Contributor: Kurt Myers
Shopping for: My whole family (so if you are related to me you really shouldn't read this)
Neighborhoods: College Hill, Mt. Healthy, Kenwood, Oakley
I've always been a bit of a try to get it all over with in one day kind of guy (though, admittedly, I am way to indecisive to actually be successful in one trip), so I hopped into my blue Saturn and hit the road.
My first stop was College Hill. My wife was wanting some earrings this year so I decided to stop by Schwartz Jewelers. I have been a customer at Schwartz for years now (we bought our wedding rings there) and although I don't buy a lot of jewelry, they have always treated me very well. I remember when my brother was getting married, Dave, the owner, actually delivered one of the rings to my parents house on his way home from work.
I got a really good deal on a nice pair of earrings and decided to head down the street to the College Hill Coffee Co. and Casual Gourmet to look for some more presents. I found some decorative gifts to get a few people in my family, but remembered that I had a coupon at home so I decided to come back when I can save a few bucks.
I still have a little more shopping to do in College Hill, I need to stop by Piazza Discepoli Wine Merchants to pick up some wine for Christmas Eve, and I want to see if Goodies Barbeque still sells their delicious sauce in bottles. My brother lives in Chicago so this will be a good gift to remind him of home.
Giving games at Christmas is a big tradition in my family, so I when I left College Hill I went up to Yottaquest in Mt. Healthy. Yottaquest is a store that specializes in mostly fantasy games, but they have a good selection of harder to find games that you won't find at Toys R Us. I picked up a card game for my wife and Quick Count (a locally made football card game) for my nephews.
Next it was off to Kenwood to go to Downlite to pick up some gifts for parents. My dad is a diabetic who is also on blood thinners and is always very, very cold in the winter. Downlite has a great thermal wrap that supports breast cancer awareness. My wife has one and it is fantastic, so I was aiming to pick one up for my dad. Unfortunately by the time I got to Downlite it had closed for the evening. In an effort to make the most of my drive to Kenwood I walked down to M. Hopple to pick up some Holiday Cards.
After that I pretty much called it a day. My next big expedition will be to Oakley to buy gifts at King Arthur's Court and Blue Manatee for my son, and Aglamesis to get some chocolate for a Cincy-themed $25.00 gift exchange gift.
YottaQuest is a great place to get really cool unique board games and card games that you'll never see in the Big Box stores.
One that I saw there that I'd never heard of but is apparently a bestseller is called Ticket to Ride. A card game that caught my eye for my tween boy is Killer Bunnies. This one is pretty cool - you can even go online and design your own "Killer Bunny" cards to play with.
This local family-owned game shop has a huge selection of quality games for all age ranges.
I believe they also host periodic family game nights where you can try out new games before you buy!
Yottaquest is definitely worth a visit no matter what part of town you are in. It's just a minute or two off Cross County (Ronald Reagan) Hwy at the Hamilton Ave Exit.