Last November, the Google Calendar app greeted users with a new day of celebration: Black Friday. The holiday in question appeared courtesy of the app’s setting for “Holidays in the United States” on Nov. 29. It hailed the annual retail bonanza sure to come as well as the implicit suggestion, that in this moment of late capitalism, Thanksgiving is pretty much “Black Friday Eve.”

The retail season is upon us, but that doesn’t mean you have to feed the gaping maw of big-box stores and monopolistic online retailers. When you think outside the big box and support local retailers—and better yet, purveyors of locally-made products—you’re doing wonders for your community and its economy.

According to an infographic released by Sonoma County GO LOCAL Cooperative, which “works to grow the market share of locally-owned businesses,” when you spend $100 at a locally owned business, $48 remains in the local economy. Compared to the $13 that stay from big box stores or the whopping zero for non-local online retailers, the advantage of keeping money in the neighborhood, so to speak, is what’s called the local economic multiplier effect. Dollars retained in a community and re-spent within the local economy result in income growth for local people, increased pay and more tax revenues returned to local governments—ultimately providing for better standards of living for those in the community.

Locally-Made

In The Making
Among those raising the retail standards of the community is In The Making, located in Petaluma’s up-and-coming American Alley artisanal district. Home to the open studios of both Jenn Conner of Pennyroyal Design and Siri Hansdotter Jewelry, In the Making also serves a small curated goods retail shop featuring a variety of artisanal products made or designed by area artists.

Onsite, Handotter offers its jewelry in limited release, one-of-a-kind and made to order collections as well as custom designs—with each piece designed and crafted by hand in the studio. Conner’s bespoke, handmade leather carryalls are expertly hewn from high-quality, American vegetable-tanned leathers and made to grow old with you. inthemakingpetaluma.com

Made Local Marketplace
Proudly celebrating their eighth year and now home to 800 local makers, the Made Local Marketplace in Santa Rosa is essentially an old-world bazaar brought indoors. Moreover, everything for sale is made in the North Bay. From homewares and functional pottery to jewelry, original artworks, greeting cards and essential oils. Perennial gift-friendly items like locally-produced candles, jars of jam and honey and teas are also on hand. There are even gifts for your pets. madelocalmarketplace.com

Indigenous
With a flagship store in Petaluma, Indigenous proffers organic, fair-trade fashion while wearing its ethics, literally, on its sleeve. Placing a premium on transparent and sustainable practices, the 24-year-old fashion venture has remained committed to fair-trade partnerships with culturally diverse artisans since its inception.

Inspired by a trip to Peru in the ’90s, the founders sought to give “modern expression to the ancient traditions of Peruvian textile design.” Known for its tops, sweaters, dresses and accessories, Indigenous is continuing its pursuit of making clothing with consciousness with the formation of a B Corporation—a certification that for-profit companies can attain that attests to their commitment to social sustainability and environmental performance standards. indigenous.com

Katja Designs
Working in gold, silver, platinum, and precious and semi-precious stones, master goldsmith Katja Whitedeer studied with luminaries in her field throughout the lauded goldsmithing capitals of Germany before bringing her talents to the states.

“In the U.S., I was the first to execute a ring shank in platinum and high-karat gold that no other jeweler could produce,” she writes on her website. “It was painstaking, labor-intensive and audacious—and it created a sensation in the jewelry world.”

That renown, among other accolades, led to commissions from a bevy of movie stars, including Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Diane Keaton and Thandie Newton.

Fortunately, locals need not travel to Regensburg, Munich, Nuremberg or Berlin to enjoy Whitedeer’s one-of-a-kind work—she currently creates her signature jewelry pieces in Healdsburg, near the square. katjadesigns.com

Books

If you’re a regular Amazon shopper, here’s some, ahem, prime numbers for you: In 2016, Amazon and its third-party marketplace vendors sold $18.3 billion of retail goods in California. Good business, right? Civic Economics, an organization that provides a data-driven approach to business and community initiatives, tallied the numbers behind the numbers. Apparently, Amazon’s transactions that year resulted in 6,030 displaced shops (or 52.2 million square feet of retail space), 87,338 displaced retail jobs, and up to $742 million in uncollected sales taxes. Local economists might suggest you keep these stats in mind when you considering where to buy that book you plan to put under the tree.

Copperfield’s Books
There are many bookstores throughout Sonoma and Napa counties, but by far the most ubiquitous is Copperfield’s Books. With 10 locations in the tri-county area (bonus one more for Petaluma Underground, its used and rare books unit, in Petaluma), the local reading retailer has endured not only the onslaught of big-box book stores (it won!) and Amazon but some locations have had to deal with real estate issues, too.

Shelf Awareness, a book-industry blog, reports that Copperfield’s Books in Sebastopol has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help it purchase the building it has rented on Main Street for the past 37 years. Co-owner and founder Paul Jaffe seeks to raise $200,000 for the down payment on the $1.75 million building. The lease expires on Dec. 31, and Jaffe and his team hope to finalize the purchase on Jan. 1, reports the blog. If you find yourself still in a giving mood after crossing all the books off your gift list, you can find the campaign online at GoFundMe.com. copperfieldsbooks.com

“Millennials don’t find buying cars and homes anywhere near satisfying as experiences⁠—and bragging about them on social,” writes Esther Fuldauer on the Smart.City_Lab blog. Fuldauer’s observation echoes throughout the marketing blogosphere, and businesses offering social media-worthy experiential packages have heeded it. Local businesses are paying attention.

Experiences

Wing & Barrel Ranch
Consider one of the Wing & Barrel Ranch luxury packages, which feature lodging, meals, upland bird hunting and clay shooting with world-class vintners. Or put another way—drink wine and shoot guns? Not quite.

Wing & Barrel Ranch is an exclusive, members-only sporting club for the “discerning outdoor and wine enthusiast.” It offers “Ultimate Sporting Experiences” to non-members that grant them a full day of access to the ranch and include a choice of a guided upland bird hunting excursion or shooting on the acclaimed 25-acre clays course with a Vintner Member. Moreover, the luxurious and all-inclusive packages also include a two-night stay at The Lodge at Sonoma Renaissance Resort & Spa, food and wine pairings at the ranch, a winery tour and tasting, and an exclusive dinner at one of Chef Charlie Palmer’s two Wine Country restaurants. Packages are available for singles, couples and groups. wingandbarrelranch.com

Napa Truffle Festival
If your experiential yearnings require less firepower but are no less fueled by an interest in the hunt, there’s always tracking and attacking truffles at the 10th anniversary of the Napa Truffle Festival. Give your giftee the experience of learning, firsthand, the gastronomy, history, mysteries and legendary flavors of the lauded mushroom in a series of scheduled events this January. In the seminar “All About Truffles,” Chef Ken Frank of Michelin-starred La Toque will lead your lucky recipient through a two-hour experiential program where they can touch, smell and evaluate various species of truffles. They will also learn from world-renowned truffle scientist Dr. Paul Thomas of American Truffle Company while enjoying samples paired with a flight of award-winning B Cellars wines. napatrufflefestival.com

SparkTarot
Haunted by the ghost of Christmas Past? What about Christmas Future? Help your loved ones get a sense of their past, present and future with a gift card for a tarot reading from SparkTarot. Karen Hess (the Bohemian’s community columnist) performs private Tarot readings in her office in Petaluma’s Historic McNear Building or for your guests at your holiday party. Her original deck of modern, diverse tarot cards inspired by the divine feminine is available for pre-order at sparktarot.com.

Movies
For a more passive but equally exhilarating aesthetic experience, there’s always the movies. When one thinks of “giving the gift of movies,” however, this often amounts to telling your college student/best friend/ex your Netflix password. You can do better than that. Keep your movie money local by buying a gift card from one of our three local theatrical exhibitors. Cinema West (locally Boulevard Cinemas and Sonoma Cinemas in Petaluma and Sonoma respectively), Rialto Cinemas (Sebastopol) and Santa Rosa Cinemas (throughout Santa Rosa, including the Summerfield Cinemas and Roxy Stadium 14 as well as Healdsburg’s Raven Film Center) all offer premium theatrical experiences—many with wine, beer and gourmet goodies. Get a gift card for the cineaste in your life and enjoy the show together (or savor a couple of hours of alone time). cinemawest.com, santarosacinemas.com, rialtocinemas.com

So, when you’re shopping for presents this gift-giving season, consider how the multiplier effect can help extend the reach of your giving—it will help the local economy, which just might help you. Or, as one retailer’s chalkboard sign succinctly put it: “For it is in giving that we receive.”

Small, downtown novelty stores don’t usually last 20 years, but Heebe Jeebe General Store is not your usual small, downtown novelty store.

Engaging the community—particularly children—in creative, fun ways is a top priority for Drew Washer, owner of the Petaluma novelty and gift shop, known locally as Heebe Jeebe (pronounced HEE-bee JEE-bee). Over the years the store has included an art gallery, a photo booth, a Day of the Dead town altar, pop-up Halloween stores, a shop dog named Rheya and the beloved Champion, a mechanical ride-on horse for kids.

“Those things have been the most rewarding parts of the store for me,” Washer says. “It’s kept it fresh and lively.”

Embracing entire families was important to Washer from the store’s inception.

“I wanted it to be active, fun and entertaining, not just shopping,” she says. “I wanted little kids to be able to buy things with their own money and have a place that kids, moms, grandmas and grandpas could all come—even a man could shop here and get a kick out of it so he didn’t have to wait outside.”

When Washer opened the store in 1999, she was a designer in San Francisco for fashion-juggernaut Esprit. She also had her own kids’ clothing line, Kid Poets. Washer later stopped commuting to the city because she wanted to be around for her school-age kids, Phoebe and Henry.

With no experience and a location that, at the time, wasn’t great, she opened Heebe Jeebe in a space half the size of the current store and stocked it with fun toys, gifts, and novelty items. In the past two decades, it’s become a beloved local establishment.

“It was the right time and the right vibe,” Washer says. “I’ve always loved novelty stores—surprises and humor are uplifting.”

Originally called Boomerang and later named the Back House Gallery, the art gallery at the back of the store showcased local art.

“The art gallery was all about community-inspired art,” Washer says. “I knew lots of artists—and I knew lots of artists who were now professionals who didn’t get to do their art as much, so it was a chance for them to do one painting and have it be shown.”

Of course, children were always included, even in the art gallery.

“A child’s art could be right alongside an adult’s art in the gallery,” she says.

At Halloween, for many years, Washer hosted pop-up Halloween stores. Often, she rented an extra location for the month and stocked a huge selection of costumes, wigs—anything you needed for Halloween.

With the advent of the big-box Halloween stores, however, she scaled back to a smaller, dedicated section in Heebe Jeebe. Her inspiration for the Halloween store? The store’s former tenant, The Pet Stop, in addition to selling pets, had a Halloween novelty section. A row of crazy rubber masks on the top shelf was a constant presence, and you could rent costumes or find colored hair spray—a rarity in the ’80s and ’90s.

“I wanted to carry on that lineage,” Washer says, looking up at her own top shelf of crazy rubber masks, carried year-round.

While Halloween is big for Washer, so is Day of the Dead. “Day of the Dead changed my life,” she says. “I did it at first as an extension of the gallery, because I love the culture and art of Mexico and Central America.”

In 2001, Washer and her husband, artist Jack Haye, created an altar in the hallway next to the shop as part of the city’s annual Day of the Dead festivities. People brought photos of their deceased loved ones and wrote messages to them.

“It became an extension of the gallery,” she says. “It was a good place to have an altar because it was accessible to people without the store being open. Every year people would bring new people and bring back previous people and tell me stories about them. I got to know the community in a way that is very personal … and then when I had loss, they did the altar that year.”

Washer’s daughter Phoebe passed away in 2008 and she explains how the altar and the community helped comfort her during that time.

“The altar is for a community of people who have died,” she says. “It’s not just for the people visiting it, it’s also for the people who have passed on. They’re not alone; they are with others—that was comforting.”

The store has always been reciprocal in nature.

“It has really reached out to different aspects of the town that you don’t usually think about with a store,” Washer says. “When Phoebe died, I had customers come in and take over for a while, working for free. I’ve definitely been on the giving and receiving sides.”

Washer began the store on a credit card and her friends pitched in.

“I was naive, and because my budget was small, my mistakes were small,” she says. Her shop is still flexible and responsive today. “It changes with the community.”

After 20 years, Petaluma remains a family town, and her original family-oriented vision still applies, although the products which include humor cards, home decor, gifts, toys, novelty items and more, continue to shift with the current culture.

To celebrate Heebe Jeebe’s big anniversary, every customer will receive a special gift with purchase until they run out.

Washer explains her 20-year success as, “When you stay open to the community, your store becomes a reflection of them.”
Heebe Jeebe General Store is located at 46 Kentucky St., Petaluma, CA. 707.773.3222 facebook.com/HeebeJeebe

When my son was younger, he loved Charlie Brown and the woebegone world he inhabits. He liked jazz (courtesy of Vince Guaraldi) and he liked the fact the characters play baseball. The only cultural connective tissue I can draw between jazz and baseball is Ken Burns and his documentaries, Jazz and Baseball. If the Peanuts characters became Civil War reenactors, the kid would probably grow to believe Ken Burns and Charles Schultz were his real parents. That’s fine—they can pay for his college.

There there’s the A Charlie Brown Christmas app. It’s a quaint repurposing the source material that features some modest interactivity while flawlessly capturing the signature melancholic vibe. My kid loved the iOS version until Charlie and Linus’ arms came off.
It was a glitch but imagine trying to explain that to a horrified child. Good grief, indeed.

Later, we pored through a “Look and Find” book entitled Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown that takes scenes from A Charlie Brown Christmas with random objects thrown in (a stuffed camel, a maraca, a pipe—basically the decor of the average freshman dorm), intended for young readers to find. Seeing the kaleidoscopic holiday landscapes of the Peanuts characters’ otherwise humdrum world in static, printed form makes apparent just how psychedelic they were.

In fact, the expressions of Linus and Charlie Brown look like the precise moment they realized, “Maybe we shouldn’t have dropped that acid, Charlie Brown.” This also accounts for how Charlie ended up with such a famously crap tree. He was trippin’ balls. In fact, LSD explains a lot of the Peanuts world—from hallucinatory flashbacks of World War II (featuring trippy rotoscoped footage of D-Day reminiscent of Yellow Submarine) to kite-eating trees and Linus’ Syd Barrett-style burnout fixation on a mythical pumpkin.

Rumor is if you turn down the sound on A Charlie Brown Christmas and play the second side of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon simultaneously, the Brain Damage track comes on just when Charlie Brown takes his totally f’d-up Christmas tree out into the winter night.

“The lunatic is on the grass” syncs wonderfully with the image of a dazed-and-confused Chuck carrying around his ailing green plant. Naturally, his eyes are big, black pupils when he stops to watch the surreal light display on Snoopy’s doghouse, then bails, disconsolate over his comparatively shabby tree. That’s when his hippy-ass pals show up, wave their arms around (“You rearrange me ’til I’m sane”) and suddenly the twig Charlie Brown ditched becomes a proper Christmas tree. Evidently, everyone is high. The kids start caroling in time with the backing vocals on the chorus. All true. Ken Burns is doing a documentary on it. It’s a holiday treat one can cherish every year (for about 8 hours at 500 micrograms).