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.
