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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now, because tonight is the first night of Hanukkah, Happy Hanukkah, and it's only 15 days until Christmas and 16 days until Kwanzaa, it's time for another edition of our call-in that we call Shop Listener. If you sell holiday gifts, we invite you right now to shout out your business and tell people how to shop for gifts from a Brian Lehrer Show or WNYC listener. Think of it as free classified ads for small and local businesses in our community.

Now, obviously, anything you hear on the radio probably needs a little bit of vetting, listeners, but we know our listeners really get a lot out of this. So call us now; 646-435-7280 if you are selling holiday gifts. That's 646-435-7280. We want to make a special place for our Black and brown-owned and LGBTQ-owned businesses or at least put out a special invitation to know that you are welcome here because sometimes there are extra hurdles in the marketplace for some of you we know.

If you identify as part of those communities, and you have a business that sells holiday gifts, we invite you to call in and shout out the holiday gifts you're offering or the type of gift; 646-435-7280. 646-435-7280. We are opening up the phones for you listeners to mention out loud your small business as the holiday season, the shopping season for the holidays is in full swing. Brick and mortars, you can call. Etsy shops, you can call. Mom-and-pops, who even sell on that behemoth whose name I shall not say. You can call 646-435-7280.

It's our way of helping our community as we try to figure out how to spend our holiday dollars and hopefully avoid a certain online shopping behemoth whose name I still will not say; 646-435-7280. It's Shop Listener and we'll get to your calls right after this.

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Brian: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. It is Shop Listener; 646-435-7280. Our lines are full for now as we go through some of the callers, you can get in after them. You can also tweet @BrianLehrer and use the #ShopListener and people can search that later and find your stuff. I'm also going to mention that we are creating a shopping guide online that small businesses and shoppers can access anytime at wnyc.org/shop-listener-entry. Again, wnyc.org/shop-listener-entry. You can submit there as well and we're creating a map and the whole thing. It'll live after this call-in that we're doing right now. Let's start with Ru in Manhattan. You're on WNYC. Hello, Ru.

Ru Flynn: Hi there. Thank you, Brian, love your show. Listen to you faithfully.

Brian: Thank you. What do you got?

Ru Flynn: Oh, I'm a small independent jewelry designer and curator. At this point, I don't have a store. I've been doing trunk shows around the country. I live in Harlem. I'm based in Harlem, but I've been doing trunk shows around the country, and, of course, at the beginning of the pandemic, I had 65 trunk shows booked that were canceled. Since then I'm on Facebook Live at Ru Flynn on Facebook; R-U F-L-Y-N-N on Facebook, and that is how I'm trying to keep my business afloat. I also support other artists from all over the country and a few other countries as well. My staying afloat helps keep them afloat.

Brian: Great. Listeners, go see Ru's stuff. She's at Ru Flynn, R-U F-L-Y-N-N on Facebook. Did I spell it right?

Ru: R-U F as in Frank, L-Y-N-N on Facebook.

Brian: Thank you so much. Good luck with it. Glad you started us off well. Molly in Westchester, you're on WNYC. Hi, Molly.

Molly: Hi, we're a big fan of the show. I'm shutting out eco-bags. We're a small woman-owned ethical reusable bag company based in Westchester, New York, and we're actually making classic WNYC totes, which people see all around New York City.

Brian: You make our eco-bags?

Molly: We make your canvas tote bags. [chuckles]

Brian: The most ubiquitous WNYC bag. [chuckles]

Molly: Yes, that was ego-bags. [chuckles] Sir I'm a little nervous. I don't love public speaking. [chuckles]

Brian: You're doing great.

Molly: It's a great gift to help reduce plastic waste and spread the joy of sustainability. We're online, so you can visit us at ecobags.com, that's ecobags.com, and we actually have a code for 15% off and that's 2020SL.

Brian: 2020 and what were the letters?

Molly: SL for Shop Listener.

Brian: Great. How about that, a special discount for shop listener callers? Molly, thank you very much, and thank you for the great WNYC swag that you've created. I think that might be, of all the tote bags that we offer at WNYC, and there are a few, I think that is the one that we are most likely to see on the street. Carol in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Carol.

Carol: Hi. We are a South African lifestyle company located in Downtown Brooklyn, called Kimberly House; K-I-M-B-E-R-L-Y House, and you can find us on the web at kimberlyhouse.com. We focus on unique handmade products created in South Africa with a special focus on sustainability. We have lots of gifts and personal care products and kitchen and bathroom, and lots of great ideas for holiday shopping.

Brian: Great. Say again how people can find you?

Carol: We can be found Downtown in Brooklyn at the City Point Shopping Center. We have a retail shop there. We have one shop in Pleasantville, New York in Westchester. You can find us online at kimberlyhouse.com; K-I-M-B-E-R-L-Y House.

Brian: Thank you so much. Robert in Montclair, you're on WNYC. Hi, Robert.

Robert Whitehall: Hey, this is Robert Whitehill calling. Brian, we love your show here in Montclair. Again, I'm Robert Blake Whitehill, I'm the author of the Ben Blackshaw Series of thrillers and I'm doing a very special promotion with a local bookstore, Watchung Booksellers. It's like watching but Watchung Booksellers right here in Montclair, New Jersey. If listeners call in and order the Ben Blackshaw Series, this bookstore calls me and I go in and personally inscribe and sign the books in accordance with the wishes of the customers, so that even during a pandemic and a near lockdown, you can still order, receive, and give exciting thrillers that are personally inscribed to the recipient by the author.

It's Watchung Booksellers, again, in Montclair, New Jersey.

Brian: That's fun. Do you want to tell people very briefly what your series is about or who that character you created is?

Robert: Sure. Ben Blackshaw was a former navy seal. He comes from a unique place of Smith Islands in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. They're waterman, and in the first book, he's diving the Chesapeake for oysters, discovers the sunken wreck of a speedboat with 20 metal cases aboard, 19 of them are filled with gold bullion, but 20th is filled with a dirty bomb, it's timer counting down to zero 24 hours away. At the helm of this little sunken wreck, is the body of a man that Ben Blackshaw has not seen in 15 years, his father, and the adventure continues from there.

Brian: Without doing any spoilers, that's a good setup. Robert, thank you very much for all of that. Pascal in Harlem, you're on WNYC. Hi, Pascal.

Pascal: Hi, how are you? Thank you for having this segment. The name shop is Harlem Wine Gallery. We are located here in central Harlem. We have the largest selection of Black winemakers in Manhattan. We are curating a selection with our design for the holiday season and beyond and that will contain your reflection on Black winemakers that we help you curate. We can be found on Harlem Wine Gallery, and our is Instagram is @HarlemWine. We are a Black-owned family-run business.

Brian: You want to give everybody one example of a wine that you sell and a little bit of its history.

Pascal: Oh, absolutely. We have one of the best-known winemakers in California, Brown Estate wines and they are very good Black winemakers. We also have a wonderful selection of wine from Ntsiki Biyela, who's the first Black African female winemaker and her wines are extremely popular. We also have [inaudible 00:10:13] wine are just flying off the shelf these days and also have-

Brian: I'm going to have to jump in because your line is starting to break up pretty bad, but just give your contact information again for the store so people have it.

Pascal: Harlem Wine Gallery. We're at 2067 Adam Clayton Powell Jr Boulevard, between 123rd Street and 124th Street. It we could be found @HarlemWineon Instagram.

Brian: Pascal, thank you very much and we're going to put Pascal's store in Harlem on the map that we're creating. I'm going to give you a corrected and updated web address folks from the one that I gave before. That was a little bit off as it turns out. Whether you want to post something that you're selling as a Brian Lehrer Show listener as a holiday gift. If you have a business like our caller so far and you're selling things or if you're a shopper looking to see who's registered with us, it is wnyc.org/shop-listener-2020; wnyc.org/shop-listener-2020, for sellers and shoppers and we'll take more of your calls after this.

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Brian: Brian Lehrer on WNYC taking your phone calls on our second shop listener call-in of the year. We're going to do one more next Thursday, a week and a day before Christmas. We're doing this one here on the morning before the first night of Hanukkah. If you are a Brian Lehrer Show listener selling holiday gifts we want to give you a shot against the big bucks stores and the big online sellers and that's why we do this.

For the first time this year, we've created an online place where all of this is going to live. I'll say it again, it's wnyc.org/shop-listener-2020; wnyc.org/shop-listener-2020. Here's one that came in on Twitter, and feel free to post it on the site. This says, "I would like to shout out Brooklyn-owned Apostrophe Puzzles @apostrophepuzz1. Black-owned, woman-led. Featuring Black artists. Gorgeous work. Apostrophe Puzzles."

Which reminds me that I always like to say on these call-ins that gifts don't have to be just things. They can also be experiences so if you're business offers socially distanced experiences or one people can do by themselves, or whatever the experience may be, sometimes we find those that are the most fun gifts that people list. Experiences you can, of course, add those to the website or call-in as well. Let's go to Jean in Asbury Park, who may have something like that I think. Jean, you're on WNYC. Hi there.

Jean: Hey, thanks for taking my call. Yes, my name is Jean and my husband and I have two stores in Asbury Park. One in Convention on the Asbury Park Boardwalk and the other one's downtown and we have a website as well. The store is a nod to the Asbury Park Funhouse which used to be in Asbury Park but it's no longer. We have toys, plush, [unintelligible 00:13:50] toys. Lots of gifts. It's fun. It's a fun store, lots of color, puzzles. We also work with artists, local, national, international. There's a great mural project in town called the Wooden Walls Project and we create merchandise with the artists that we sell, and the artist and the gallery that represents them, Parlor Gallery also gets a commission from the sales.

Brian: Jean thank you very much. Asbury Park Funhouse, two locations. Emily in Sea Cliff you're on WNYC. Hi, Emily.

Emily: Hi, thanks for having me. My business is The Wells Cafe & Botanicals. We're an all-organic breakfast and lunch cafe. We serve coffee and tea and we sell loose herbs and botanical wellness products. Everything we serve is completely organic, sourced local. Our food comes from local farmers on Long Island or just [unintelligible 00:14:55] farms which is a non-profit and [unintelligible 00:14:58] farms out east. We're hosting a number of holiday markets this weekend and the next couple of weekends leading up to the holidays.

Brian: Emily, thank you very much. The Wells right? The Wells plural?

Emily: wellscafe.com, thank you so much.

Brian: Thank you very much. Laura on the Upper West Side, you're on WNYC. Hi, Laura.

Laura: Hi, my name is Laura Hart and I run a company called Robofun. You can find us at Robofun.org. We provide kids with creative classes in robotics, animation, coding, and Minecraft and Circuitry. Our classes are online and also in person at 102nd and Broadway. I'm woman-owned. Give your child the gift of STEM and give yourself a little break during this difficult time. Our classes are for 3 to 13-year-old children.

Brian: Robofun, is that how people find it? Robofun?

Laura: Yes, Robofun.org. That's how you find us. You can buy gift certificates. We'd love to meet and work with your child.

Brian: Thank you very much. Kelly in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Kelly.

Kelly: Hi, Brian. Thanks for taking my call. I'm calling on behalf of Urban Glass. We are an art non-profit in downtown Brooklyn. We have a studio for artists to use. Before corona time we had a robust education program that's gone fully virtual now and we also have a storefront featuring glass artists from across the country and internationally as well.

Brian: What's your dog's name?

Kelly: Sorry, her name is Petunia. She hates when I'm on the phone. [chuckles]

Brian: Hi, Petunia. Good dog, Petunia, good dog. But let Kelly talk.

Kelly: You can find us at urbanglass.org or on Instagram @urbanglass_nyc.

Brian: Kelly, thank you very much. Bye, Petunia. Ashley in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Ashley.

Ashley: Hi.

Brian: What you got?

Ashley: I'm an astrologer and I do birth chart readings. They're super insightful, super fun. It's a three-hour connection with me going through your birth charts. I'm in Brooklyn and you can find me at ashleybrockington.com.

Brian: Three-hour sessions?

Ashley: Yes, it's a three-hour-- I do your chart and we get on a Zoom, and we talk about-- I take you through your chart slowly. We have a conversation and it's about three hours.

Brian: Ashley, thank you very much. We'll get one more in here. Maurice in Yorktown, you're on WNYC. Hi, Maurice. You've got to do it in 15 seconds.

Maurice: Not a problem. I represent Shimmy's Acai in Jefferson Valley. This is Yorktown, New York. It's about 30 miles North of the Bronx. We've been open since June. We are an acai and smoothie shop. We also make [inaudible 00:18:16] and like I said we opened in June. We're happy to serve all of our customers. [unintelligible 00:18:25] customers now and once we get you, we never let you go and we've never had a bad review in this time

Brian: Send the name of the store one more time. Shimmy's? S-H-I-

Maurice: Shimmies.

Brian: M-- like Jimmy's but with an S-H?

Maurice: Correct. Acai, [inaudible 00:18:38] sometimes pronounced as "akai".

Brian: Yes, A-C-A-I, Shimmy's Acai or Acai. Maurice, thank you very much. Thanks to all of you who called in and one more time whether you want to shop or whether you want to sell, we've set up a website for this now. That is and-- I've lost it again. There it is, it's wnyc.org/shop-listener-2020. wnyc.org/shop-listener-2020. Happy Hanukkah.

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