Shopping via Bits & Bytes
Just as many folks do holiday shopping online in December, other gift-giving holidays, such as Valentine's Day, are seeing increased traffic toward the internet. Specifically catering to a hip, cool and gay consciousness are two leading web retailers that you'll want to check out.

Café Press is a website that "sells T-shirts, apparel, gifts for the home, stationery, gear, and other stuff that gets printed on." Not the actual seller of these items, Café Press is a leader in "user-generated commerce" and as such hosts thousands of independent "shopkeepers" that sell over 150 million unique products on www.CafePress.com. Many of the shopkeepers on Café Press seem to have a decidedly liberal/lefty/progressive political and cultural bent and so there is an ample offering of items that will be of particular interest to the GLBT community. To view the range of gay Valentine's products, head over to http://shop.cafepress.com/gay-valentine . You'll find things to give not only to your lover/partner and friends, but also really cute items for children with a gay parent or two. Two popular items this year are the hysterically funny greeting cards and the "My Daddies Love Me" shirt for kids.

Don't see exactly what you want on? Then go ahead and use their "Create Your Own" section and design a custom, one-of-a-kind piece of clothing, cards & calendars, or other type of gift item such as a mug or computer mouse pad. Café Press has a very user-friendly process and various design templates that will allow you to incorporate your own graphic file(s) (PNGs, JPGs, TIFs, or PSDs) onto the item you desire. This extensive "Create Your Own" feature is a inexpensinve and fun way to make your Valentine's gift all the more special.

Another good website that can fulfill your Valentine's Day gift list is www.10percent.com. Known as a retailer of clothing and fashion that gay boys find appealing (underwear by C-IN2 and 2(x)ist and apparel by the likes of Priape Wear and DKNY), 10percent.com sells GLBT themed calendars, greeting cards, books and DVDs as well as gifts and housewares. Being the full-service retailer targeting gay men, 10percemt.com also has softcore and hardcore DVDs, sex toys, and various brands of lubes for sale. Best item on their site for Valentine's? The Timoteo Red Super Low-Rise Brief ($19.95) is HOT!. The model's body, unfortunately, is not included.

The Bricks & Mortar
If you like to shop for your Valentine's Day gifts the old-fashioned way - actually walking into a store and picking up the merchandise - then of course you can't go wrong with Boystown's favorite retailer, Cupid's Treasure (3519 N Halsted | 773.348.3884), and its sister store a few door down, Leather Sport (3505 N. Halsted | 773.868.0914). In addition to a wide variety of adult and sexually-oriented items, these two stores also carry clothing - and not the type used specifically for sexual role play. The large selections of fashionable underwear and swimsuits by the likes of Go Softwear and Andrew Christian make Cupid's and Leather Sport perfect places for Valentine's gifts.

Other retailers in the city worth checking out for Valentine's gifts and cards include the very cool Lakeview card/stationery stores Paper Boy (1351 W. Belmont 773.388.8811) and twoSided (2958 N. Clark 773.244.6431 www.twosided.net). Both places offer truly unique seasonal items (greeting cards, journals, small gifts and knick knacks) that have helped them foster loyal clientele bases. If you don't live in Lakeview, fear not. You'll find similar high-quality and interesting stores able to take care of your Valentine's needs in Wicker Park at Paper Doll (2048 W. Division 773.227.6950); in Andersonville at The Equinox (5621 N. Clark 773.878.5785) and Paper Trail (5309 N. Clark 773.275.2191); and in Uptown at the just opened Light Speed: Chicago (4238 N. Broadway 773-549-7776 www.lightspeedchi.com )