The St. Louis Gift That Won't Ship Inside St. Louis
Revised October 29, 2026
What’s a good souvenir from St. Louis?
Something made here that survives the trip: Crown Candy Kitchen chocolates, Park Avenue Coffee gooey butter cake or beans, Volpi cured meats, or Gus’ Pretzels for people still in town. Shelf-stable goods ride in a suitcase. Frozen favorites like Ted Drewes custard ship overnight from the maker, at an average of $120 to $200 a package, and never within the St. Louis metro area.
Keep reading ↓One Ted Drewes shipping cooler holds fifteen 8-ounce concretes. Pack it on Chippewa, and UPS Overnight can set it on a porch on the far coast by morning, the lid squeaking open and the cold breathing out over somebody’s homesick face. Try to send that same cooler across the county and the answer is no. Ted Drewes says it plainly on its own shipping page: “We do not ship orders within the St. Louis Metro Area.”
Locals get pointed to the grocery freezer instead, at Schnucks or Dierbergs. Everyone else pays for the trip, and the trip is not cheap. Ted Drewes puts the average shipping cost at $120 to $200 per package, orders go out Monday through Thursday only, and they have to be placed at least 48 hours in advance. Plan the ride before you pick the flavor.
That one page tells you how to shop for the whole trip. The famous cold things cost more to move than to buy, so you either let the maker ship them or you hand them over in person, a cooler riding on the back seat. Everything else should be sealed, flat and happy in a suitcase.
So here is what to do today. Decide first whether the gift leaves in a suitcase or a shipping box, because that one answer cuts the list in half. Suitcase: buy chocolate, coffee, a book or a print, all of which shrug off a checked bag. Box: let the maker do it. For custard, call Ted Drewes at (314) 481-2652 before 5 PM, at least 48 hours ahead, and know that every shipped order runs through its Chippewa location. For a guest who is still in town, skip the shipping fee entirely: grab a pint at Schnucks or Dierbergs on the way to drop them off.
And for the guest still at your kitchen table, there is a gift that never needs a box. A Gus’ pretzel tears soft, and the salt comes off on your thumb. It was twisted by hand at 1820 Arsenal Street, where the family has been hand-twisting them since 1920 and where Gus Jr. is the third generation to bake them.
What’s a good souvenir from St. Louis?
Something made here that survives the trip. Chocolates from Crown Candy Kitchen, gooey butter cake or coffee from Park Avenue Coffee, cured meats from Volpi, a pretzel from Gus’ for the people still in town. Shelf-stable goods ride in a suitcase. Frozen favorites like Ted Drewes ship overnight from the maker, at an average of $120 to $200 a package, and never within the St. Louis metro. A keychain from the airport gate can come from anywhere. These can’t.
Four makers who will put the real thing in your hands
Start where the smell hits you at the door, chocolate and warm sugar before you’ve let go of the handle. Crown Candy Kitchen sits at 1401 St. Louis Avenue in Old North St. Louis, a soda fountain and candy counter that also runs an online store of chocolates and handmade creations: assorted chocolate gift boxes and hand-dipped clusters among them. It ships Monday through Thursday, and for custom or large orders the shop asks you to call 314-621-7229. That is the box for the person who can’t come back to the counter.
Volpi is the gift for the relative who judges a city by its deli case: a dry-cured salami, firm in the hand, that slices thin on the cutting board. John Volpi came to America from Milan in 1899, and the company says it has been crafting its foods since 1902, with the family now more than four generations in and still hand-making its products with the methods and recipes John used. The retail store is at 5263 Northrup Avenue, closed Sunday. Its website also has a Buy Online link for the people you can’t drive to.
Gooey butter cake leaves powdered sugar on your fingers and a sticky square on the plate, and it is the sweet this city calls its own; Explore St. Louis calls it St. Louis’ iconic dessert. Park Avenue Coffee lists its gooey butter cake by flavor, from Mom’s Traditional to Triple Chocolate to White Chocolate Raspberry, plus Bake At Home versions for someone who wants the kitchen to smell like it. Its cafes are in Lafayette Square, The Hill, Cortex and at 6th & Olive, and when you ship a gift the shop will put your message on a card in the box.
And Gus’, for the ones still here. The pretzels are made fresh daily, and the shop invites you to stop in and watch them twist. Frozen varieties sit in the freezer case at Gus’ and at St. Louis grocery stores, which makes a bag of them the easiest cold gift in town to hand to a houseguest.
What ships well, and what should ride home on your lap?
Shelf-stable ships. Frozen is a project. The cooler lid coming off on a porch two states away, the cold breathing out of it: that moment is real, and Ted Drewes sells it, but read the fine print first. A standard cooler holds fifteen 8-ounce concretes or eight pints. Costs vary by delivery ZIP code and package weight, most deliveries arrive by 10:30 AM the next day, and Kansas City and Chicago addresses can now use UPS Ground for lower rates.
For everything else, think about what a checked bag does to a box. Chocolate in a gift box, a bag of coffee beans, a sealed package of cured salami, a book about the Arch, a print rolled in a tube. They travel without drama and land looking like a gift instead of an apology.
Bringing it to a party instead of an airport? Here is what to actually put inside a gift basket.
Which shops already did the curating for you?
Institution shops are the low-risk stop, because somebody already picked the makers and the money goes back into the place. The Arch Store is in the visitor center just past the museum under the Gateway Arch, in the right-hand corner next to the Virtual Reality Theater. It is operated by Jefferson National Parks Association, a nonprofit partner of the park, and the proceeds help maintain educational programs, exhibits and public events at the park. Forgot to buy something before the tram ride home? The park points online shoppers to shop.jnpa.com.
At the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park, the shop called Sold on St. Louis opened with items made by more than 100 St. Louis businesses, according to Spectrum News. The vendors named at the opening included Firecracker Press, Fitz’s, Kakao Chocolate Company, Old Vienna and Salt + Smoke. One room, many makers, no driving across town.
Sending custard out of town
Ted Drewes puts the average shipping cost at $120 to $200 per package, on top of the custard itself. The price moves with the delivery ZIP code and the package weight, and Kansas City and Chicago addresses can use UPS Ground for lower rates.
For the reader who wants a storefront instead of a museum, local clothing shops solve the gift that has to be worn, and an independent bookshop solves the one that has to be read. Here are the bookstores worth the trip.
Five questions to ask before you pay for the box
The phone call to the maker is where a good gift is won or lost, and it takes about as long as the hold music at a big-box store. Ask what day it ships, because a box that leaves late in the week can sit in a warehouse over the weekend. Ask what the recipient has to do when it lands: put it in the freezer within the hour, or let it sit on the counter until dinner. Ask whether there is a card, and what it says. Ask what it costs to send to that exact ZIP code, since the custard stand, the candy counter and the coffee roaster all price by where the box is going. And ask the question that tells you the most about a small shop: what do people from here usually send?
The answers come back fast and plain, and you can hear the room behind whoever picks up: a register drawer, a mixer, someone calling an order. That is the part of a local gift you can’t get from a warehouse. The person on the line has packed this box before, and they know which flavor gets the thank-you text.
One more thing to settle before you hang up: who is the box from? A gift that arrives with only a store name on the label reads like a bill. A card with your name and one line about why you picked it, the pretzel shop you walk past or the candy counter your grandmother liked, turns the same box into a phone call back to you.
Match the gift to the person, not the city
A visitor flying out tomorrow needs flat and sealed: a chocolate box, a bag of beans, a print. Someone who moved away needs the thing they can’t get where they live now, and that is the frozen column, shipped by the maker or handed over at the holidays in a cooler. A homesick relative needs the exact one they remember. Nostalgia does not take substitutions; the second-best brand tastes like a stranger. If you don’t know which one they mean, ask them before you buy, and listen to how fast they answer. That speed is the gift telling you it’s the right one.
If the gift you want is something sweet that was made a few miles from home, here’s where to find the candy stores in St. Louis that still make it by hand.
Twelve identical client gifts are their own puzzle. Skip anything frozen, because somebody will be out the day it lands, and skip anything with a size. A shelf-stable box from one local maker clears both, and the shop that made it can usually tell you how far ahead to order. If the gift is going to a kid, here is where to buy toys in St. Louis besides Target.
Still need something that actually came from here? Browse gift shops across the St. Louis metro on St Louis Near Me Directory, call the closest one, and ask which local makers they carry. That answer tells you everything.
If you’re the shop, the candy counter or the one-person maker whose name belongs on that gift tag, a Gold listing puts you where the next gift buyer is already looking, so more of those searches turn into customers at your counter. See every plan here.
More for the gift list:
- The foods this city invented, and the stories behind them
- Flowers from a real St. Louis florist
- The beginner art-supply list worth buying
Frequently asked questions
Is St. Louis famous for anything?
The Gateway Arch first: the National Park Service lists it at 630 feet tall, the same distance as leg to leg at ground level. Then food. Explore St. Louis calls toasted ravioli the city’s quintessential bar food and gooey butter cake its iconic dessert. Add a concrete from Ted Drewes, and you have the short list.
What are some good souvenir shops in St. Louis?
The Arch Store in the Gateway Arch visitor center, run by the nonprofit Jefferson National Parks Association, and Sold on St. Louis at the Missouri History Museum, which opened carrying items from more than 100 St. Louis businesses. For food gifts, go straight to the makers: Crown Candy Kitchen, Volpi, Park Avenue Coffee and Gus’ Pretzels.
What is the most popular souvenir?
Arch-themed souvenirs, books and gifts are what the Arch Store is built around. For a gift that gets used up instead of dusted, pick something edible from a local maker that travels: a chocolate box, coffee beans or a sealed package of cured meat.
What candy is St. Louis known for?
Crown Candy Kitchen in Old North St. Louis is the name to know. Crown Candy’s online store sells assorted chocolate gift boxes and hand-dipped clusters and ships Monday through Thursday. Gooey butter cake is the sweet the city claims, and Park Avenue Coffee sells gooey butter cake in its online shop, in flavors from Mom’s Traditional to White Chocolate Raspberry.
What is a must eat in St. Louis?
Toasted ravioli, gooey butter cake and a Ted Drewes concrete. The custard is the one to plan around if you want it to travel: Ted Drewes ships it overnight anywhere in the continental United States, but not within the St. Louis metro area.
Can you ship Ted Drewes frozen custard?
Yes, anywhere in the continental United States except the St. Louis metro area. Orders must be placed at least 48 hours in advance by calling (314) 481-2652 before 5 PM, ship Monday through Thursday by UPS Overnight, and average $120 to $200 per package to ship. One standard cooler holds fifteen 8-ounce concretes or eight pints.
Written by a dedicated team of St. Louis locals who live, work, and play right here in the St. Louis metro. Founder Lane Forman and team are committed to building the region’s most trusted directory by verifying listings and connecting local businesses with loyal customers across Missouri and Illinois.