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In honor of our intrepid small business owners, we've decided to give thanks this weekend by updating our signature Indie 38 guide—those 38 boutiques that offer an unparalleled shopping experience around Boston, making our retail landscape brighter by the day. So tomorrow, for the official Small Business Saturday push, we recommend eating up the remnants of your Black Friday budget at our finest local shops, many of which are running sales.
As a refresher, here is our criteria for selecting the Indie 38: Has it been open more than six months? Is it legitimately good shopping and not just quirky curiosities? Does it carry otherwise hard-to-find merchandise or boast its own private line? Like any other good 38 list, we've arranged these boutiques in no particular order; rather, it goes north to south, hopping back and forth between neighborhoods.
This new edition reflects the closures of Rescue and Turtle, both on Newbury Street. We've added Sault, Olives & Grace, and Viola Lovely—three South End storefronts that each deliver a a strong point-of-view. Ku De Ta in Southie also makes an appearance, and finally, we can't forget Alison Barnard's in-jean-ius and Twilight duo, Luke Aaron's showroom, and the Italian-focused Officina 189—all in the North End.
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