BOUGHT & SOLD >>

• BEST ARCHITECTURAL SALVAGE
  A little-known but accurate axiom is that organization is the spice of architectural salvage. In this case, "organization" means that little kick that turns a casual browse into a purposeful, focused buying expedition. Art & Architecture knows organization. Dozens of vintage windows, stained... More >>
• BEST ART SUPPLIES
  Browsing a good art-supply store is like foreplay, or maybe more like cruising, but at any rate the experience can hold the anticipatory pleasure of presaging a greater pleasure. This jam-packed independent has an inspiring atmosphere that just might make your next masterwork all the more... More >>
• BEST BIKE SHOP
  Entering One on One from Washington Avenue will lead you to a coffee shop like so many others, with hardwood floors and local art on the walls. But customers taking their bikes in for repair will have to take the back way, the sort of creepy way—the way that involves venturing down the... More >>
• BEST BOOKSTORE (CHAIN)
  We want to reject Borders and its jack-of-all-trades, master-of-nothing MO. For one thing, Borders, like all of the big-biz bookstores, has become less and less bookish, steadily deemphasizing its stock-in-trade to make room for more cute diaries, MOR CDs, and Curb Your Enthusiasm DVDs. The... More >>
• BEST BOOKSTORE (INDIE)
  "Independently owned" is retail's rockiest road, particularly in the book racket. Squeezed by online giants, hounded by avaricious landlords, perused and abused by a fickle clientele often more interested in looking than buying—is it any wonder that so many booksellers have abandoned... More >>
• BEST BOOKSTORE (USED)
  Uptown was never the "white, black, Puerto Rican, everybody just-a-freakin'" Shangri-La Prince describes in the neighborhood's semiofficial anthem, but back in the '80s and early '90s it was fairly cool, with its punks lingering and panhandling in front of McDonalds, Pavement playing a packed... More >>
• BEST BOUTIQUE
  The spring-green facade of this shop is easy to miss. Hidden in the shadows just off of Uptown's main drag, Design Collective is an incubator for new designers. The suspended wire racks hold nothing but local creations, from completely original pieces to thick-knitted accessories to old apparel... More >>
• BEST CD STORE (NEW)
  Though it hosts its share of in-stores and attracts music geeks of various passions, the Fetus isn't a hangout; it's too big and busy for proper record-counter breeze shooting. (Or to trot out an old joke: No one goes there anymore—it's too crowded.) The store's non-hangout status is... More >>
• BEST CD STORE (USED)
  Our one gripe with Cheapo is their nutty taxonomic system, especially how the powers that be divide what could be a huge but user-friendly pop/rock section into "classic rock," "modern rock," "metal," "punk rock," "punkabilly with some modest jazz-fusion influences," etc. Okay, not that last... More >>
• BEST CLOTHING (MEN)
  Let's get some technical matters out of the way first. At Top Shelf, you'll generally be getting made-to-measure rather than bespoke clothes. A bespoke garment is something made from a pattern specifically cut for the buyer and sewn in-house; a made-to-measure garment is sewn, usually at an... More >>
• BEST COMIC BOOK SHOP
  Dreamhaven has the most stuff (including a world-class selection of science fiction, fantasy, and horror books), while Nostalgia Zone offers vintage comics galore. But Big Brain's bright, cheery ambience and cultural relevance would have it in the catbird seat, even if the place's intelligent... More >>
• BEST COMPUTER REPAIR
  Don't be daunted if General NanoSystems is packed when you bring your ailing PC in. (Sorry, Mac users, you'll have to go elsewhere.) Simply set your computer on one of the store's many tables and relax. A technician will be at your side within minutes, lending an understanding ear and offering... More >>
• BEST DOG TRAINING
  Ask any metro-area canine adoption agency or foster family how best to teach an ill-tempered pooch some manners, and you'll understand why the Twin Cities Obedience Training Club has earned the distinction of "Best Dog Training" two years running. "Go to the TCOTC," they'll say reflexively (some... More >>
• BEST DVD RENTAL
  Not content to remain merely the Cities' most discerning collector of film art on DVD, the video store at the edge of the Wedge has actually endeavored to make culture at a time when all of cinephilia seems under siege. One indication of that immodest effort can be found in the shop's reference... More >>
• BEST ELECTRONICS (AUDIOPHILE)
  Maybe your accountant showed you the money this year, but ours sure didn't. So while no recession will likely put the bottom line above the high-end when it comes to our audiophilic addictions, the faint hint of affordability does make it easier to...well, succumb. Among the upscale variety of... More >>
• BEST ELECTRONICS (PROLETARIAN)
  Your gramps probably got his UHF antenna here—maybe even your great-gramps. Now, in the mid-'00s, this classic ode to connectivity has regained its signal by embracing wireless tech while keeping all its cables, couplers, splitters, adapters, and extension cords online, too. Seriously: If... More >>
• BEST GARDEN CENTER
  Come early April, Minnesota gardeners are suffering from serious flower envy. Our friends to the south of us are happily cutting tulips and daffodils from their perennial gardens while we're forced to fake it for another seven weeks by filling out vases with supermarket bouquets. Toward the end... More >>
• BEST GIFT STORE
  St. Paul's Ax-Man is our go-to for gag gifts. And if you're going to give us a gift, visit Uptown's Robot Love. Unfortunately, a pound of marbles or a Gamma-Glo deathbot T-shirt isn't everyone's cup of tea, so thank goodness there's Patina. With an inventory of the silly but functional (kitschy... More >>
• BEST GOLF SHOP
  One glance at the Golf Club Hospital tells you they've been plying their noble trade for decades. (Since 1967, in fact.) If the hand-painted window display doesn't tip you off, the wares inside surely will. Hell, even their website has a retro feel. But step inside the tiny storefront to watch... More >>
• BEST HAIRCUT
  Beautifciation at the Aveda Institute doesn't come fast. But to indulge in Aveda pampering—tea, scalp massage, earthy and luxurious products—at rock-bottom prices, you can set your schedule aside for an hour. Twelve bucks gets you a cut and style, while color costs between $25 and... More >>
• BEST HARDWARE STORE
  It wasn't only the big-box home-improvement giants that threatened to squash this 45-year-old hardware store last year. In July, condos were slated to move in and promptly boot the hardware store out. Proposed as "Gardner Lofts," the brainchild of a real-estate group called Shamrock Development... More >>
• BEST LAUNDROMAT
  If you're anything like us, and Lord help you if you are, you suffer from a little problem known as listobia—a fear of having to devote chunks of your weekend to such mundane and time-consuming tasks as washing clothes. Thankfully, the Rainbow Laundromat offers proven-to-work immersion and... More >>
• BEST MUSIC STORE (CHAIN)
  Guitar Center should have changed its name long ago. Granted, the leviathan offers a plethora of Fenders, Gibsons, and numerous other brand-name axes, all festooning a room half the size of Rhode Island and often heavily discounted. But delve deeper into the maze and you'll find equally imposing... More >>
• BEST MUSIC STORE (LOCAL YOKEL)
  It's almost impossible not to be shocked by Groth Music's interior at first glance. The place is spacious enough to park a 747, with room left over for a fleet of golf carts and a course to drive them around on. Give yourself a minute to adjust to the store's scale, and you'll encounter a... More >>
• BEST PET ADOPTION
  Owning a parrot or other exotic bird isn't for everyone, and the folks at the Midwestern Avian Adoption and Rescue Services (MAARS), the largest avian-only adoption, shelter, and sanctuary organization in the United States, will be the first to tell you that. The birds are destructive and messy... More >>
• BEST PIANO TUNERS
  Acoustic pianos aren't the household fixtures they once were, but they're still fairly prevalent, and most of them have more character and music in them than a fleet of state-of-the-art digitals. If, that is, you don't neglect the poor wooden behemoths. Now, some nimble keyboardists can conjure... More >>
• BEST PLACE TO BUY STRIPPER CLOTHES
  For the first time since Sonny Lester's 1963 LP How to Strip for Your Husband, exotic dancing has come into vogue as an at-home activity, with Borders selling instructional DVDs in the exercise section and online stores hawking brass poles designed to fit in an unused corner of the house.... More >>
• BEST PLACE TO BUY VINYL
  Grandmaster Flash had adventures on the wheels of steel, not skylarkings on the laser semiconductor of polycarbonate (or whatever). In other words, hip hop and vinyl go together like bluegrass and mandolins. At the recently expanded Fifth Element, the digital/analog battle logically goes to the... More >>
• BEST PLACE TO DROP OFF YOUR KID FOR A WHILE
  Anyone with children knows the grind of childcare. It's not easy getting people to look after your ankle-biters, after all. Childcare is expensive, it adds to your commute time, and sometimes childcare professionals can seem a little sketchy. Thankfully, our Scandinavian friends have come up... More >>
• BEST PLACE TO GET LOST WHILE RUNNING ERRANDS
  Somewhere in those four unheated warehouse floors full of every imaginable house part from the last century is just what you need for your weekend home improvement project. You'll most likely find it, but that's not why you should come to this place. Bauer Brothers is a dusty, rambling tribute... More >>
• BEST PLACE TO RENT FOREIGN FILMS
  Amazingly, the much-touted alt-film industry crisis doesn't seem to have impeded the ongoing growth of this border-crossing multiculti kingpin, whose Bollywood section alone now takes up more than a dozen shelves. Import DVDs abound here, of course, but, contrary to popular opinion, out-of-print... More >>
• BEST SHOE STORE
  This shop in Calhoun Square may be small, but it looms large in the imagination of Twin Cities shoe fanciers. Why? Because Bay Street stocks fun shoes in every category. Urban women can flirt with paisley pumps with leopard ties while the Sex and the City set head for turquoise suede cork... More >>
• BEST THRIFT STORE
  This St. Paul thrift store is paradise for OCD sufferers. Despite its function as a giant receptacle for random used goods, everything at Unique Thrift store—from travel-size shampoos to teeny bottles of gold glitter paint—can come in handy for any random ocassion. Recently broke a... More >>
• BEST TOBACCONIST
  This isn't the smoke shop you pop into for a pack of P-Funks before you hit the (nonsmoking) bars. If that's what you're looking for, hit up any generic corner store with "Tobacco" in big, bright-red block letters. If what you seek are some of the finest cigars and pipe and rolling tobacco, the... More >>
• BEST TOY STORE
  The Japanese have this word, otaku. It's used to describe foreigners who get a little too excited about anime, manga, and action figures from video games that don't exist in the U.S. There's a good chance the Twin Cities otaku already know about Robot Love. After all, this is the store that... More >>
• BEST USED FURNITURE
  With the sudden demise of Theatre Antiques a few weeks ago, there are few places for the thrifty hipster to furniture-shop for those mid-century Eames-style home decorating masterpieces that the Walker Art Center keeps reminding us that we love. Sure, there's Design Within Reach near Uptown, but... More >>
• BEST VIDEO RENTAL
  Faced with the DVD juggernaut a few years ago, Nicollet Village Video chose to switch rather than fight, introducing the new format alongside the old not a moment too soon—at least judging by the recent demise of VHS-devoted Discount Video. April 2006 marks the first month in which not a... More >>
• BEST YARN STORE
  The Yarnery feels more like a home than a shop—the home of some kind yarn-lovers who have filled every nook and hall with bright wools, alpacas, and mohairs, all neatly arranged on wooden shelves. Even non-knitters are advised to visit the Yarnery for color therapy in the winter, but... More >>