Why I’m shopping offline this year

New York City during the holidays is one of the most wonderful times of the year. Photo by Uriel Mont via Pexels.

We’re not quite at Thanksgiving, but if you’re anything like me, your mind is already on the gifting season. I’m talking about presents and bows and wrapping paper and sales and midnight releases and endless gift guides from now until December 24. It’s become exhausting, to say the least.

The current gifting process, in my experience, has become somewhat bland. Everywhere I turn, there is a new sale, a new must-have item, and yet another gift guide. It makes me miss the spontaneous joys of analog shopping. Have we forgotten the thrill of stumbling upon the perfect present? Where’s the fun in clicking “Buy Now” on an Amazon link that someone sent you?

To bring back some of the joy (and to be more sustainable), I’ll be shopping in person this year.

Getting Offline

One-click shopping and free shipping make it easier than ever to buy things online. But with that ease comes chaos: I need to keep track of online orders from multiple businesses, triage the never-ending sales and make sure my cart is full enough for free shipping. Often, I end up over-purchasing gifts either because I forgot I had ordered something, the shipping was taking too long or I was seduced into adding more to the cart to earn free shipping. And even when the process is smooth, there is always a chance that what you bought looks nothing like the picture online.

(If you’re tempted to spend more money because there may be a “free” reward, check out this Totally Rec article on the psychology of free.)

Environmentally speaking, direct-to-consumer shipping — buying directly from an online store and having the package shipped right to your door — can be a friendlier option. A delivery van making multiple stops produces fewer emissions than individual customers driving cars to stores. But when all the packaging and returns are factored in, the benefits start to dissolve.

Returns are an incredibly human thing — maybe your niece no longer likes pink, or the shoes you bought for your 11-year-old on Black Friday won’t fit because they hit a growth spurt.

While returns to in-person stores are more likely to be restocked than online returns, online returns are a different beast.

Wirecutter’s Annemarie Conte looked into what happens when packages are returned. And the result was mostly sad. Conte purchased a 450 lb mystery pallet of online shopping returns. About 70 lbs of the pallet was packaging and trash. Of the goods, most of the items were low-quality or shoddy polyester clothing. The online retailers hadn’t even bothered to open most of the return packages, as it was more cost-effective to send them right to a reseller.

The one positive side-effect, Conte’s article found, is that the second-hand market is booming. If you want to shop online, check out second-hand websites like eBay, Poshmark, ThredUp, or ThriftBooks.

Keeping it Local

When you buy local and in-store, your purchase not only supports your neighbor, but it also reduces the amount of packaging that an online order would have required and it reduces the distance that a product has to travel to get to you — cutting carbon at every corner.

Thankfully, New York City is home to some of the most creative people and stores in the world. For the price of your subway fare, you can discover treasures that speak to you. Some places even wrap gifts for you! Touch things, look at them in your hand or in the light, go with a friend, and make it fun.

The Strategist has a list of 21 NYC stores where the shopping is best in person. Or start somewhere super local, the Locavore Variety Store, which sources items from within 100 miles of NYC. Or, get the Locavore Guide to Shopping NYC 2026, a guidebook with 789 retail shops, tips on shopping local, and niche needs. Another option is the Other Almanac, a take on the Farmer’s Almanac but oriented for New Yorkers.

What it Means to Give

Throughout this gifting season, remember what it’s all for. Think back on some of your favorite gifts — sometimes the silliest or simplest thing meant the most.

One of the best gifts I ever received was a fully stocked toolkit from my Dad before I moved into my first apartment. And the small clay bowls my younger sister made for me when she was still in high school are the same ones that hold my pens and knick-knacks to this day. My in-laws love to receive handmade bread. My brother, who lives abroad, always appreciates it when I can send him a box of childhood snacks.

As Mother Theresa said, “It’s not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving.”