News Flash

If you haven’t started your holiday shopping yet, don’t worry! There’s still plenty of time to find great gifts locally. I recently explored some Roanoke County businesses to get gifts for coworkers, friends and family.

Sycamore Station (1900 Dutch Oven Rd.)

This cafe and gift shop opened its brick-and-mortar location earlier this year and it is absolutely adorable! Sycamore Station sells products from local makers including mugs, soap, art and jewelry.

There’s a tree set up inside covered in beautiful ornaments. Plus, Sycamore Station is having a Holiday Market on Dec. 14 with even more vendors to check out.

Don’t forget to grab a coffee while you’re there!

Star City Games (5728 Williamson Rd)

This shop is a great place to find gifts for all the comic and gaming enthusiasts in your life, whether they’re a DC or a Marvel person. Star City Games had a lot of great board games that you may not find in big box retailers.

One of the employees recommended Root, which is a resource management board game for 2-4 players.

Star City Games is the go-to store for Magic the Gathering cards and it carries a lot of other items for popular table-top games as well, like Pokémon and Dungeons and Dragons.

Explore Park Artisan Market (56 Roanoke River Parkway Rd)

Every year during Illuminights, Explore Park sets up an Artisan Market. Over 35 local makers have their work for sale inside the visitor’s center. There’s everything you can imagine including handmade candle melts, ornaments, baskets and nature illustrations.

You can make a whole evening of your Christmas shopping by getting a ticket for the Illuminights Winter Walk of Lights and enjoying the family-friendly activities while you’re at the park! Get your Illuminights tickets here.

I’ll be going back to the Artisan Market for Illuminights and plan to drop some not-so-subtle hints to my family about gifts I would like!

Basil’s Farm Market & Gifts (7963 Franklin Rd)

Basil’s Farm Market & Gifts recently celebrated one year in business. The store opened on Black Friday last year and sells meat, produce and artisan goods.

I spotted one of my personal favorite makers here, The Slap Shop pottery. I am genuinely obsessed with the mini vases she makes and have to stop myself from buying one whenever I see her pottery for sale!

Basil’s sells meat and produce so if you want to get your family meal from a local farm this year, stop by to see what’s available.

Banner’s Hallmark (3955 Brambleton Ave)

The last stop of the day was Banner’s Hallmark. I, of course, needed something to wrap my gifts with, but Hallmark has so much more than just stationary and wrapping paper!

The ornament collection is first-rate and there’s Grinch galore (including a talking wreath that startled me a few times while filming.) From Lily Pulitzer to Star Wars, they have something for everyone, so you’ll definitely find a great gift for anyone on your list.

Hopefully, this inspired some ideas for your holiday shopping! Happy Holidays!

 Watch the full holiday shopping video on YouTube

Em Poertner is Roanoke County's Public Information Specialist. She hosts the Out of the Office podcast and Roam RoCo video series. If you have ideas for something to explore around Roanoke County, email her at epoertner@roanokecountyva.gov.