The red and white striped tents are back on Union Square and Columbus Circle, Bryant Park is transformed into a wintery holiday wonderland, St. Bart’s on Park Avenue has rows of red tents selling holiday gifts, and Grand Central Terminal has trains (the miniature kind), a kaleidoscopic light show set to holiday music, and the Holiday Fair in Vanderbilt Hall of Grand Central.
Here’s a rundown of what to expect at each of these holiday markets.
Columbus Circle
Columbus Circle has 101 booths set up on the North East section of the Circle, near the entrance to Central Park. A wide selection of gifts is available. Skin care products from the Dead Sea are very popular this year, with at least three vendors offering soaps and lotions made from Dead Sea salts, Savon Jardin, The Dead Sea Pavilion, and Sabon (who also have retail stores in town).
The ever popular array of neckwear is available in many variations, pashminas and scarves from all corners of the globe are available in silks, wools, and knits and come hand-painted, dyed, and decorated in many styles.
A popular novelty gift from Staten Islander Bill Morin of BP Bottle Art, is flattened wine bottles with the labels reapplied after the heating and flattening procedure. Bottles from French Chateau wines such as Dom Perignon, upstate New York wines and local Brooklyn beer breweries are available. The bottles can be used for cheese trays, soup ladles or hung on the wall as decorative items. Beer bottles are $12 and wine bottles are $35. Mr. Morin also does custom bottles.
Warm-Up Tip:
If the wind picks up and you need to get out of the cold for a few minutes, take a stroll over to the Time Warner Center and check out the large ten-point stars hanging in the atrium, lit from within, and constantly changing colors; they look dazzling from the Bouchon Bakery on the third level, where you can have a hot beverage and a snack and look out over the atrium.
Hours: Sunday–Thursday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday–Saturday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Open through Dec. 24.
Bryant Park
Bryant Park is the upscale outdoor market. Where Columbus Circle has tents, Bryant Park has small stores constructed of glass and steel. Vendors create miniature retail environments. The B.knit store offers combed cotton bedding and clothes, in a store with a bed displaying their wares. The price point at Bryant Park tends to reach a little higher as well. Full sets of cotton sheets fetch $500 at B.knit, cotton t-shirt’s are $49, and scarves go for $59.
At all the markets this year there are many shops offering nature themed cotton clothing, often sold as yoga wear, as at Kizmet Yoga clothes, where you can pick up a soft cotton t-shirt or cotton pants with hand screened leaf patterns in earth tones, of course.
The Bryant Park market is rich in amenities and hospitality. The Pond is a well-lighted ice-skating rink in the center of the park. On a cold Saturday night, the wait to get on the ice is about 45 minutes. Skating is free, skate rental is $12. Also available is promotional gift-wrapping from Martha Stewart Living—so you know it’s going to be perfect.
Warm-Up Tip:
You don’t even need to leave the park, adjacent to the ice rink you can relax and warm up in the Ice Bites café, either indoors or at outdoor tables with heaters. Also, upstairs from the café is Celsius: A Canadian Lounge, where you can have a great view of ice skaters in the warmth and enjoy table service from friendly wait staff.
Hours: Monday–Friday 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Saturday10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Sunday 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Open through Dec. 28.
Grand Central Terminal
A couple of blocks east on 42nd Street is the holiday market for those that will not brave the cold for a few holiday trinkets. In the Main Terminal, enjoy the kaleidoscopic light show. The show features moving lights that project holiday-themed images dancing and turning on the walls and ceiling to synchronized seasonal music. Snowflakes and stars dance across the expansive hall to the Nutcracker Suite, and gift packages and trains revolve around the walls to holiday standards. Commuters stop, stare, and smile. It’s a pleasant change form the usual hustle to the train or subway.
Vanderbilt Hall offers about 75 kiosks of holiday gift sellers. Many local artisans are represented, from environmentally friendly handbags fashioned from recycled plastics at Engage Green, to Parable Ink, a Brooklyn-based business that offers graphic t-shirts with original designs for $40, and Insiders NY, selling handcrafted leather goods. The New York Transit Museum also has a mini-shop selling some of their subway-themed items.
A novel gift for a local or a just a New York enthusiast might be a box from Hut Studios. Wooden boxes decorated with highly detailed scenes from different New York City neighborhoods come in pencil boxes, napkin holders, and card holders. Made by two former architectural model makers, the boxes represent icons and landmarks from around the city, as well theaters, row houses, and scenes from Central park. Prices range from $25 to $110.
Hours: Monday–Saturday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Closed: Christmas. Late Closing (9 p.m.): December 17, 18, 19, 22, 23. Open through Dec. 29.
St. Bart’s
Back into the cold, take a walk up Park Avenue to 50th Street and there in front of the beautiful Byzantine architecture is the Holiday Gift Shops at St. Bart’s. About 40 vendors under festive red tents offer perfumes, clothing items, chocolates, and tech gadgets.
If you go to more than one of the markets you will begin to see some familiar faces. Also found at Columbus Circle is The Golden Horse, offering reasonably priced hand-painted and sewn scarves and other clothing items, many in imported Chinese silk, for $25-$75.
Another market favorite is the Traditional French Truffles, found here and at Union Square, with the motto of “No Chewing Allowed”—these treats are so delicate and buttery that they melt in your mouth. The booth offers tempting truffle morsels to unsuspecting passers by, an eight-ounce box of truffles sells for $12.99.
Hours: open daily 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Open through Dec. 24.
Union Square
Union Square is the grand daddy of markets. Featuring over 220 different vendors, the market winds around the south of the park like an old world bazaar. Narrow goat paths make for tight quarters in between stalls but add to the charm as you survey the many items. Bountiful handcrafted jewelry is for sale at many price points and styles. Also well represented are many local artists displaying locally themed arts. The Walking Art shop sells cityscape collages with views of Williamsburg, Coney Island and subway scenes for $80-$220.
Gritty City T’s sells t-shirts with local kitschy images on the front, like an iconic blue and white coffee cup from a Greek diner, or a crumpled orange envelop that is so painfully familiar to all who receive NYC parking tickets on a regular basis. Gritty City T also sells the images on mouse pads and coasters. T-shirts are $20, mouse pads are $12.
To complete the outdoor market experience, the Union Square holiday market has the extended advantage of the vendors that sell their locally grown and produced items there at the green market all year round.
Hours: Sunday–Thursday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Open through Dec. 24, 5 p.m.
Warm-Up Tip:
Are you still complaining about the cold? That’s half the fun! Okay, go across 14th Street to the Whole Foods Market, go up to the second floor, get a hot tea from the beverage bar, and stare out across the park, dreaming of warm spring months to come.
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