. “In Winnipeg, it’s a bigger city, so they have more of an ability to get into their own city and capture the artists’ landscape there, whereas we found that in southwestern Manitoba, it’s really only us and the Brandon University art gallery that’s around, so it’s extremely important to us to promote these artists, the local ones.”

That includes beaded jewelry by artists from Dauphin, Minnedosa and Brandon; prints from artists in Brandon and Winnipeg; and even some ceramic pieces made by former students who attended art gallery classes who have gone into business.

Much of the gift shop’s stock can be viewed online and some items can be shipped or purchased online for in-store pickup.

Carved wooden bowls by local artist Keith Barrett are Joshi’s personal favourite.

Though both these places currently have items in stock, supply may start to dwindle as Dec. 25 approaches.

» cslark@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @ColinSlark