Point Of View

When did holiday shopping become a contact sport? If I’m to believe what I see in the media, people map out chain-store floor plans weeks in advance. Before the Thanksgiving gravy has congealed, they motor from doorbusters to blockbusters in a wild rush to take another four dollars off the price of a no-name TV.

If that’s how you define the holiday spirit, go ahead. Join the crowd. Buy the Chinese knockoffs. Enjoy the stress.

I’m trying to make my holiday season about appreciation.

To that end, all my shopping will take place within a radius of a couple miles—with the local merchants who do so much to make the Heights all the things it is: unique, comfortable, walkable and increasingly Rockwellesque.

I appreciate small stores where the clerks are plentiful and happy to pay attention to my needs. I appreciate shops that carry merchandise you’ll never find in chain stores.

Your house may not be worth as much as you think. The average price of houses sold in one University Heights neighborhood suggests a disturbing downward trend. Over the past three years, the average price fell from $181,850 in 2009 to $153,010 in 2011.