Gifts for $100 at Your Local Boutique Grocery

Courtesy of Asahi Imports

There are people who may buy you gifts from the grocery store, and that is not just because grocery stores are perfect microcosms of our communities, down to the neighborhood they serve. It's because the best foods are there, often at a great price. All stock items necessary for life, and those include items that are beautiful and delicious. Take $100 to a grocery store, you're walking out with something to make someone really happy, or an armful of little things with a lot of flavor that will delight for lots longer than it takes to open a gift.

Thom's Market

Thom's has its own signature coffee, a light, kicky roast with chocolate and pecan notes, which they've sold since they opened in 2007. Set up a tasting for the coffee lover in your life with Thom's house roast, plus Texas Coffee Traders, Austin Java, Cuvee, and Austin Roasting Co.'s small-batch beans. Friendly Thom's member Michelle Esquer took me to the heart of the seasoning aisle in the Barton Springs location and showed me Lillian's Dressing ($11.95), which she said is good on everything.

Brodie Park Market

People in 78745 or '48 may be familiar with the wine program and diverse beer selection at BPM, plus lots of cute li'l gifts. On a shelf with Texas-ware dishes from the 1950s and 1980s is a deviled egg tray made of white ceramic for $16. Owner Clint Schultze explains he has a buyer who comes in, and items sell on consignment. BPM also stocks beans from Texas Coffee Traders and Fara, Yellowbird hot sauces, Austin Honey Co., and Chinook Seeds.

Asahi Imports

Come to Asahi and walk out with everything you need to equip the sushi lover in your life to make restaurant-quality dishes at home. The little molds, the green grass, all the roasted seaweeds, various togarashi and sauces. Some of the more special items available (or "small-batch imports," according to owner Sally Matsumae and staffer Andrew Englehardt) include the Kinjirushi Neri Ume tube ($10.99), Yuki Tsubaki No. 11 JPN Rice ($83.99), a mega-bottle of Kewpie Mayonnaise ($8.99), and an Orion Mugi Shokunin six-pack ($21.99).

Wheatsville Co-op

Perhaps the best grocery store to shop if you have to get hyperlocal. Wheatsville stocks items from hundreds of vendors that were made in Austin, or close by. From A to Z, or Jaime's Spanish Village hot sauce ($5.99) to Jester King beers, Wheatsville likely stocks it.