A Holiday Shopping Extravaganza in Ouray, Colorado

I’ll be the first to admit that I love online shopping. I’m also going to admit that when I visited Ouray this past weekend for Wine, Chocolate & Cheese Festival, I had no intention of Christmas shopping while in town except to maybe find something for my nieces at Ouray’s excellent toy store.

After a satisfying breakfast at Backstreet Bistro, now located on 7th Avenue, we crossed the street to O’Toys. We’d browsed this toy store before and knew that they had a lot of great stuff for kids.

The new owners have taken a keen interest in getting to know the products they sell, and Tina helped us pick out the perfect gifts for our pre-teen and post-toddler nieces. We also picked up a new card game that’s been a hit in Ouray. It’s called Happy Salmon and is chaos your family will love.

Do not miss the gift store attached to O’Toys. We picked up a print for Ryan’s mother and a beautiful butterfly necklace for a friend here.

Apparently shopping at O’Toys for got us in the mood for browsing. Back up on Main Street we popped into North Moon Gallery, in business since 1989. Owner, Sandra, has a talent for finding unique jewelry for her store, and she’s fun to chat with about Ouray.

We didn’t make a purchase here, but we’ll be back. Their jewelry impressed even Ryan, and he’s a hard guy to impress when it comes to artistic jewelry – and I’ll admit, much of it looks the same.

Next door at Silver Lynx, we at were greeted by a large, friendly Portuguese water dog named Nemo. His brother is a standard poodle, and they both seemed thrilled to have us shopping in their store, and shop we did. Picking up stocking stuffers for my mom and Ryan’s sister.  

At this point we dropped into KJ Wood Distillers for a taste of their brand new Hazelnut Mocha Liqueur (mix it with hot cocoa for a heavenly drink). I’ve known John and Marcy Wood for many years now, and their new distillery on Main Street in Ouray is stunning. 

We ventured up the street from the distillery to pop into Blue Pear. Back when we held HeidiTown Fest in Ouray in May 2015, Blue Pear’s owner, Michelle, was great to work with. She offered discounts to all HeidiTown Fest attendees.

In her beautiful shop we found the perfect little Christmas gift for Ryan’s aunt and uncle – a box of postcards with artistic renderings of dogs.

Next door at Bloom I picked up a lovely gift for my mother. I can’t tell you what it was because she reads my blog posts, but let’s just say it’s cozy and purple. Bloom is the kind of store you’ll want to browse slowly because there are so many interesting things here including whiskey infused toothpicks.  

After a stop at Ouray Brewery for beer and barbeque, we walked across the street to Mouse’s Chocolates for a scrap cookie (one of our Ouray traditions), and then across the street to Khristopher’s Culinaire. While I don’t particular care for shopping, I love kitchen stores and I always stop by Khristopher’s anytime I’m in Ouray. And, in fact, bought a little something for myself there on this visit.

My last stop was to The Powder Room inside Hotel Ouray. Hotel owner, Patty, makes scrumptiou soaps and other bath products. If you’re a sucker for fine, handmade soaps, don’t miss Patty’s Powder Room.

I still can’t believe I did this much shopping in Ouray. I’m usually out hiking the trails or trying something daring like ice climbing or jeeping on my trips to this area. However, with so many fun stores and well-priced items, Ouray, Colorado is a fantastic shopping destination.