BOUGHT & SOLD >>

• BEST ADULT VIDEO STORE
  It's a bit on the pricey side ($4.28 per video for two days, tax included, $50 deposit), but Sex World is open 24-7, a real value if you just must have "the only legal version" of Pam and Tommy Lee's home video at 2 a.m. on a Thursday. Respectful service and a huge selections of gay, S&M,... More >>
• BEST ART SUPPLY STORE
  It's the claustrophobic atmosphere of this well-stocked supply shop that draws us back to the West Bank again and again. Towering shelves of handmade papers and the scent of acrylics and oils surround us as we wander in search of pastels, pencils, pressboard, and pushpins. Compared to other... More >>
• BEST BABY GOODS STORE
  Truth be told, you can't really knock the baby superstores. They were inevitable, for one thing--sooner or later warehouse shopping was bound to trickle down to the maternity-and-toddler set. But especially in this day and age, there's something to be said for the personal, homey touch. And you... More >>
• BEST BARBER SHOP
  Lately we've noticed a few copies of Details and Vibe showing up among the Playboys and National Geographics in the tiny waiting area of Lauren Coleman's barber shop, but otherwise very little has changed in the 35 years he's been a fixture at the bustling and continually evolving intersection... More >>
• BEST BIKE SHOP
  We're not wild about all Schwinn cycles, but the high-end models--and the GT and Gary Fisher lines also stocked by this Macalester-neighborhood shop--make it worth the trip to the corner of Snelling and Selby. Serious cyclists and beginning pedalers alike pack the inventory-stuffed shop,... More >>
• BEST BODY PIERCING
  This is a lot like recommending a gynecologist: While you may feel comfortable exposing yourself to a certain doctor, another person will swear that he gives her the heebie-jeebies. So let's toss subjective considerations aside in favor of the three C's--cleanliness, competence, and... More >>
• BEST BOOKSTORE FOR NEW BOOKS
  In recent years, this store has been nearly overshadowed by its reputation--as a book review, a dining spot, and an independent bastion against corporate encroachment. That this little empire was built on a plainly great bookstore can almost slip the mind. So let's acknowledge the obvious:... More >>
• BEST BOOKSTORE FOR USED BOOKS
  The quintessential used bookstore should look as slightly dog-eared and as gently used as its inventory. Every square foot of wall space should be filled with a bookshelf, and if the shelves become too full, the books themselves should begin to determine the store's layout. The mismatched... More >>
• BEST CD STORE FOR NEW CDS
  Advice to Fetus shoppers: When you go in, don't think, just grab--everything that looks good. Don't even think about the expense until you get into your car. The selection is outstanding in every genre; the jazz and world-music shelves may very well be the best in the Midwest. Last time we... More >>
• BEST CD STORE FOR USED CDS
  This fixture in the starving-music-nut scene has grown to six local outlets, but the Lake Street location has it running away for sheer selection. Sure, the walls are lined with posters of unmentionable Euro-acts and the floor is in drastic need of recarpeting, but they have more titles than... More >>
• BEST CHEAP 'DO
  Yes, some of the cosmetologists-in-training look like they just stepped out of a French film, but these waifs are supervised by some of the best in the business: This is, after all, the former training center for the notoriously persnickety Horst Salons, and it remains part of the Horst-founded... More >>
• BEST CHILDREN'S BOOKSTORE
  There's a miniature door-within-a-door at the front entrance of Wild Rumpus, a portal for children that immediately establishes the priorities of this charming Linden Hills book nook. Inside, cats lounge on the overstuffed furniture while parakeets and doves coo in their cages.... More >>
• BEST CIGAR SHOP / TOBACCONIST
  A downtown fixture since 1949, Lewis Pipe & Tobacco (known for years simply as The Smoke Shop) is a habit-forming spot for puffers of every stripe. College kids on their way to a downtown dive will stop in for a pack of Luckies; hotshot lawyers will swing by for the fine cigars used to... More >>
• BEST COMIC BOOK SHOP
  Whether you are in search of a comic as a momentary escape or as a collector's item, DreamHaven has a title for every interest and sensibility. If your tastes run retro, they have racks of EC's weird and creepy tales and the altered reality of underground comics à la The Fabulous Furry... More >>
• BEST COMPUTER REPAIR SERVICE
  Under their skinny black ties, inside their cartoon cars, and behind their honest-to-God badges, these "special agents" hide some serious technological talent. These are the guys you call when anything from your 50-terminal office network to your lone pre-Pentium Gateway crashes. They'll come... More >>
• BEST COMPUTER STORE
  For most people, "best computer store" is probably an oxymoron. How else to explain the spectacular popularity of mail-order operations like Gateway 2000? If it's not the scattershot inventory of some superstore dabbling in "personal electronics" that drives you to the catalogs, it's the... More >>
• BEST ELECTRONICS (AUDIOPHILE)
  DTS, AC-3, DVD, DSS, D-VHS--in the age of digital A/V, this classy playroom's paid perfectionists will help you sort out the many acronyms. The store's elegant pair of listening rooms house the very latest technology--which, at the peak of the high end, is actually old technology (e.g., tubes... More >>
• BEST ELECTRONICS (PROLETARIAN)
  These days the prole's A/V outlet of choice might well be a 1-800 mail-order company found in the back pages of Stereo Review et al. But as a place to see and hear your affordable fetish object before bringing it home, Best Buy is tough to beat, and the cavernous flagship store off I-494 and... More >>
• BEST FLORIST
  Not many people understand the power of a delphinium. A trailing spike of blue as deep as the Pacific with highlights the color of a July morning, the flower would be easy to drown in a mixed bouquet. But what if, instead, you were to display a single one of the nodding clusters amid pearly... More >>
• BEST GREETING CARD SHOP
  Done correctly, a greeting card can carry the punch of a David Letterman one-liner. Unfortunately, most cards are written for people who find "knock-knock" jokes hysterical, or, at a minimum, have difficulty discerning an honest emotion from a purchased one. But somehow, the buyer at dooDah has... More >>
• BEST HARDWARE STORE
  Although it's a crying shame that this store replaced what was once the best out-of-the-way bowling alley in South Minneapolis, Nicollet Ace fills a need in its own way. Sure, you can't knock down the pins and slam down the brews, but you'll literally get more bang for your buck with a pound of... More >>
• BEST HIV TESTING
  A local legend in the fight against sexually transmitted disease, the Red Door is discreet, professional, and caring. All they want from you, in addition to a bit of blood, is a $10 donation. Counseling is available as well, along with an early intervention program--which includes blood workups... More >>
• BEST HOBBY SHOP
  Inner child need nurturing? Forget the therapist: Try National Hobby. Here are the radio-controlled cars you can design and drive yourself; the kits from which to build commercial airliners and Tomcat fighters that really fly; the three-stage model rockets that let you become a NASA astronaut... More >>
• BEST JEWELER
  Get on Lyndale Avenue and go south. Now keep going until you're almost positive you're lost. Just before you resolve to turn around, a small black-and-white sign with a diamond-like emblem will direct you into the parking lot of a building that looks more like a well-designed house than a set... More >>
• BEST KITSCH PALACE
  Collectors, look no further. Within the walls of 15 Minutes sit toys and games and curios of all eras and all degrees of taste--from the occasional Nightmare Before Christmas figurine to something as banal as a Jolly Green Giant jigsaw puzzle. The obsessiveness of collecting has no fuller... More >>
• BEST LINGERIE
  Lingerie stores in the Twin Cities seem to be divided into two groups: those that sell titillating threads of leather and latex and those that offer dreamy concoctions of satin and lace. Someone could make a lot of money combining those two styles--plus the cotton-bra rack at Target--into one... More >>
• BEST LOCAL INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER
  A high-tech company you can call on an old-fashioned voice line and actually get help--need we say more? Vector's tech people are more than happy to give advice on avoiding e-mail spam, putting your own Web page on the Internet, and fixing your browser's nasty habit of chewing up files. For the... More >>
• BEST NEWSSTAND
  The Holy Grail of ink-stained wretches throughout the city, the Hennepin Shinder's in downtown Minneapolis continues to fight the good fight against the online info revolution. With some 2,800 titles in stock (not counting comics and soft-core adult fare), you can find magazines devoted to most... More >>
• BEST NOVELTY STORE
  This is the kind of store you wish had been around when you were a kid. It carries everything from miniature plastic trolls to rubber-chicken key chains to Speed Racer stickers and Elvis lamps (a ceramic bust of the King is crowned by a two-toned lampshade)--not to mention all the stuff you... More >>
• BEST NURSERY (TAME)
  Sure, you'll get your tomato seedlings here, and your petunias, even your mixed gladiolus bulbs. But Bachman's real forte is steering gardeners to the higher reaches of horticulture simply by showing us what's possible. Need to spice up that drab hosta patch by the walk? Chartreuse-and-gold... More >>
• BEST NURSERY (WILD)
  Let's not exaggerate: It's not as if planting wildflowers is some kind of botanical redemption that would cause prairies to spring from parking lots and entice buffalo herds to the strip malls. But there's something irresistible about a bit of prairie (or, if you have some of those great big... More >>
• BEST PAWNSHOP
  Think of pawnshops as America's collective garage sale--with one important difference: Here, most of the merchandise is actually useful. While Metro Pawn is smaller than many of the now-ubiquitous franchises, it's packed floor to ceiling with brand-name goodies. In addition to a selection of... More >>
• BEST PLACE TO RENT FOREIGN VIDEOS
  Or should we say "Best Place to Rent Foreign Films"? Literally defined, "foreign videos" would refer to tapes imported from abroad and then converted to the U.S. video standard, the business of which is both risky for the merchant and essential to the connoisseur. But since last year's winner,... More >>
• BEST PLACE TO SATISFY YOUR JAPANESE CULTURE JONES
  Inside the squat temple of banality that is the Mall of America lies one guilty pleasure, made possible not by resisting consumerism, but by perfecting it: the Sanrio Gift Gate. Asian teenage girls and white twentysomething fashion victims wander among familiar icons, from the rosy-cheeked frog... More >>
• BEST SALVAGE YARD
  This isn't the kind of place where your finds are cleaned up, sorted, and given price tags. This is the kind of salvage yard where, upon finding 20 feet of the exact plate rail that's half-gone from your 1909 dining room, you schlep it downstairs to a guy in greasy coveralls who eyeballs... More >>
• BEST SCHOOL FOR DOGS
  For the past 176 dog years (since 1958), Ruth Foster has trained dogs in one capacity or another. She's the associate director of the University of Minnesota's Center to Study Human Animal Relationships and Environments, a teacher, and a judge for the American Kennel Club, and until recently... More >>
• BEST SKATE SHOP
  Cal Surf has been a staple of the Uptown/Lakes scene for better than a decade now, providing the extreme-sports cult with toys that roll, float, and slide. In addition to skateboards from the likes of Zooyork and World Industry, Cal Surf has soft-boot and traditional inline skates in both... More >>
• BEST SPORTING GOODS STORE
  True story: A man bought his wife a $100 gift certificate from Play It Again Sports last Christmas in the hope that she would get herself either cross-country skis or a pair of ice skates. After two hours in the Southtown store, she walked out with exactly the size and style of used skis... More >>
• BEST TATTOO PARLOR
  This place was the talk of the King's Court Tattoo Convention last November, and the local buzz still hasn't died down. Located well off the beaten path in pastoral Hopkins, Electric Dragonland isn't the shady concern you imagine when you think of a tattoo parlor. Gone are the long rows of... More >>
• BEST THRIFT STORE
  At DAV, the piles of junk and whatsits stay in the back room; here, merchandise that is for sale is neatly organized and in solid condition. You may be a bit less likely to find a hidden treasure, but most of what you buy will be worth hauling up the stairs to your apartment: On a recent visit,... More >>
• BEST TOY STORE
  There are two Explore Stores at the Science Museum. One caters to adults and features games, books, executive toys, etc., and is remarkably easy to lose yourself in. The other is for kids. If you happen upon the latter at the same time as a busload of 9-year-olds, you'll witness first-hand the... More >>
• BEST UNPAINTED FURNITURE
  Bang your shins on the wide selection at this two-story temple to freedom from finish. Naked woods--alder, aspen, basswood, beech, birch, cedar, maple, oak, pine--provide a sawmill aroma for the manifold styles on display, from semi-Provincial to Stickleyesque Mission to semi-Danish. Budget... More >>
• BEST UPSCALE THRIFT STORE
  What with the Beemers and urban muscle-utes parked outside, we might be forgiven for thinking that the maniacally attentive staff at this Wayzata boardwalk storefront tailed us suspecting we were shoplifters. At least until the gushiest of the salesladies--and they are ladies, as in ladies who... More >>
• BEST USED FURNITURE (CHEAPER THAN DIRT)
  There are people who buy brand new furniture. There are others who buy antiques. If you can't afford either, you're stuck with veneered particle board or good, used furniture. But how to assure the latter? Principle number one: screening. "We keep about a quarter of the stuff that's coming to... More >>
• BEST USED FURNITURE (VINTAGE)
  If you can make it past the first two floors of vintage decorations at this antique mega-center without blowing all your cash, the third floor will empty your wallet. The hangar-sized room houses just about every kind of table, chair, cabinet, desk, dresser, bed, or shelving unit you can... More >>
• BEST USED MACHINE GRAVEYARD
  Sig Harris, the 76-year-old, second-generation proprietor defines the massive stock Harris Machinery has accumulated on its five-acre spread since 1903 by degrees of obsolescence. "Blowers aren't very good business anymore."--"The motor business isn't what it used to be."--"Dunnage bags: I... More >>
• BEST VETERINARIAN
  While any house pet can check in for treatment, most often Fluffy and Fido end up here after their friendly neighborhood vet--a UM alum, chances are--throws up her hands. That's because the University of Minnesota Veterinary Teaching Hospital specializes in caring for the truly infirm, the... More >>
• BEST VIDEO RENTAL
  Every year, the sign above Discount's flashing marquee--Your Neighborhood Video Store Since 1981--represents a more impressive claim. Betamax has come and gone; Wayne Huizenga and his Blockbuster chain have boomed and busted; Title Wave has gone Hollywood; and Discount is still here in... More >>
• BEST VINTAGE CLOTHING STORE
  There is, of course, plenty of fodder for sociocultural rumination in the retro-costuming trend--but sometimes a dress is just a dress, and anybody who tells you different probably isn't having much fun anyway. Lula has a fab selection of just-a-dresses, along with gabardine suits and Holly... More >>
• BEST VINYL (LISTENABLE)
  The upstairs at Let It Be has rare James Brown 45s, Can LPs, and a constantly growing selection of gorgeous jazz albums. But it's the dance-music shop in the basement that draws us back again and again. Not only is it stocked with hundreds of very hard to find techno, drum 'n' bass, hip-hop,... More >>
• BEST VINYL (WEARABLE)
  Lava Lounge's newly opened, roomier Lyn-Lake digs are decorated in blue and silver instead of red and black, giving the raver shop a new mood that's light, sleek, and airy instead of dense and sinful. Of course, we'd shop at Lava Lounge even if it were in a Ridgedale kiosk: For trashy clothes... More >>