Shopping on a Friday Night

Last Friday night I was invited for some fun "Secret Santa" gift buying! All the shops here at Bishop's Landing were open until midnight and will be again this Friday, December 10th. There were five bloggers Anton, Rene, Laura and Amy. and we met at Cafe Ristretto. Fun to meet new people :) We were each given $50 to spend. My recipient was Feisty Chef, Rene Lavallee (there are accents on the ees but I don't know how to do them) and the lovely gal who received my name was Laura Phillips.

The shops are gorgeous, lots of variety to choose from. Really, you could buy for anyone down here. The picture above is the window of The Unicorn, a very high end clothing store. It has been here in Halifax since 1969. Love those boots! The picture below is from One Stop Wood Shop, full of very affordable pieces of hand turned wood gifts. I bought Renee a cutting board... duh...Chef... easy choice but her main gift I will reveal shortly. There was also some amazing art in this shop which I will write about in another post soon.

I have to say that it was a fun way to do some shopping and support local business. There are terrific restaurants down here ( Ristorante a Mano is one I've heard great things about but have yet to try) so you can really have a nice night out.There were even some carrollers singing to the shoppers. Lisa Drader Murphy of Turbine, was serving bubbly to her customers. Yum.

Lisa is a local designer who produces fabulous seasonal collections of ready-to-wear, handbags, and jewellery. I was tempted.

I finally got the second half of my gift here, at Bishop's Cellar. A deep robust Chilean wine recommended by the staff. I had some help, Renee was on file so they looked up what she likes and voila, easy peasy:) They often have wonderful tastings here, check out their website for when the next one is.

So, all in all it was a fun evening. Oh yes, and what did I get? Well, funnily enough, Laura chose the same shops as I did and I received two really cool candleholder/vases made from wood that had been felled During Hurricane Earl and of course...a yummy bottle of red wine:) Thanks.
So if you are looking for something different to do, pop down to Bishop's Landing on the waterfront, Friday night and shop fashionably late:)