Featured image: Explore Ridgeland
Shopping small automatically makes holiday gifting feel more meaningful. I don’t know about you, but in the days when clicking a button can have an item arrive at your doorstep in an hour, knowing that someone took the time to browse a shop and pick something out that reminded them of me means so much more than it used to.
Ridgeland, Mississippi, is a premier shopping destination where you can knock out everything on your list. Yes, it has Mississippi’s only Apple store for when you need to snag AirPods and iPhones (I humbly admit they’re on my list, too), but it also has charming independent boutiques, one of America’s oldest toy stores, an entire craft center filled with artisan wares, and one of the most heartwarming stores in the entire South.
So hit the road (might we recommend the Natchez Trace Parkway) and head to a town where shopping doesn’t just mean crossing names off a list, but also supports real people, real missions, and real craftsmanship that’ll outlast whatever’s trending on Amazon.
Boutique Finds at Hemline and Coattails
Brigitte Holthausen moved from Brazil to New Orleans at 16 and spent years selling jewelry and backpacks at the Historic French Market, learning what made fashion stand out. In 1993, she and her husband, Luciano, opened a small boutique on Chartres Street, marking the origin of the beloved Southeast boutique empire, Hemline. The brand has become known for its signature lavender shopping bags and for its curated clothing, which you’ll find at Ridgeland’s Township at Colony Park location.
Coattails has anchored Ridgeland for more than 16 years, specializing in women’s designer clothing and accessories from brands like Frame, Cinq à Sept, Philippe Model, Ulla Johnson, Rag & Bone, and Theory. The boutique on West Jackson Street offers in-store stylists who help create looks that work for everything from weddings to weekend brunch – so if you don’t know exactly what to purchase, bring your loved one for a styling session and gift the experience instead.
Kid-Approved Gifts at The Commissary
The Commissary has been Mississippi’s premier toy and gift emporium since 1969, making it one of the oldest independent toy stores in the entire country. Starting as The Olde Tyme Commissary in Greenwood, the store built its reputation on unique specialty toys and hand-painted, customized children’s items like doll furniture, handcrafted step stools, name puzzles, Halloween buckets, Christmas ornaments, and its famed Easter eggs and baskets.
After a move to Jackson in 1972, The Commissary found its current home at Renaissance at Colony Park in Ridgeland in 2015. The store carries everything from the classic toys you remember from childhood if you want to gift a dose of nostalgia, to the latest educational gadgets, science and art projects, outdoor play equipment, musical toys, board games, plush toys, and dolls for little ones on your list. They’re also the exclusive dealer in central Mississippi for Delta-made McCarty Pottery and carry other select lines of stoneware, recycled glass, and original artwork. To make your life a little easier, gift wrapping here is always free.
One-of-a-Kind Artisan Wares at Bill Waller Craft Center
Nestled just off the Natchez Trace Parkway, the Bill Waller Craft Center is the headquarters for the Craftsmen’s Guild of Mississippi. Once inside the 20,000-square-foot gallery, you’ll find custom works from more than 400 guild members ranging from quilts to baskets and wood-carved spoons, metal sculptures, fused glass, handcrafted jewelry, the list goes on. While you can certainly browse, you can also purchase. And when you do, it’ll come along with a biography of the artist so you know exactly whose hands made it.
Gifts That Give Back at The Mustard Seed
The Mustard Seed opened its second gift shop in Ridgeland’s Old Town Railroad District in January 2023. The ministry has been serving adults with developmental disabilities since 1981, providing a Christ-centered community where participants–called “Seedsters”–can work, create, and build skills like creating handcrafted items to sell in the gift shop.
The Mustard Seed, next door to the Lily Pad Café (which shares the same mission), sells the ceramics, art, and handcrafted items made by Seedsters in the workshop, with all proceeds directly funding programs that provide spiritual, physical, emotional, and intellectual support to the community, This means your gift matters twice… once for whoever receives it, and again for the person who made it.
This article is presented in partnership with Explore Ridgeland, a Modern South Founding Partner.
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