Thought we’d do a little Christmas shopping in one of our old haunts, Roslindale Village.  It’s November 30:   Annual Holiday Tree Lighting Day in the Village. (Here’s my first peeve in what turned out to be a bust of a day.  Really, a “Holiday” tree? It is a CHRISTMAS TREE.)

Santa Claus showed up on Engine 16 (although he blew past the kid in a wheelchair with the barest of sideways-glances) to pose for pictures with able-bodied kids.  The Christmas Tree was lit.  There were Christmas songs.  Ho hum.  Well, okay, we’ll go shopping then.

Roslindale’s Main Street, an organization dedicated to promoting small business in the area, boasts on its web site that their mission is to promote Roslindale Village as an appealing destination (um, not if you’re in a wheelchair, it’s not) and furthermore states that they are pedestrian-friendly.  They are decidedly not.

We were off to a good start with an accessible parking lot off the main street, which had plenty of ADA spaces and a ramp down to the village area.  Things went quickly downhill from there.  We couldn’t access any of the enticing stores full of Christmas cheer:

– the Pop-Up Shop, featuring locally made retailers and some very yummy looking cupcakes  =  not accessible

- Birch Street House & Garden, had lots of interesting Christmas items but…. not accessible

-Joanne Rossman’s, another intriguing boutique = not accessible

– Really excited to try my sister-in-law’s favorite wine and cheese store, the Boston Cheese Cellar but…. not accessible

– The “shop small and hot chocolate tasting” sign next-door at Kitchen Central (no website) beckoned.  Alas, they were NOT ACCESSIBLE either.

Ironically, most of these stores have a rear entrance in a charming patio area which looks fairly new and as if it could have been ramped without much fuss.

So I’d say pretty much all you can do if you’re in a wheelchair is buy food at the Village Market (an accessible food market) or buy dinner at either Delfino’s, Sophia’s Grotto or Birch Street Bistro (the entrances were accessible but I didn’t check out any of the restrooms – I’d call to check before I went if I were you).

My biggest disappointment was how far downhill Fornax Bakery has gone.  You can kinda, sorta get in (the ramp is definitely not to code, it’s a tight fit for a wheelchair through the door, and there’s not really space for a wheelchair at any of the tables) but don’t bother: the hot chocolate was not hot and it was lumpy, and the muffins were stale.

Oh, and if you have a tacky-dress emergency, you can park here and just wheel right into the garish boutique on the corner.  That store looks like a real gem, and it’s accessible!