The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

Last weekend, in the Sunday Times, one of the meatiest, most interesting Style articles was found ... in the business section. I also liked the ETSY profile in the Times magazine, but that's a different matter-one that, I'm afraid, nearly inspired a very long, boring post about my preference for receiving hand-made Christmas gifts. In any case, the long and the short of the business section piece was this: Shoppers tend to hang on to the niftiest of their shopping bags. This inspired a reflection on my own stash:

I purchased a beautiful pair of earring from this Parisian boutique back in 2003, but lost the earrings soon after returning aux etats-unis. The bag, however, hung around. For a good year and a half, I used it to tote my lunch. But when I realized it was starting to fray, I retired the bag to a safe place.

I scored a $39 dress at Tracey Reese in NYC last summer. Like the dress, love this bag, which is made of a durable cardstock. I've used the thing twice for carrying items to and fro dinner parties.

Any local bags in the collection?

Stephanie's, in St. Paul's Highland Park neighborhood, has a decent bag.

Alfred's, R.I.P., had these flimsy but cu-ute bags.

The Design Collective seems to be hand stamping theirs, thus appealing to the aforementioned affinity for handmade.

Uh, Target makes a good bag for taking out the recycling.