We may have to Christmas shop online this year, but that doesn’t have to mean Amazon or Ebay.

I’ve shopped at plenty of independent, customer-focused SME businesses this year.  The experience has been great (apart from the odd hiccup or misunderstanding).  There are plenty of them around, just not on the high street, or the first page of Google.

Here’s my list – check them out, and then tell me yours.

For food basics:

• Hodmedods – pulses, grains, flours, bread, cookbooks.
• Raybel Charters – olive oil, coffee, sugar, almonds, chocolate.  Check out other local food and Sail Cargo shops on the site too.  The chocolate from New Dawn traders is delicious and postable.
• Oddbox – a weekly fruit and veg box of rescued crops.
• Good Club – dry goods, tins, cleaning and bath products

For the allotment:

• The Real Seed Co – unusual or interesting pumpkins, squash, beans and other veg.
• Kings Seeds – saffron crocus

Books:

• News From Nowhere – my default place to search for books of all kinds – fiction, business and cookbooks.   The only one I haven’t been able to find is mine (available here).
• The Do Book Co – small, actionable books.

Housewares

• Radical Tea Towel – tea towels, face covering.

Clothes:

• Community Clothing – jeans, wool fishermans jumper, socks.

For the business:

• Tangent Office – paper.
• Rainbow Office – headphones, and the best customer service ever.
• Envelopes Ltd – envelopes and labels for book mailouts.
• Solopress – printing of brochures and business cards.
• Laptopkey – replacement laptop keys

For the extension:

• MPM Engineering Services Ltd – kitchen units (they also made Nigella’s kitchen).
• Creative Cables UK – light fittings.
• Any Lamp  – light bulbs (we need 21 of them).
• Flooring UK – coir matting.
• The Bamboo Flooring Company – flooring, glue, tools.
• Hughes – fridge, freezer.

Online doesn’t have to mean megastore.

Where have your favourite shops been this year?