Shops & Merch >>

• Best Head Shop
  The Captured Image
  Yes, there are the mandatory lavender incense, dancin' bears, black lights, and tie-dye. But there's also a humidifier housing Dominican and Honduran cigars and a mean music selection of bluegrass and jazz greats like Charlie Parker and Billie Holiday. Acoustic guitars, painted wooden flutes,... More >>
• Best Place to Rent a Ferrari
  Unique Auto Rentals
  You want to have sex, but you drive a Corolla. And you know that driving a Corolla means it will be difficult, if not impossible, to find someone to have sex with. You need a car that says: "Not only have I made it, but I've squandered a good deal of it on this car, which makes me a very... More >>
• Best Pet Store
  Animal House
  When it comes to styling, most dog owners think in terms of one of those God-awful poodle clips. But real dog obsessives know there is couture for K-9s. This house offers custom-designed pet outfits made by a local woman from all kinds of fabric. You can almost hear the voice-over as the fashion... More >>
• Best Vet/Animal Hospital
  Simmons Veterinary Clinic
  Hello. This is Spotty the dog weighing in on my favorite animal hospital. Paws down that would be Simmons Veterinary Clinic. First of all, they don't make me wait with annoying cats -- dogs get our own waiting room. A vet is on site 24 hours a day, so if I get hit by a car in the middle of the... More >>
• Best Toy Store
  Super Toys
  The thing that sets Super Toys apart is that it's one of the few places that doesn't sell Sega Dreamcast or Sony Playstation. You're more likely to find toys that serve some kind of creative or educational purpose, like the popular Odyssey talking globe. Here's how it works: Select a category... More >>
• Best Place to Buy Antiques
  Antique Alley
  Heading south on Old Dixie Highway through Fort Lauderdale, a sign to the left welcomes folks to Wilton Manors just before a sharp right curve in the road. The highway then jaunts almost immediately back to the left, but not before a bright yellow sign warns drivers to take the near-hairpin at... More >>
• Best Antiques Store for the Novice
  James & Jeffrey Antiques
  Intimidated by antiques stores, especially those that don't put the prices on the merchandise? Don't know your Louis XV from your George III? Still can't pronounce art nouveau? It's OK at James & Jeffrey Antiques. The owners and staff like to educate neophytes. Ask them anything; they won't... More >>
• Best Place To Get Your Kid's Hair Cut
  Snipedy Do Das Kid Salon
  Snipedy Do Das takes the scare out of getting a haircut, and it's easy to see why. With three hydraulic animal chairs, a fourth chair hooked up to a Nintendo, and a TV set at every station, what's there to be afraid of? Oh, and don't forget the clubhouse and the toys. According to owner Ally... More >>
• Best Place to Get Fifi a Wedding Cake
  Three Dog Bakery
  You see all those Jags and Benzes and Beamers on the road and you know there are a hell of a lot of rich folk in South Florida, but until you've been to Three Dog Bakery, you don't know the half of it. Some of these people's dogs eat better than the average middle-class American kid, let alone a... More >>
• Best Place to Get A New Body Without Plastic Surgery
  The Balanced Body
  Stop by the Balanced Body studio, and you'll see people on contraptions called the Reformer, the Wunda Chair, and the Cadillac (because it's the largest of the machines) -- machines with weights, springs, pulleys, and leather straps that make you think of a medieval torture chamber -- or... More >>
• Best Veggie Patch
  Park City Farm Market
  There aren't many vegetable stands left in Broward County, and there are even fewer where produce is grown on site. But Park City Farm Market is the real deal: Tomatoes, bell peppers, lettuce, strawberries, and okra are all grown here in season. The produce comes from a small patch of land... More >>
• Best Mall
  The Gardens of the Palm Beaches
  The Gardens has the feel of an exclusive, gated community. Manicured rows of bushes shield it from PGA Boulevard, and the discreet signs announcing the mall's presence will be noticed only by those who are looking for them. Otherwise most folks will simply assume it's just another pretentiously... More >>
• Best Blast From The Past
  Sun Seltzer Inc.
  Russ Hoffman has Paul Newman eyes, Hulk Hogan wrists, and the nostalgia factor of Frank Sinatra. He also makes people reminisce just by delivering bottles of seltzer. So, what's the big deal about seltzer? After all, it's nothing but H2O with CO2: no color, no sugar, no salt, no flavor.... More >>
• Best Shop For A Quick Fix
  Smalley's Tire and Auto Repair
  It's a mid-Sunday afternoon in June, and our tire is as flat as Florida swampland, the victim of an ill-placed screw. We wage a futile battle with a lug wrench, dripping rivers of sweat onto the pavement for our effort, and contemplate calling a tow truck. Then a wise neighbor offers a tip: Pump... More >>
• Best Adult Boutique For Couples
  Sugar & Spice Fantasies, Inc.
  Everything nice, indeed. Sugar & Spice stocks plenty of couples-oriented midcore porn tapes mixed in with heavy-duty bondage and fetish films. The movies, however, occupy their own room, as does the store's huge inventory of sex toys. This means that couples shopping for intimate playthings... More >>
• Best Sex Toys Shop
  The Fetish Box
  Ballsy Super Cock. Manhandler. Double Header. The names of these dildos might sound a tad intimidating, but this store is anything but. No dingy yellow exterior paint job, no peeling XXX decals slapped over blackened windows. Instead customers get an almost record-shop ambiance: gray-speckled... More >>
• Best Place To Buy A Birthday (Or Any Occasion) Cake
  Flakowitz Bakery
  If you think you're too old or too sophisticated for those gooey, flowery birthday cakes you used to get as a kid, you're probably right. And anyway, they cost a fortune and taste terrible. But at Flakowitz's you can get the Rose Cake, a minimalist's dream come true: rich, dark, hard-chocolate... More >>
• Best Gift to Leave Behind
  Legacy Videos
  We don't mean to be morbid, but all of us are going to move on to the hereafter eventually. But after an eventful and full life, how will you be remembered? Leaving your personal history behind when you die is one way. Maybe you're one of those people who loves to listen to your grandmother tell... More >>
• Best Cowboy Boots
  Trader Jim's Boot Outlet
  Florida, dontcha know, is one of the largest beef-producing states in the country, with a cowboy tradition that invented crackers. Not the crackers that Polly eats but whip-crackers who chased cows and wore, yup, leather boots. The best place to buy that culturally essential footwear is Trader... More >>
• Best Kids' Clothes
  The Salvation Army Super Store
  The trouble with kids' clothes is that kids continually grow out of them. About two months after you shell out $100 for clothes at Old Navy, they'll be tight at the seams. Then they'll be relegated to the bottom drawer, and from there it's on to a younger sibling, a garage sale or the thrift... More >>
• Best Place To Buy Marine Supplies
  West Marine
  Two types of people frequent marine-supply stores: those who already own a boat and those who wish they did. For either a trip to West Marine is an enlightening experience. Both Fort Lauderdale locations are big stores stocked to the gunwales with everything from boat sandals, line, and global... More >>
• Best Nursery
  Living Color Garden Center
  This nursery is so high-quality it draws landscapers from as far away as West Palm Beach and attracts celebrities like Dan Marino. But we find it the best place to unwind -- without any chemical assistance. Stroll through row upon row of hundreds of different flowers, from yellow dandelionlike... More >>
• Best Place To Buy Meat
  Cattleman's Meat Market
  Meat. Red, bloody, artery-clogging, protein-laden meat. Sometimes you just gotta have it. Grocery-store offerings are fine for feeding a hungry brood, but when you want melt-in-your-mouth meat, the kind that attracts envious stares over the fence from neighbors when you slap it on the barbecue,... More >>
• Best Place To Test Your Manhood
  Barbecue Superstore
  Hot 'n' Horny. Lawyer's Breath. Flamin' Balls. Acid Rain. Psycho Bitch. PMS in a Bottle. These are just a few of the more than 400 hot sauces that make up what customers at the Barbecue Superstore in Weston have dubbed the Wall of Pain. It seems manufacturers of the fiery condiment compete for... More >>
• Best Place to Buy One-of-a-kind Furniture
  Jane Loves Cheap Furniture
  Jane may love cheap furniture, but she loves her daughter, Jackie, more. Otherwise she would never have financially backed Jackie's dream-that-would-probably-only-last-a-summer six years ago. After four years of book-cracking, Jackie graduated from college with a degree in social work -- and... More >>
• Best Place To Buy A Whimsical Gift
  J.Miles Off Las Olas
  When Jerry Miles reopens his eponymous store on May 28, the name will be slightly different -- and the prices even more so. (All merchandise will be 50 percent off retail, all the time.) But the whimsy for which Mr. Miles has been heralded, on and off Las Olas, remains the same: wind-up nuns;... More >>
• Best Health-Food Store
  Bread of Life
  Oh sure, there's kelp and vitamins. But there's also organic wine, dolphin-safe tuna, herbal cat collars, nonaerosol air fresheners, eyestrain-reducing light bulbs, triple-milled pure vegetable soap, and eggless egg salad, as well as hormone-free, antibiotic-free chicken, eggs, and milk. Not to... More >>
• Best Place to Find What You Never Thought You Could
  Gooding's Goodies
  "One man's trash is another man's treasure," is the motto here. This is the place to find everything -- including the kitchen sink (and the faucets, counters, cabinets, and appliances, too) -- at 10 to 40 cents on the dollar. So, if you've been thinking that you're stuck with a ho-hum... More >>
• Best Flea Market
  Festival Flea Market Mall
  Wear comfortable shoes and have some patience while negotiating the more than 800 stalls and stores crowded into this indoor mall. A cross between a flea market and a mall, the place is usually packed with bargain sniffers. At least 90 percent of the customers are elderly retirees, and New York... More >>
• Best Erotic Art Gallery
  Eros Loft at Adult Video Warehouse
  If you can make it past the graphic porn-video box covers and giant plastic dildos on the ground floor of the Adult Video Warehouse in Pompano Beach, the paintings and photographs in the upstairs Eros Loft won't shock you at all. On the contrary the feel up here is tastefully titillating. From... More >>
• Best Men's Clothing
  Men's Wearhouse
  In 1973, entrepreneur George Zimmer opened his first full-service men's clothing store in Houston. There clueless occasional dresser-uppers, junior executives, and flashy head honchos alike found a tasteful selection of name-brand suits and sportswear -- plus a knowledgeable staff to help... More >>
• Best Bike Shop
  Lee's Locksmith & Bike Shop, Inc.
  Besides the nostalgic aroma of bicycle grease and rubber, the silver bike bells, the sparkling spoke-streamers, and the bunny squeeze-horns, one of the grooviest things about Lee's is its staying power: It's been dealing wheels for 54 years to locals, tourists, and transients alike. At Lee's... More >>
• Best Florist
  Adam & Eve Florists, Inc.
  Bright colors adorn the walls at Adam & Eve -- purple on one, very French-looking royal blue with yellow stripes on another. A potpourri of scents is given off by fresh-cut flowers and boxes of candles. Between the visual effect and the olfactory one, the atmosphere can be quite soothing, to... More >>
• Best Computer Store
  Gateway Country Stores, Inc.
  With its high ceilings and murals of grassy fields and gigantic cows, you feel you're walking into a barn when you enter a Gateway computer store. (The décor alludes to the company's South Dakota roots.) The service is country friendly, too. Employees greet you as you enter and offer to... More >>
• Best Place To Rediscover Your Jewishness
  Shabbos For a Novice
  Does this sound like you? You were bar or bat mitzvahed a decade or two ago, and you've basically never set foot in a synagogue again. Well, you're definitely not alone. But now you can commiserate with others just like you (couples and singles in their twenties and thirties, most of whom grew... More >>
• Best Vintage Clothing Store
  Deco Dermots Antique Clothing & Costumes
  This shop's big-ass collection of poodle skirts alone makes it the heavy hitter of recycled threads. Stitched to the front of long and flouncy fabric, the little yippers' likenesses come in sequins, felt, rhinestones, and lamé. Venture farther into this jam-packed shop, and your hankering... More >>
• Best Dry Cleaner
  Pride French Cleaners
  We don't know if Pride French Cleaners can get that wine stain out any better than other dry cleaners. It's not magic owner Dhansukh Tailor is selling, it's old-fashioned, neighborly customer service. D, as his customers call him, greets you with his dazzling smile, a hello, and a joke, and he... More >>
• Best Newsstand
  Bob's News & Books
  Ready to expand your knowledge? Get to Bob's. The store with the mundane name has plenty of the standard, benign fare like TV Guide, Time, and the world's newspapers along with the best-selling, schlocky books like The Celestine Prophecy. It also has trade books on everything from architecture... More >>
• Best Bargain Haircut
  Florida Barber Academy
  The draw is the price: $3. The last time we saw a haircut that cheap was way back in our childhood days when we'd pass a hand-painted sign on the side of some dirt road advertising a crew cut for a couple of Washingtons. If you're really feeling the need to be pampered, settle in for an... More >>
• Best Barber
  Gateway Barber and Stylist
  How many heads of hair has Joseph Dixey, proprietor of Gateway Barber and Stylist, cut? By his own estimate, more than 200,000. When he started out in New York City more than 40 years ago, barbers still dressed all in white and would give you a trim for under a buck, with enough change left for... More >>
• Best Day Spa
  Massage Therapeutics Spa
  It seems odd that such a cozy oasis could sit just a few yards from Federal Highway's constant truck-rumbling and horn-wailing. Leave the concrete carnival behind, scoot up a pebbled sidewalk, and enter Massage Therapeutics Spa. Water pings along the plateaus of a tabletop stone fountain, and... More >>
• Best DJ Supply Store (1 Comment)
  The DJ Store
  Looking for good prices on your favorite CDs? Look elsewhere. The DJ Store is a one-stop shop for devoted turntablists. Here they can find the latest dance mixes on vinyl and CD, plus mix tapes and CDs by upcoming local jocks. And the shop offers just about anything else a DJ might need to ply... More >>
• Best Used-CD Store
  CD Warehouse
  CDs, being the semi-indestructible medium that they are, have a lot more cachet as recycled music than records or tapes ever did. Plenty of savvy entrepreneurs out there have picked up on this fact and are now wheeling and dealing in preowned CDs. And while CD Warehouse has a misleading name... More >>
• Best Video Arcade
  The Escape
  The digital age has brought the hottest gaming technology right into our homes, so who needs an arcade these days? The truth is, some technology is still just too expensive for Joe Consumer. That's what gives the Escape an edge. The 132,000-square-foot fun zone boasts a megaplex cinema, four... More >>
• Best Wine Store
  Fernanda's Vintage Winery
  John Weber is a man who takes his wine and his words seriously. He's found his dream job at Fernanda's, running the international-food store's winery. There he oversees a good-sized collection of wines from all over the world and writes down his recommendations for customers. And he buys the... More >>
• Best Record/CD Store
  Best Buy
  Specialty record-and-CD shops typically stock cutting-edge titles and know the needs of customers, but they can't compete on price with large chains that buy bulk -- albeit bulk of the mainstream variety. Enter behemoth Best Buy, which may lack the cozy feel of the corner record store but is... More >>
• Best Limousine Service
  A Better Limousine Service
  If you're going to be ostentatious, you should go for it and do it in real class. Which is why we like this place -- they'll rent you a 1952 Rolls Royce, one of the oldest for-hire limos in Broward County and one of the quietest cars ever made, too. This Rolls jumps off the company lot like a... More >>
• Best Boutique
  Jezebel
  The aroma of candles, incense, and scented oil hits you as soon as you walk through the door of this quaint, crowded little shop. Indeed, boxes of candles and a rack of incense can be found amid the piles of knickknacks and accessories that spill from arrangements stacked on frilly beds with... More >>
• Best Store For Fishing Gear
  Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World
  One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish. That's only a scaly bit of what you'll get at this Parthenon-size homage to the great outdoors and retail. You'll also view native fish like largemouth bass, tarpon, and snook gliding around the store's 30,000-gallon pondlike tank. The fishing and marine... More >>
• Best Cigars
  Cigar Factory
  You can get Cohibas, Arturo Fuentes, and Macanudos at just about any cigar shop. It's only at the Cigar Factory that you can find a Fidel Castro, complete with the dictator's picture on the wrapper. Of course, the Fidel is a strong and brutal smoke. But does it signify anything politically?... More >>
• Best Ploy To Get People To Buy A Faltering Daily Newspaper
  The Herald's Sunday Broward edition fire sale
  The big red X marks the spot for savings! And what a bargain it is. Where else in this great country of ours can you get a doorstop of a newspaper for half a buck? It used to cost 75 cents, but in a transparent effort to stanch the circulation loss north of the Miami-Dade County line, the mighty... More >>
• Best Bookstore
  Barnes & Noble Booksellers
  Sure, there are plenty of mega-bookstore chains out there with a great selection, decent prices, and a helpful sales staff. All things being equal in those departments, however, we prefer a place that also offers a great cup of coffee and a goodly amount of sumptuous overstuffed furniture in... More >>
• Best Used-Book Store
  Trader John's Book & Record
  This place has everything a used-book store should have: prices penciled inside well-thumbed covers; the warm smell of leather, ink, and paper; and books piled on blue milk crates, stuffed in shelves, flapping from racks, and strewn across countertops. The hand-painted sign above the door... More >>
• Best Liquor Store
  ABC Fine Wine & Spirits
  More than simply a repository of all things alcoholic, this megamart of mirth is party headquarters. It's also something of a bookstore, but more on that later. Before shoppers catch sight of a pint, fifth, or gallon of their favorite go-juice, they have to pass by a combination stationery... More >>