So climb out of your shell. Touch something beautiful. Wish a shop clerk a good morning. As this list demonstrates, this weekend is loaded with local and small shopping events to suit everyone’s needs.
Small Business Weekend, Cherry Creek North
Through Sunday, November 27, during business hours
Cherry Creek North, University Boulevard to Steele Street between First and Third avenues
Cherry Creek North small businesses, 175 strong and counting, will be participating by offering hot new merchandise and special deals throughout the weekend to help fill your shopping bags to the brim. While shopping in the CCN neighborhood, save enough energy to check out the Cherry Creek Holiday Market at Fillmore Square (open until 9 p.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday), and stick around after dark to enjoy the neighborhood’s Winter Wanderland holiday lighting.
Christmas in the Rockies
Sunday, November 27, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Aspen Grove Shopping Center, 7301 South Santa Fe Drive, Littleton
The big, warm indoor market Christmas in the Rockies returns for the season to Aspen Grove with gifts galore for everyone on your list. Some of the small Aspen Grove shops are offering deals as well, but keep in mind that market vendors are the smallest of the small when it comes to small-business shopping. Happy hunting!
Shop Small, Support Big Holiday Market
Sunday, November 27, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily
Spirit Halloween space, The Shops at Northfield, 8340 Northfield Boulevard
LoveLex Boutique hosts a holiday pop-up market over the weekend after Thanksgiving to lure big-box shoppers into something a little more small-business-friendly. Housed in a vacant space last used by Spirit Halloween, the three-day event specializes in affordable clothing, shoes, perfumes and accessories, as well as holiday treats.
Horseshoe Holiday Market 2022
Sunday, November 27, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Highlands Masonic Temple, 3550 Federal Boulevard
Free (optional $5 donation for Edison and Centennial elementary schools at the door); RSVP at Eventbrite to enter a $50 giveaway
The tried-and-true Horseshoe Holiday Market returns to its quirky old indoor home at the Highlands Masonic Temple, with all its charm intact — along with a fantastic mix of 120 artisans, vintage merchants, makers and micro businesses. If you’re an early bird, you might snag one of fifty Horseshoe holiday totes handed out to the first rush of folks at the door. The rest is pure shopping heaven.
Ninth Annual Tennyson/Berkeley Small Business Holiday Passport Crawl
Sunday, November 27, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Tennyson Street businesses, between 35th and 46th avenues, and up to 50th Avenue and Lowell Boulevard
Holiday shopping’s just a little more fun in northwest Denver, where businesses in the Tennyson/Berkeley retail district team up for an annual passport crawl promotion that moves shoppers in and out of twenty participating independent stores, boutiques and breweries, taking advantage of special offers and deals. The fun begins with a passport card you pick up at any of those locations, to collect stamps from every shop you visit. When you’re done, turn the card in at Jolly Goods, 4020 Tennyson Street, by 6 p.m. December 3, and you’ll be entered in a drawing to win a gift basket of goodies from the combined businesses. And along the way, you’re sure to find plenty of gifts for everyone.
Denver Makers Market Holiday Market: Centennial
Sunday, November 27, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Design Repeats, 8200 South Colorado Boulevard, Centennial
Denver Makers Markets pop up in various Denver-area locations for the holidays, including Design Repeats in Centennial. Expect around seventy vendors, as well as food trucks and a chance to win a grand prize giveaway, and the first fifty folks to arrive will get a VIP goodie bag. Admission is free, but an RSVP is required at Eventbrite to be registered for the giveaway.
Olde Town Arvada Holiday Makers Market
Sunday, November 27, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Olde Town Square, 5700 Olde Wadsworth Boulevard, Arvada
Olde Town Arvada brings back the Holiday Makers Market pop-up, a multi-weekend, European-style outdoor fair that cycles through different vendors each week. It’s opening in tandem with Small Business Saturday, the annual American Express shopping promotion that shines a light on the independent retailers who rely on holiday sales to stay in the game year-round. This market, and others like it, are extra-important for one-person micro-businesses and cottage industries. Arvada’s market continues through the first three weekends in December.
American Field Après Ski Holiday Market
Sunday, November 27, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Dairy Block Alley, 1800 Wazee Street
Quality brand curator American Field brings back the Après Ski Holiday Market to the heated Dairy Block Alley for a third year of vending resort-friendly gear and clothing, home goods, snack items and other just-right gifts for glamorous ski bums. Shop-local opportunities are well represented, with a selection of Colorado-based vendors augmented by others from across the country. Opening weekend will be a big one, with merchandise as fresh as new powder, but if you miss it, the market runs through the first three weekends in December.
The shopping is easy on Small Business Saturday at the RiNo Bazaar.
Courtesy of Denver Bazaar
RiNo Holiday Bazaar
Sunday, November 27, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Zeppelin Station, 3501 Wazee Street
Free admission, with optional 5-Pack Drink Tokens $35 (and other ticketed options)
The Denver Bazaar operates holiday markets at several Denver-area locations in 2022, but only one of them lands on the official start of the retail shopping season. RiNo hosts a free, two-day Bazaar at Zeppelin Station on Small Business Saturday and Artist Sunday, offering eighty curated vendors, fashion trucks and pop-up bars (for an added fee). Along with the Bazaar’s top-notch vendors, Zeppelin Station’s indoor spaces and built-in food bar are additional incentives.
2022 Small Biz Saturday and Artist Sunday Holiday Market
Sunday, November 27, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Firehouse Art Center, 667 Fourth Avenue, Longmont
EBCA Arts Extravaganza
Sunday, November 27, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
380 Main Street, Longmont
Firehouse Art Center stands up for its name and purpose by championing artists — thirteen of them — on Small Business Saturday and Artist Sunday. Better yet, the Firehouse market coincides with East Boulder County Artists, which is throwing a similar sale with member artists and makers, just a few steps away in downtown Longmont. Great minds think alike? Shop the best art Longmont and East Boulder County have to offer.
Android Jones Holiday Sale and Art Auction
Sunday, November 27, noon to 4 p.m.
Threyda Gallery, 878 Santa Fe Drive, #2
Lyons-based digital-art phenom Android Jones, whose past includes training in fine art and animation at the Ringling School of Art and Design and an internship at Industrial Light and Magic, is known for his finely rendered psychedelic imagery, AR dome shows and projections. Threyda Gallery will host Jones over the weekend for a live art auction on Saturday night, followed on Sunday by a holiday sale.
