There are gifts you asked for, gifts that make you doublecheck the label, and then there are the great ones — gifts that show the giver thought about you and what you like.
To help you find that third, great kind of gift, we’ve sought out some unique items for very specific types of St. Louisans. Each has a strong connection to the region because people here love to flex how St. Louis they are.
For those who appreciate St. Louis history and a good glass:
Wine imported from Bosnia-Herzegovina
Novella, Princeton Heights
Price: $42
At Novella, Dijana Groth stocks many of the varieties you’d expect to find at a wine bar. But among the offerings from Argentina, France and California are bottles hailing from the lands that make up the former Yugoslavia. Because St. Louis is home to the largest populations of Bosnians in the world outside the Balkans, we suggest picking up a bottle of the dry red Vinarija Čitluk blatina de broto from Bosnia-Herzegovina. Groth said the blatina grapes are grown in a 80-square-kilometer region of Herzegovina and need to be pollinated by hand. In other words, wine made from these grapes is rare, and Groth said she’s the only importer in Missouri. She has her own deep roots in the region — Groth immigrated from what’s now Bosnia-Herzegovina in the 1970s and converted her bookstore into a wine bar 19 years ago when the wines of her childhood country started to become available to import.
More info at novellawinebar.com
For the St. Louisan with a scent of humor:
River des Pear candle
STL Style House, Benton Park West
Price: $25
No one compliments the River des Peres for its fragrance. The local tributary to which stormwater and other drainage waters flow is known more for its reputation for backing up into nearby homes’ yards and basements. But it’s also one of those things that St. Louisans love to hate. In her recent, very St. Louis book “Lucky,” author Jane Smiley’s main character writes a song about “a car going off the bridge over the River des Peres, which may have once been a river but was now a sewer.” At press time, STLPR had not been able to confirm whether River des Peres now smells like pears, but it’s an idea we can get behind.
More info at stl-style.com/product-page/ride-or-die
For the person who loves to brag on Forest Park being the second-largest city park in the U.S.:
Michael Eastman poster of Forest Park
Dennis & Judith Jones Visitor and Education Center, Forest Park
Price: $50-$150
St. Louis-based photographer Michael Eastman has been exhibited around the world in museums, in publications and now, maybe on your wall. His images of Forest Park’s wildscapes almost look like paintings with textures that could pass as brushstrokes. Their sale supports the foundation that backs Forest Park, which really is one of the city’s treasures and, as you surely know, is second in size only to New York’s Central Park.
More info: forestparkforever.org/store/michael-eastman-poster
For the St. Louis expat who needs a taste of home:
Russell’s gooey butter cake
Russell’s Cafe & Bakery, Fenton and St. Louis’ Southampton neighborhood
Price: $15.96
Visiting one of Russell’s loaded pastry cases is a true insider St. Louis delight. Even if you’ve never been, you’ve likely tasted Russell Ping’s baked goods at various spots around town since he opened the original Fenton location with his mother in 2006. One of the most celebrated pastries at Russell’s is its gooey butter cake, which now ships nationwide. That St. Louis regional delicacy is sure to be a super saccharine taste of home.
More info: russells-cafe-bakery.myshopify.com/products/gooey-butter-8x8-original-gooey-butter-national-shipping
For lovers of St. Louis architecture:
Painted ladies print
Moon&June studio, online or available at Procure in the Foundry
Price: $5.50 and up
People outside St. Louis know San Francisco’s Painted Ladies, a row of colorfully decorated homes. But St. Louis has its own beautiful Painted Ladies surrounding Lafayette Square park. We can’t all live in a Painted Lady, but having a print of some is easily attainable thanks to Moon&June studio from St. Louis artist Jenny Lin. Her posters are giclée printed on archival paper.
More info: moonjunestudio.com/products/lafayette-squares-painted-ladies
For anyone with “Run the GO! St. Louis Marathon” as a New Year’s resolution:
Big River Running St. Louis shirt
Price: $42
Friends Matt Helbig and Ben Rosario co-founded Big River Running Co. in west St. Louis County 2006, and if you run in St. Louis, you know of it. Rosario sold his shares to Helbig and now coaches a professional running team for HOKA in Arizona. Buying a shirt at his former store won’t improve your PR, but it’s a start. The store-brand, long-sleeve graphic tee is a riff on the St. Louis flag design. It’s fit for St. Louis winters and is stretchy, soft and sweat wicking.
More info: https://shop.bigriverrunning.com/product/2245927/big-river/w-stl-flag-logo-sky-ls
For your Cardinals fan in training:
Cardinals engine
Frisco Train Store, Valley Park
Price: $12.99
One of the great joys of parenthood or auntie-unclehood is getting to foist your interests onto impressionable minds. While most 3-year-olds aren’t yet diehard St. Louis Cardinals fans, they certainly could become diehard fans of Cardinals train engines. You can find those at Valley Park’s Frisco Train Store, where wooden train fans in the area either brag about or beg to visit, depending on their age.
More info: frisco-train-store.square.site
For the STL-DIY types:
Home Brewers Almanac
Scratch Brewing Co., Ava, Illinois
Price: $22
Scratch Brewing Co. isn’t exactly in the St. Louis metro, but the celebrated brewery known for including regionally grown or foraged ingredients in its beers is just a stone's throw away in southern Illinois. And beer is a very St. Louis thing. The brewery’s guide to what native and farmed ingredients are good in a homebrew combines many things that are truly of our region into one gift ideal for your DIY pals.
More info: scratchbeer.com
For your St. Louis work friends:
St. Louis popcorn mix
Pop Pop Hurray, Ferguson or the Foundry in Midtown
Price: $7.50 and up
Few things are enjoyed more in an office than those basic tins of buttered, cheese and caramel popcorn. But there’s an option that’s more St. Louis. Tony Davis started his popcorn company Pop Pop Hurray! in 2020 from a Ferguson storefront with the idea to make wildly creative and superior popcorn. His St. Louis Mix is a blend of Red Hot Riplets infused cheese popcorn and Dad’s Original Scotch Oatmeal Cookies-flavored caramel corn adorned with pieces of the crushed Red Hot Riplets chips and pieces of Dad’s cookies.
More info: poppophurray.com/product-page/st-louis-mix
For fans of the St. Louis classics:
Chocolates from Crown Candy Kitchen
Crown Candy Kitchen, Old North
Price: $17.50 and up
North St. Louis' Crown Candy Kitchen is the kind of institution people love to wax nostalgic about. For one, it’s old — it dates to 1913. It also serves the type of food that draws in reality TV stars, think: malts, a BLT stacked with a tower of bacon and old-fashioned candies. Giving a box of chocolates is good because chocolate is tasty. But it’s also a piece of St. Louis history.
More info: crowncandykitchen.net/store
For frozen custard fanatics
Ted Drewes building block set
Ted Drewes Gift Shop, St. Louis Hills
Price: $20
Even in winter, St. Louisans line up outside Ted Drewes’ Chippewa location for a concrete. Some are picking up Christmas trees or wreaths, or grabbing a treat before wandering down the nearby Candy Cane Lane light display (go in a car and you’ll be stuck for hours). But plenty are there just for the custard — because that’s what true-blue St. Louisans do. For them, this Lego-adjacent model of the beloved custard stand could bring the beloved local ritual home.
More info: teddrewesgiftshop.com
