Goods & Services >>

• Best Gift Shop
  Catholic Supply of St. Louis, Inc.
  Praise be: The Lou's most superlative gift shop does not rely on overpriced glass beads, creepy animal tchotchkes or T-shirts you can't wear around Grandma. Catholic Supply of St. Louis has a more divine mission, but it's open to saints and sinners alike (no alarm sounded when we walked in the... More >>
• Best Florist
  Catherine Thoele
  "Nature doesn't grow in fabric colors," says Catherine Thoele, manager at Kirkwood Florist. "We always say, 'Don't get all matchy!'" You ought to listen to her, plaid couch be damned. Thoele has been in the floral industry for more than 30 years and holds a degree in art history, not to mention... More >>
• Best Electronics for the Audiophile
  Music for Pleasure
  You have not heard Jeff Buckley's version of "Hallelujah" until you've cranked it on Music for Pleasure's $30,000 system. Holy crap! It's as though the late crooner is not only alive and in the room but inside your head, channeling Leonard Cohen lyrics into your ear from the backside. You not... More >>
• Best Musical Instrument Store
  Ron Busch Guitar Studio
  After you've strolled through the inauspicious storefront doorway and up a flight of stairs into Ron Busch's Guitar Studio, the sheer square footage devoted to guitars, amps and assorted other musical paraphernalia can feel intimidating. You heard about this place through one of its charmingly... More >>
• Best Liquor Store
  Corral Liquors
  Whether you're Joe (or Jolene) Sixpack or a discriminating consumer of fine spirits, you owe yourself a little trip across the river to Corral Liquors in Granite City. What the wizened steel town of Granite City lacks in genteel refinements it makes up for in character. Hunkered on the town's... More >>
• Best Wine Store
  Grapevine Wines & Cheese
  Knowledge of wine carries either an air or odor of distinction: Just enough savvy and you're a great date. Lengthy diatribes on the merits of Italian reds and you're a pretentious jerk. "This is not as in-your-face," says co-owner Mike Gray, describing a chardonnay to a customer. "It's simple.... More >>
• Best Book Store
  Left Bank Books
  In a city that has a fair number of good book stores, especially of the used variety, it's hard to single out just one for recognition. This year an old favorite, Left Bank Books, rises to the top of the stack. The store's combination of up-to-the minute new offerings upstairs and gently worn... More >>
• Best Used Book Store
  Dunaway Books
  Given our druthers, we'd rather read than do most anything. We pore over books at cafés (witness the coffee-stained pages); we wake in the morning with half-read novels splayed on our bed. We read passages aloud to one another, because some writing is just too good not to share. And we... More >>
• Best Book Store to Die in the Past Year
  A. Amitin Bookshop
  You could have spent a week at A. Amitin's now-closed Washington Avenue bookatorium. You could do it on purpose, browsing World Book Encyclopedia sets from the Eisenhower era, going through stacks of black-and-white porn magazines or finding a first edition of a Gide novel in the original French... More >>
• Best Newsstand
  World News Ltd.
  You're the kind of person who walks into a bookstore and immediately says to yourself, "Aaack! Books! Where the heck are the magazines?" So why bother going to bookstores at all? Stick to World News Ltd., a store that takes the world's glossy and newsprinted pages very, very seriously. World... More >>
• Best Tobacconist
  Jon's Pipe Shop
  In search of a pack of Marlboro Lights 100s in a box? Go to the nearest gas station. But if you're looking to burnish your inner sophisticate with a Davidoff or a Montecristo, Jon's Pipe Shop is the place for you. The small shop reeks of years' worth of the world's finest tobaccos. And if the... More >>
• Best Art Supplies
  Artmart
  A trip to Artmart will awaken creative stirrings that were previously unknown. The dullest, most uninspired lump of clay (ahem, that's you) will suddenly feel compelled to write down every profound thought that springs forth when faced with a selection of Moleskine notebooks and blister packs of... More >>
• Best Art Supplies (Nontraditional)
  Leftovers, Etc.
  One of the first laws you learn in art school is, "Anything can be art." The corollary that follows right behind that is, "Don't throw anything away, because it could be art." Leftovers, Etc. operates on both of these principles. Just down the street from the Bevo Mill, their expansive St. Louis... More >>
• Best Baby Store
  Target
  If you think a breast pump is a new way to accentuate your cleavage, you may need a crash course in the language of babies. It's harder to master than Spanish, but more fun, mostly because you can learn at Target. Sure Target is a big-box chain, and therefore evil. But we don't care. They give a... More >>
• Best Toy Store
  KB Toys
  Toy shopping is an intricately calibrated process. To truly experience the joy of toy shopping, you either have to be seven years old or the toy store has to make you feel like you're seven years old again. This sort of thing cannot transpire when you pick up Jenga or a Slip 'n Slide and put it... More >>
• Best Comic Book Store
  Star Clipper Comics
  Now that Star Clipper Comics has moved to its new location in the Delmar Loop, there's finally room for all of the great product that used to be crammed into the old, very small (but charming) Big Bend location. It's all neatly laid out now, everything from the mainstream comics everyone knows... More >>
• Best Garden Center
  Eckert's Country Farms
  What's the difference between peat moss and mulch? Do butterfly bushes really attract butterflies? And what the heck's blue plumbago? If these questions have got you chewing your dirt-caked nails well into the night, a visit to Eckert's garden center will have you dreaming of zebra-grass hedges... More >>
• Best Hardware Store
  Biener Hardware
  Biener Hardware has hardly changed since opening its doors back in 1958, which is exactly why it reigns as the finest hardware store in town. Unlike the big-box retailers that have monopolized the industry in the past decade, Biener prides itself on one thing only: customer service. It's for... More >>
• Best Gun Shop
  Mid America Arms
  Mid America Arms is what is known in the trade as a surefire hit. Whether they're in need of pistols or revolvers, rifles or shotguns, discriminating Second Amendmentarians head to Mid America. The shop carries a broad selection, and its owners have contracted with more than 60 distributors and... More >>
• Best Place to Buy a Pocketknife
  Uncle Sam's
  Air marshals and Gateway Arch security details be damned -- you're not properly equipped for a day out if you don't have a pocketknife. Good for punching air holes in poorly made coffee-cup lids, slicing apples and tightening up your muttonchops in the men's room, a pocketknife is a tool (not a... More >>
• Best Kennel (2 Comments)
  Kennelwood Village
  Two words: Doggy suites. We're talkin' satellite TV and a toddler bed for your mutt to roll around in. The television set's usually tuned to Animal Planet, but Kennelwood staffers will accommodate just about any request you have for your pet while you're away. "We have some dogs who have their... More >>
• Best Frame Shop
  Artmart
  Artmart is more than just a frame shop -- it's a virtual Sam's Club of art supplies and assorted craft stuff (see "Best Art Supplies"). It's also the best place in town to have your masterpiece framed, be it that Renoir you picked up in Paris last year or your four-year-old's indecipherable... More >>
• Best Dollar Store
  Deal$
  Dollar stores are a dime a dozen. But Deal$ lives up to its name. For starters, everything inside Deal$ actually costs a dollar. Parents shopping for kids' birthday parties know the value of Deal$. You can pick up a secret spy kit, a package of squirt guns and a cool pair of sunglasses for a... More >>
• Best Record/ CD Store
  Vintage Vinyl
  Give yourself an hour sometime at Vintage Vinyl. Browse. Run your fingers down a row of yellow plastic tiles, each scribbled with a band name. Contemplate the minute accidents, the forced association of alphabetical order that will forever link The The and They Might Be Giants. Slip on the... More >>
• Best CD Store (Used)
  Euclid Records
  Downloading music has taken some of the cachet from used CDs, at least as far as bargain-hunting goes: Why be happy to find the new Strokes album for two bucks cheaper when you could have gotten the whole thing for free? But at Euclid Records, you'll find CDs that you'd have gladly paid full... More >>
• Best Place to Buy Vinyl
  Record Exchange
  Record Exchange's Web site boasts of "10,000 square feet of music and memorabilia," but even that number seems an underestimation when you walk though the doors of the store. The senses are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of CDs, cassettes, DVDs, laser discs, VHS tapes and even a long-forgotten... More >>
• Best Video/ DVD Rental
  Netflix
  Have you heard of the Internet? We tell you, they're really on to something here! Take Netflix, for example. A truly mind-boggling amount of DVDs, just sitting there waiting for you to click on them. And then they're mailed to your home. Turn them in when you feel like it. No late fees. Is this... More >>
• Best Adult Video Store
  Pure Pleasure Megacenter
  Pure Pleasure Megacenter has obviously been through therapy. Unlike many adult video stores, whose unwashed floors and peering employees make you feel like a dirty pervert, Pure Pleasure is bright, clean and happy. Complete with lava lamps, neon lights, satellite music playing over the speakers... More >>
• Best Place to Buy Sex Toys
  Friends & Luvers
  Whoever coined the phrase "good clean fun" obviously never went to Friends & Luvers. Sure, fun can be had when it's "good and clean," but it's a lot more fun when it's "down and dirty." To that end, Friends & Luvers provides the sex-toy aficionado with the perfect combination of risqué... More >>
• Best Tattoo Parlor
  All Star Tattoo
  Tattoos, obviously, aren't for the commitment-phobic. So why are there so many tattoo sluts out there (five different pieces, five different parlors -- you know who you are!)? All Star Tattoo will make you forget about your wandering ways and settle down. With four artists to choose from, you're... More >>
• Best Body Piercing
  CheapTRX
  Plain and simple, CheapTRX is a shiny, friendly place to get poked. Three piercers are on staff, including the only local member of the Association of Professional Piercers, a national organization dedicated to keeping all things hole-istic healthy and safe. And you know what? Besides... More >>
• Best Eyebrow Wax (2 Comments)
  Nail Studio
  Unlike haircuts, massages, facials and manicures -- beauty treatments too subjective even for this annual benediction -- an eyebrow wax is a pretty straightforward process. A few yanks of the wax-lined cloth strip, a few follow-up pulls of the tweezer and voilà: Either you wind up looking... More >>
• Best Place to Drink and Get Your Hair Cut
  Bar Salon Ahh
  Longtime hairdresser Donna Pelley had a unique idea for her hair salon: Serve booze. It helped that the stately old building she was moving into was equipped with a beautiful antique wooden bar. Unfortunately, city officials thought there were already too many bars in the area, so they didn't... More >>
• Best Car Wash
  Custom Auto Care
  In today's automated world, machines have so often exceeded human capacity that many disregard the thorough abilities of the hardworking citizen. To that end, the hand car wash is an art form that is not only to be appreciated but one that easily surpasses the quality of machine-wash technology.... More >>
• Best Gas Station
  Jordan's Auto Service
  Getting your gas pumped for you at Jordan's is one of life's little luxuries, akin to pampering yourself with a pedicure or a jug of "not from concentrate" orange juice. But while those treats will cost you extra, Jordan's usually costs less than the competition. Under the Sinclair banner, this... More >>
• Best Bike Shop
  BicycleWORKS
  The BicycleWorks concept is simple but brilliant: Herd in old, rusty bikes that have been donated or left for dead, let an energetic pack of neighborhood kids nurture them back into working condition and then sell 'em to the pedal-pushing public for low, low prices. For their trouble, the tykes... More >>
• Best Skate Shop
  Infinity Skate Shop
  It's a well-known scientific fact that skaters are genetically opposed to marketing. So how does an enterprising pair of skaters get the word out about their shop? "It's mainly word of mouth," says 25-year-old Infinity Skate Shop co-owner Jason Ebenrick. "If they hear about you on the radio,... More >>
• Best Sporting Goods Store
  Play It Again Sports
  Why would you buy a new mitt, bat and cleats for that co-ed beer league your officemates talked you into? Why would you need a new set of clubs for that once-a-year round of golf at Grandpa Jasper's annual birthday hoedown? You wouldn't -- which is where our lone Play It Again Sports outlet... More >>
• Best Flea Market (1 Comment)
  Frison Flea Market
  Elsewhere -- in, say, Pevely, home to the region's largest weekly flea market -- the bounty is more plentiful, but Frison is worldwide. The vibe at this north-side market, which opens its doors every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, is afternoon flea party, a rollicking clash of cultures, from... More >>
• Best Junk Store
  Architectural Artifacts of

  St. Louis Inc.

  If you troll down Lafayette Avenue looking for Architectural Artifacts, you won't see any signs in front of the huge red-brick building. In fact, the number isn't even in the phone book and the doors are only open to the public between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturdays. To call the treasures... More >>
• Best Pawn Shop
  Lee's Pawn & Jewelry
  Once was the time that a trip to the pawn shop carried with it the lusty tang of the taboo. Friend, those days are gone. What's more, pawn shops have entered the era of specialization. Lee's Pawn & Jewelry, for example, boasts counter after glass counter of rings, bracelets, necklaces and... More >>
• Best Thrift Store
  Goodwill Industries
  You can take your pick of loads of new and used furniture at Goodwill. Go on Friday afternoon right after Target makes its weekly delivery. You can find new trendy desks, bookshelves and patio furniture for 75 percent off Target's price. Plus, Goodwill has plenty of used, but clean, couches,... More >>
• Best Antique Store
  Joint Venture Antiques
  One can just imagine the fey twin brothers on Antiques Roadshow keeling over dead upon entering Joint Ventures, their last words a collective "Oh, my God!" Yes, Joint Venture is that spectacular. Although it may not be the biggest antique store in town, ounce for ounce it's the most interesting.... More >>
• Best Place to Buy Used Clothing
  Rock Star Rags
  An unmarked warehouse on the city's near north side, Rock Star Rags holds periodic public sales at which classic duds are offered at the unheard-of rate of $1.50 per pound. When you consider that most local vintage stores buy stock from Rock Star honchettes Deb Johnson and Barb Young, you know... More >>
• Best Vintage Clothing Store
  Pixie 9 Vintage
  Shopping for vintage clothing is no longer just for the financially, ironically or fashionally addled. Sure, you could get an ugly cowboy shirt at St. Vincent de Paul's for five bucks, but you could get one at Target for that price too. Shopping vintage nowadays is the purest way toward fashion... More >>
• Best Delmar Dress Shop
  Macrosun International
  Frankly, the blitzkrieg of ladies' clothing boutiques popping up along the Loop's main drag has been a bit of a disappointment. Is there a bunker beneath Delmar from which they collectively pull their lookalike wares? And is said bunker the vortex where the cocktail-fueled wardrobe of Sex and... More >>
• Best Tailor
  C.W.E. Cleaners
  Mr. Kim, as we lovingly call him, makes for an adorable one-man show and a lifesaving garment miracle-worker. In fact, with his cute yellow apron and his heavily accented English, he's like the Asian Gepetto, except his stock in trade is pants and the like, not puppets. Speaking of pants, we... More >>
• Best Laundromat
  Loop Laundry
  Those familiar with Loop Laundry's former home on Delmar -- there's a Qdoba there now -- might accurately recall it as a dirty, congested sauna of a place. Well, forget everything you knew about Loop Laundry: The new facility at Kingsland and Vernon is a shining, welcoming edifice. It's the kind... More >>
• Best Mall
  Westfield Shoppingtown West County
  Malls are for shopping. Not for ice skating, not for movie-watching, not for a stand-in for daycare. While such activities can indeed be fun and novel at a mall (cf. the Ice Zone at St. Louis Mills), they are, quite simply, beside the point. Entirely devoid of theaters and ice rinks, Westfield... More >>
• Best "What Was I Looking For?" Store
  Spicer's
  Despite scientific proof that our planet slows in its rotations every year, life on Earth seems to be moving faster. Everything is open 24 hours a day, every store has a drive-through and everyone is in a tremendous hurry. Express has become the American way, and who cares if something's done... More >>