Parkleigh

Parkleigh is a locally owned gift shop at 215 Park Avenue in Rochester, NY, operating in the same building since 1960. Founded by Bruce Kost, a recent pharmacy-school graduate at the time, the business originally opened as a neighborhood pharmacy. Throughout the 1970s, the store began introducing fashionable and imported merchandise alongside its pharmacy offerings, and by the late 1980s the pharmacy had closed entirely as the retail side expanded into ten distinct departments. Today Parkleigh is a woman-owned business that occupies a distinctive storefront featuring exposed brick archways, original tin ceilings, and hardwood floors.

Parkleigh stocks a broad mix of gifts, home décor, personal care, and specialty food items. Brands carried in the store include:

• MacKenzie-Childs home décor
• Jellycat plush toys
• Kiehl's skincare
• Beekman 1802 bath and body products
• Blue Q accessories and novelties
• Katie Loxton bags and accessories
• E Newton jewelry
• Stonewall Kitchen gourmet foods

The store also carries greeting cards, gourmet chocolates, coffees, teas, and works from local artisans. Shopping options include in-store browsing, curbside pickup, and delivery. Current hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with Mondays closed.

Parkleigh has been voted Rochester's Best Gift Store by both the Democrat and Chronicle and The City Paper. The shop's elaborately styled window displays and murals by local artists give it a visual presence along the Park Avenue corridor. Its transition from a mid-century corner drugstore into a multi-department gift destination — spanning more than six decades in the same location — makes it one of the longest-running independent retailers on the avenue.

Parkleigh sits along the Park Avenue commercial strip in Rochester's East Avenue–Park Avenue neighborhood, a walkable district originally established in 1852 as a service street for the larger estates along East Avenue. The avenue is lined with independent shops, cafés, and restaurants, and hosts a popular summer street festival each year. Street parking is available along Park Avenue and the surrounding side streets. The shop is wheelchair accessible.