Cleveland Heights' holiday shopping season starts Friday, November 6. That evening, Heights Arts opens its 25th annual Holiday Store at 2175 Lee Road. The store stays open every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas until December 30. That's a 55-day run. A second program, S'il Vous Play's Shop Small Holiday Passport, runs from Thanksgiving weekend through December 31. Its raffle needs three stamps, and each one takes a purchase of $25 or more.
The one day built for one long outing is Small Business Saturday, November 28, when three separate efforts happen at the same time within a few hours of each other. Below is the season in order, starting tomorrow.
Friday Night at 2175 Lee Road
The free opening reception runs 5 to 8 p.m. on Friday, November 6. Heights Arts promises local artists on hand, live music, and light refreshments, and anyone can come. The event listing adds a cash bar and light snacks.
The store sells work by more than 120 Northeast Ohio artists, writers, and makers. Heights Arts lists jewelry, ceramics, prints, paintings, textiles, and ornaments among the categories. This year is the store's 25th season.
The hours are worth saving, because they change by day and don't follow a typical retail schedule:
- Sunday: noon to 5 p.m.
- Monday through Thursday: 1 to 7 p.m.
- Friday and Saturday: noon to 8 p.m.
- Thanksgiving Day, November 26: closed
- Christmas Eve, Thursday, December 24: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Christmas Day: closed
- Last day: Wednesday, December 30
The weekday schedule opens after lunch and stays open into the evening, so a stop after work fits better than one before it. Christmas Eve is the only day all season the store opens in the morning. That Thursday it opens three hours earlier than a normal Thursday and closes three hours earlier too. If you plan to buy your last gifts on December 24, go before 4 p.m.
The Passport Keeps the Season Going Through December 31
Starting Thanksgiving weekend, Heights Arts also becomes one stop in a bigger loop. S'il Vous Play, Cedar Lee's neighborhood toy shop, organizes the Shop Small Holiday Passport. The shop is at 3216 Silsby Road. The Heights Observer reports that this year's passport includes 22 locally owned retail businesses and runs through December 31. Heights Arts has confirmed on its holiday store page that it's taking part.
Here's how it works, according to the Observer:
- Spend $25 or more at a participating business to get a stamp.
- Collect three or more stamps.
- Turn in the passport at any participating business to enter the holiday raffle.
- Winners are announced January 15.
The math is simple. Three stamps means at least $75 spent at participating shops. The program runs five weeks, so you can spread those purchases across the season. The full list of 22 businesses is on S'il Vous Play's website, which the Observer names as the place to find it.
Nicole Adams, the shop's manager, told the Heights Observer why the shop brought it back: "When handing out our passports last year, I heard from so many people that they were already planning on doing all of their holiday shopping locally, and they were thrilled to have the passport as a handy reference for locally owned businesses." In other words, the passport works as a printed directory of locally owned shops, and the raffle comes with it.
November 28 Is the Day Everything Overlaps
Most of the season is spread out. Small Business Saturday packs it into one day, and the pieces are arranged so one stop leads to the next. The Heights Observer's preview lists the plan for Saturday, November 28:
| Time | Where | What's happening |
|---|---|---|
| 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. | Cleveland Heights Community Center | Small Business Shop Black, hosted by Diamond Pop-Up Market, free admission |
| Noon to 8 p.m. | Heights Arts, 2175 Lee Road | Holiday Store hours with giveaways and guest vendors, plus Gifts Made Beautiful gift wrapping for a fee |
| All day | S'il Vous Play, 3216 Silsby Road | The shop's fifth anniversary, on the first Saturday of the passport program |
The order works in your favor. Small Business Shop Black brings Black-owned small businesses, makers, boutiques, and food and dessert vendors together at the Community Center. It closes at 4 p.m. Gift wrapping at Heights Arts runs until 8. Gifts Made Beautiful will wrap gifts you bought that day at other local businesses, not only at Heights Arts. That means you can shop the Community Center market and other neighborhood stores during the day, then bring everything to Lee Road to be wrapped before evening.
Heights Arts says giveaways and guest vendors are coming that day, with more details to be announced. November 28 is also the first Saturday of the passport, so purchases that day can count toward stamps at participating shops right away.
Dinner Between Stops Has a New Option in Cedar Fairmount
This is EDWINS Oyster Bar's first holiday season. The restaurant opened on Cedar Road at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, July 22, 2026, Cleveland.com reported. FreshWater Cleveland's coverage places it in the Cedar Fairmount district.
On Fridays and Saturdays the Holiday Store stays open until 8, which leaves time for dinner after a Lee Road stop.
December Moves to the Library and, Most Likely, Coventry
After Thanksgiving weekend, the passport keeps going through December 31 and the Holiday Store through December 30. Heights Libraries adds two seasonal programs to its December calendar:
- Sherlock Carol Scavenger Hunt: December 7 through 11
- Take and Make Winter Mason Jar Lanterns: December 13 through 20
Both are on the Heights Libraries December events calendar, which lists the details for each program.
Coventry Village's Winter Wonder Festival and Lantern Parade is a returning December tradition. As of late October, Coventry Village hadn't posted a 2026 date. Its Winter Wonder page still described the 2025 window-display promotion. Last year's festival was Saturday, December 13, 2025, and ended with a 5 p.m. lantern parade, according to the Heights Observer. The library's lantern-making kits run December 13 through 20, which would fit if the parade returns on a similar mid-December Saturday. Check the Coventry Village page for this year's announcement before you count on a date.
Here's the season in one place:
- Friday, November 6: Heights Arts Holiday Store opening reception, 5 to 8 p.m.
- Thanksgiving weekend: Shop Small Holiday Passport begins
- Saturday, November 28: Small Business Saturday at Heights Arts, the Community Center, and S'il Vous Play
- December 7 to 11: Sherlock Carol Scavenger Hunt, Heights Libraries
- December 13 to 20: Winter Mason Jar Lanterns kits, Heights Libraries
- Thursday, December 24: Holiday Store open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Wednesday, December 30: last day of the Holiday Store
- Thursday, December 31: last day to earn passport stamps
- January 15: passport raffle winners announced
The holidays are also when families get together around the kitchen table, and that's often when the bigger questions come up, like whether a parent's longtime house still fits or what to do with a home that's been in the family for decades. If that conversation is starting in your family this season, Life Stages Realty can help you take it one calm step at a time, starting with a no-pressure home valuation so everyone knows where things stand before anyone decides anything.
