As we race towards Christmas like we’ve never seen before we’ve gathered a list of Bristol independent businesses that you can support this year as the festive shopping season looks likely to be taking place online this year. It’s been a rough ride for most of us but the pandemic has hit many small businesses particularly hard. We know it’s easy to get click-happy on Amazon but we think you’ll find some magical treats that will be all the more special if you shop independent this year.
Bristol is famous for its colourful streets and world famous artists, so it’s no surprise that top of our list are some of the city’s best independent art stores, galleries and creative shops. The gallery behind Europe’s largest street art festival Upfest is based on North Street in Southville and houses work from some of the best artists around. From original canvases to prints, tshirts, shirts, spray paints and pens everything you need for an authentic Bristolian graffiti experience! Some other favourites of ours across the city include PRSC China Shop in Stokes Croft – largely political artwork printed onto beautiful crockery of all shapes and sizes, head further up the street and you’ll find Neon Tiger. 
Bristol is home to one of Europe’s largest independent ‘strips’ – Gloucester Road. The footfall won’t be the same this year so we suggest getting online to see what these incredible stores have to offer. One of our favourite creative spaces is Bristol CoLab – a collection of colourful bespoke artwork, clothing and so much more! In a similar vein That Thing on Stokes Croft offers clothing, bags and jewellery from local designers and makers – you will find beautiful quality one-of-a-kind pieces that will be treasured! If clothing is your bag, we’d also recommend checking out the collections from Fox & Feather and the vintage specialists Loot.
Obviously, as interior designers we’ve got an eye for anything that get upgrade our interior spaces – there are some amazing design stores out there too! Nestled in Whapping Wharf is Fig1 whose motto is to combine the functional and the beautiful (something we can get behind!) they stock the very best in contemporary European design led gifts and homeware. We also love Prior, a bespoke, handcrafted and responsible design led store based in Old Market with all kinds of aesthetically pleasing creations!
If like us, house plants are your perfect gift – look no further! Bristol is bursting with local plant delivery services and independent plant shops – a couple include TwigPlants, Ozaria, Wild Leaf and Fancy Plants who can supply you with everything from the plants to the pots you never knew you needed and hand delivered!
Perhaps you want to remind your loved ones of celebratory times with some music, booze and food?! Idle Hands is a record shop based on City Road that provides free shipping across the UK on orders over £50. Grape&Grind on Gloucester Rd and Corks are especially good wine merchants and alcohol shops – both of whom have websites and shipping options perfect for this time of year!
The perfect presents this year could well be in the form of gift cards and vouchers to these stunning independent stores and we’d recommend keeping an eye out for any vouchers available with Bristol’s plethora of incredible restaurants too. Enjoy browsing online!
