Though its official website traces the business's roots back to 1883, when the original company of the same name was founded by a pair of German immigrants on the Near East Side, today's relaunched Buffalo Distilling Company got its start in a Wyoming County barn in 2012. Their Larkinville retail shop and tasting room are open four days a week to fans of the "One Foot Cock" (no snickering please; it's named after the rooster weathervane on top of said barn) line of small-batch craft spirits. Distillery tours are also offered; get in touch on their Facebook page for details.
Tue Thu 4:30PM-9PM, Fri 4:30PM-10PM, Sat noon-8PM
This is not your ordinary bookstore, but if you're on the lookout for a unique gift for that hard-to-buy-for far-left radical on your list, Burning Books probably has what you're looking for: in the words of one reviewer, "books that people in power don't want you to read". Histories, biographies, reference materials, magazines, leaflets, DVDs, and even kids' books regarding a diversity of themes of social injustice and revolutionary politics — everything from the Black Panthers to the Stonewall Riots to the Zapatistas — all come at decidedly 99%-friendly prices.
Wed-Sun 11AM-7PM
Founded in 1959 by graphic artist Charles W. Hyatt, Western New York's leading purveyor of art supplies stocks goods such as oil, acrylic and watercolor paints, brushes, canvas, pens, inks, papers, easels, ad nauseam at the hugely expanded warehouse-like location in North Buffalo that they inaugurated in January 2019. Hyatt's also offers picture framing services, classes and workshops, and miscellaneous gifts, and is one of the world's leading distributors of Pantone color-matching products.
Mon Tue 9AM-9PM, Wed-Fri 9AM-7PM, Sat 10AM-5PM
One of Buffalo's best, and best-loved, secondhand bookstores, with an exhaustive selection of reading material of every genre — from old cookbooks to '70s music journalism to esoteric feminist essays to the classics of literature — and an enthusiastic and helpful staff and colorful clientele. More than that, Rust Belt Books' relentless devotion to the local community sees them playing host to a variety of community happenings, as well as poetry readings, plays and other special events.
Mon noon-6PM, Tue Wed 10:30AM-6PM, Thu-Sat 10:30AM-8PM, Sun 11AM-5PM