big city must-shops

*heres a collection of a few awesome and obscure shopping places that dont get enough recognition. i could make this post pages and pages long because there are so many undiscovered places, but there's no way i would ever be able to get them all. but like on the big city must-eats, just let me know if you guys have any recommendations you'd like me to add, or any places you aren't sure about that you'd like me to research!
p.s. i refuse to include large department stores and other very well known stores, so maybe i should more accurately label this post as "big city ecclectic and very unique must-shops" (except topshop.. but i love it too much not to include it)

NYC- Blue Gear Works

A bewildering collection of evil-themed accessories and necrotic animal talismans, Blue's from a longtime EVillage local who culls his raw material from both squirrelish hoarders (junk peddlers, flea market collectors, etc) and the ultimate discard bin, Nature. Starting with junk-sourced goods, Blue peddles several cufflinks (mid-century dimes and antique coins, sterling silver skulls...) and timepiece-themed accessories, including a dime-sized pendant made from a vintage watch mechanism, and a silver-plated antique pocket watch refaced with voodoo-like charms, e.g., a tiger eye gem (for courage), an onyx stone (to ward off bad intentions), and a menacing, hand painted glass eye (to ward off The Last Action Hero). Animal-themed goods include brass-, silver-, and gold-plated pendants made from hummingbird skulls (found while rooting through leaves and deer remains in the woods), plus necklaces made from the skulls of Asian fruit bats -- besides the aforementioned Schwarzenegger the only known animal to paternally lactate.

buy online here

NYC- TOPSHOP! located on broadway & broome

http://www.topshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/TopCategoriesDisplay?storeId=13052&catalogId=32051

NYC- Hotoveli
271 fourth st. (212)206-7722
(could get a pictures, but there's plenty on their website- http://www.hotoveli.com/)
a dimply lit spot in the west village, its filled with interestingly cut pieces from some of the most progressive designers currently coming out of europe. against the shop's darkly romantic backdrop- dilapidated brink and unfinished cement walls, with old desk lamps hanging like spotlights from exposed copper pipes- the rockerish jewelry by Ugo Cacciatori, deconstructed jackets from Rick Owens, and Ilaria Nistri's beautiful lace dresses feel absolutely right.

venice, CA- Parker Pettit
1337 abbot kinney blvd. (310)399-0505

house in the last of the original bungalows left on Abbot Kinney Blvd., Parker Pettit is one of those shops that you just want to linger in for gours. Owners Jessica Parker and Kris Pettit- a stylist and a designer, respectively- have created an atmosphere that sums up the late '60s: equal parts laid-back hippie and outre Warholian socialite. floor-length indian caftans, amazing embellished pucci dresses, and braided satin belts are artfully arrayed against a psychedelic wall-size mural by local painter Christian Kasperkoviz. plue, be sure to seek out the shop's own small-but-stellar collection of apparel and accessories.
and check out their blog


Miami- Ksubi Denim
Available at Big Drop, Gansevoort South, 2321 Collins Ave, South Beach; 305.532.8800
Check out their sit- tobi.com
Heres some fab. samples-





Atlanta- Astor & Black
also located in new york, boston... and every other major city

Owning a fine custom suit shouldn't be reserved for the idle rich -- after all, when you're that wealthy, you can go pretty much anywhere in a fur bomber hat and hilarious novelty boxers. Get custom suits at benevolent prices, from Astor & Black.
Using fabrics from Scabal, Dormeuil, Loro Piana, and more, A&B offers fully canvassed, handmade suits, jackets, pants, and shirts equal or superior in quality to other custom shops -- but priced less than off-the-rack competitors, whose staffs couldn't be less interested in your happiness, or, more importantly, your handsomeness. Better yet, because you're incredibly busy, A&B will send an expert to fit you at your home or office; they've got representatives all over the country, so provided you actually have a home or office -- and it's not in Newfoundland -- you're golden.

To see how superlative product and surprising savings can live together as harmoniously as Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter-Birney, click here for four glorious wardrobe packages -- buy any of them, and they'll throw in a luxuriant, custom-made dress shirt for free. Because while your own novelty boxers are no doubt hilarious, going to work in them would leave you idly incarcerated.

make an appointment here- http://www.astorandblack.com/
... and while you're at it, heres a custom tailor for any suits not custom done at astor & black..
New York- Enzo Sartori Custom Tailors
165 east 35th street
5th floor
Helmed by a Wall Street youngun aiming to undercut his lewdly expensive competition, Enzo's a shadowy cabal of professional tailors who, lacking a storefront, peddle and fit their luxe fabrics in the comfort of your home/office, but at 50-80% off the retail price -- because every girl's crazy for a sharp-dressed, solvent man. Armed with briefcases bursting with top-of-the-line Italian wools (also used by Zegna, Valentino, Girgio Vallino, etc) running from 120 to 220 thread count, the tailors ensure precision with up to 16 measurements, or up to 20 if they simply can't believe a human head can be that big. Once sized up, you choose every possible suit detail, from single-/double-breasted, to lapel style (indented Gorge, pointy Peak...), to contrasting lining colors, to shoulder shape, e.g., extra slanted for large frames, or roped, in which the sleeve attaches higher on the shoulder to make smaller men look larger, kind of the haberdasher's version of a strategically placed zucchini.

see more here

Atlanta- Nomatique
Friday & Saturday, 10am-7pm:
3400 Around Lenox Rd; Buckhead


Shopping's rife with danger, with the surging crowds, pushy salespeople, and everyone assuming you're a chick. Giving you a better way to buy: Nomatique.

Nomatique's an all-in-one, crazy-discounted shopping experience featuring 70+ brands from 30 ATL boutiques and independent designers, plus music, art, and more, all set in the 10,000sqft space of a former CompUSA, so there's precious little hope of keeping it on the download. Savings range up to 80% off all manner of gear, including Beta Unit's Times New Robot collection, stuff from Alife, BBC, Rock & Republic, Ice Cream, Creative Recreation, and G-Star, and dapper duds from from local shops including Bill Hallman, Fab'rik, Moda404, Standard, and Wish; Drew Lewis alone has corralled 20 brands, including button-ups, shorts, and polos from Paul Smith, and denim, woven shirts, and tees from Rag & Bone, also your patented pickup move, until it earned you a reputation as a jerk. There's loads more going on thanks to local players, including a lounge area decked with Staceage's bright, wet-metallic-finished Spit-Shined furniture (orderable on-site), a garden lounge with bonsai trees and cacti designed by Tokikata, free wi-fi beamed by C-Channel, Fri & Sat sets spun by DJ Rod Summers, art from David Rams and Art Department Gallery, and guest portraits shot by Matt Odom, who describes himself as a "Photographer/Designer/Pirate", although he's also taking classes to become an arrrrchitect.


NewYork- Artsee Eyewear:
863 Washington St, at 13th
212.414.0900‎

Out of where-else-but Hungary and just now in NY, Tipton's avant-girl'd latest splices 8, 16, and 35mm stills from 50s-70s stag films into vintage, mostly-hornrimmed sun- and eyeglass frames constructed entirely of acetate -- for the ironic rush of real boobs on plastic. The flicks are sourced entirely from cinema caches and weird old peoples' flea market stashes; select from already-spliced signature styles (the black, 50s-peepshow Damiano; the steel-grey Wilder with images from 1975's groundbreaking Swinging Cheerleaders), or email them and they'll provide a list of titles from which you can custom-select stills -- making them as amenable to new combinations as the nice ladies whose oeuvre they sample. With an eye toward preserving our shared cultural heritage, Tipton also digitizes every filmstrip they find, and provides buyers with a DVD copy of whatever's in their shades, preventing you from wearing your eyes out trying to scan the length of your stems really, really fast.

Tipton also hawks a crazy diverse range of less fleshy film-glasses, featuring 1940s boxing matches, communist newscasts from the 60s/70s, Soviet space missions, and cartoons Krazy Kat and Popeye -- who as an adolescent you tried to imagine sexually, only to be sidetracked by an inviting pair of combination locks.


ohh and something very cool! check these out-
New York- Renthop

Aiming "to be a better apartment finding alternative to Craigslist", Manhattan-only RentHop publishes available pads being marketed directly by landlords and mgmt companies, while excluding brokers entirely to avoid the spammy posts and bait-and-switch chicanery they've unleashed on Craig's and earlier sites. Their GMap filters by the usual criteria (price, beds, min/max rent) and nabe, and they'll also sort by ascending/descending price, and add listings to a favorites bin; click "Compare/Schedule" to see a faves list side-by-side w/ germane details (price, beds & baths, contact info) and the option to e-sched a viewing -- a great way to embark on a magical future of avoiding your landlord on the phone. Most entries are from larger landlords with multiple properties, but smaller fish can also post after Hop's vetted them by demanding direct contact info, a web site link to the mgmt co or building, and photos of the unit; they'll also call the poster and get them to swear they're not a broker, so the only hucksters likely to break through will be those diabolically cunning enough to say, "Uh, no, I'm not a broker".

Each month, Hop also publishes rent concessions from both management cos and individual buildings (three months free on 15-month lease, etc) -- if after all's said and done you need someone to vouch for your qualities as a tenant, you know who you have to blow.

use it here


JobTitled


Some people waywardly float through their professional lives, while others have known since birth that they're destined to be Urine Specimen Collectors. If you're unfortunate enough to lack that certainty, you need JobTitled. Conceived by a GA Tech & GSU-schooled computer science grad, JT gives a free overview of the directions a slew of careers tend to go, as determined by leveraging job boards, blogs, forums, and public databases for resumes, work histories, and other "historical data", still images of which will be slowly zoomed in on by Ken Burns. Just fill out a resume-like profile, and the site will display your "Career Trajectory", or what your education and professional accomplishments should get you -- so depending on his specs, an Account Exec can expect to hold that job for X amount of time, before spending X time as a Sales Manager, followed by X time as a Partner and, once he determines that despite the aforementioned ascent he's still miserable, X time as an independent biz Owner. If you're pondering a change, search out other jobs by title or degree likely to lead to them, and get a summary of the position, additional qualifications you'll need to advance (34.2% of CFOs have a Master's, 12% of those in finance), and a projected rate of betterment based on "a complex algorithm" -- though unless you're climbing the ranks as a Mathematical Statistician, that pretty much covers all all algorithms.