Shopping & Services >>

• Best shop for burlesque performers looking for glam trim
  B&Q
  Any diva worth her salt in vaudevillian show business knows that when it's time to make a set of killer pasties and a pair of bejeweled knickers, you can't skimp on the glitz. Donning unforgettably original ensembles helps separate you from the flock. That said, tassel-twirlers hoping to invent... More >>
• Best spot to grab a used book and a corn dog
  Freebird Books & Goods
  Books and coffee go hand in hand. "But books and corn dogs?" you ask. Don't be silly—of course they do. Freebird Books & Goods, with its lovely secluded patio, extensive collection of used and new books, and, yes, corn dogs, is the perfect place to make a lazy Sunday afternoon of it.... More >>
• Best quirky gifts
  Daily 235
  You're in a hurry to get to a party, but you're a creative lad or lass, so bringing wine or flowers simply won't do. That's when it's time to stop in at Daily 235, a small, brightly colored wonderland of gifts that's heavy on the kitsch, oddball gags, and zany treats ("Frenching" gum, squirting... More >>
• Best used bookstore that's not the Strand
  Alabaster Bookshop
  Of all the legendary secondhand bookstores that once lined Fourth Avenue, there is but one spiritual descendant, and it's straight out of central casting: the Alabaster Bookshop, which has faded carpets, a resident cat, and even a vintage lamp whose base is a stylized stack of tomes. Though just... More >>
• Best boutique to buy designer jeans in the East Village
  CoCo & Delilah
  We're not ones for spending lots of money on clothes, but something about CoCo & Delilah makes the bills part from our wallets like waves in the Red Sea. Though they have lots of lovely tunic tops, delicate party dresses, and finely crafted standout blouses with glittery gold stripes, they... More >>
• Best little auto shop that fights big oil
  Urban Classic Auto
  Urban Classic Auto is a little one-story shop with three bays sitting at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn Heights. David Goldsmith does a nice job repairing cars, classic and otherwise. He is also most certainly the only New York City auto mechanic to go on national TV blasting Dick... More >>
• Best mechanic
  Kenny Lee
  There are two things you can be certain of on Smith Street these days: a precious new restaurant or crapatorium going up every other month, and Kenny Lee of the Lee Brothers auto shop. When you're using the words "best" and "auto mechanic" in the same sentence, it usually comes down to degrees... More >>
• Best funky haircut under $30
  Top Model Salon
  Nestled in the heart of Chinatown, Top Model Salon caters mainly to an Asian clientele, but for anyone with straight hair, $30, and a penchant for a Hong Kong or Tokyo style, this is the place to go. The stylists aren't afraid to tell you that your hair is boring, and they're itching to liven up... More >>
• Best bike shop you can't afford
  SBR Multisports
  If you're one of those people who don't think living in our fair city is tough enough and who enjoy battering themselves numb on the weekends, SBR Multisports might be your kind of joint. SBR is one of those rare bike shops that caters specifically to triathletes. Owner Christophe Vandaele, 34,... More >>
• Best place to wine and dine your dog
  Dream Dog
  Feel like doing something special for Tinkerbell? Take her to the Dream Dog spa at the Benjamin Hotel. Inside the suite, a stuffed-animal dog toy and a welcome card with Tinkerbell's name on it await. If you go out on the town, Tinkerbell can just lounge about in the room in her terrycloth... More >>
• Best reason to cut the Netflix cord
  New York Public Library
  They're not proud, all those movie nerds checking out DVDs from the local public library, but they are smart. Instead of handing Netflix a monthly $16.99 plus tax for three DVDs at a time, they're hauling home films by the half-dozen—for free. The New York Public Library offers something... More >>
• Best department-store bathroom
  ladies' room at Bergdorf Goodman
  Just south of Central Park, a few yards from the Pulitzer fountain where a near-nude Zelda Fitzgerald famously frolicked, is an unheralded New York treasure: the ladies' room at Bergdorf Goodman. This sanctuary, open to all (well, all females) and located in the cosmetic department on the lower... More >>
• Best place to buy a fake designer bag besides Canal Street
  Fifth Avenue from 14th to 18th streets
  If the rigors of Canal Street are too much for your faint heart, you can still buy a wonderful fake designer bag from one of the friendly vendors around town. The stretch of Fifth Avenue from 14th to 18th streets invariably offers a fine selection of convincingly rendered padlocked Chloe... More >>
• Best way to handle the stress of shopping at Century 21
  Buy whatever you're even remotely interested in, try it on in the luxurious confines of your own home, and then dump it all—or at least most of
  What people won't endure to buy a designer outfit for a few bucks off! At the once-lovable Century 21, the current draconian security measures would make even Mother Teresa feel like a thief, provided she wore expensive clothes. The clothes are wired and locked to the racks, requiring you to... More >>
• Best cheap designer store
  Marc Jacobs
  The genius of Marc Jacobs—his stewardship of Louis Vuitton, the way he manages to be the toast of two continents and yet still be found making out with hot guys in louche watering holes to this day—is further evidenced by his boutique on Bleecker Street, an accessories emporium... More >>
• Best place to study vintage clothes
  Manhattan Vintage Clothing Show
  Three times a year, the Manhattan Vintage Clothing Show sweeps into Manhattan, featuring 100-odd dealers selling 100-odd years' worth of vintage clothes. The $20 admission is admittedly steep, but in exchange, you get to examine everything close up—from 1950s Mainbocher gowns to 1970s... More >>
• Best salon for African-American women to get their hair done
  Turning Heads Salon & Day Spa
  Sistahs, listen up. If you've ever been horrified by hairdressers who have singed your tresses with hot combs or ripped out chunks while cornrowing, Turning Heads Salon & Day Spa is worth checking out. Not only are they super-gentle (no matter how knotty that 'fro is, they'll practically massage... More >>
• Best alternative to a real movie theater in Williamsburg
  East Coast Aliens
  As the debate rages on about who's gonna do what to the developing waterfront areas in B'burg and G'point, one idea always in the mix and yet to be actualized is a movie theater. History books (or, um, Google) tell us that Greenpoint was once home to a bevy of theaters, many of them born out of... More >>
• Best super-vegan- restrictive-diet bakery that still tastes good
  Babycakes NYC
  Got one of those friends (maybe you?) that's kinda like John Travolta in The Boy in the Plastic Bubble? You know the type: the pale, possibly anemic, allergic-to-everything sickee who must abide by the strictest dietary requirements or else puff up like that blueberry-gum-chompin' kid from Willy... More >>
• Best Williamsburg shopping for guys' clothes
  Pop
  Dude, I feel ya, bro: Sometimes even the most die-hard fashionisters (the male counterpart of fashionistas, natch) need a respite from the trucker hat and the ironic pink unicorn tees. At this point, the irony overload has you so fuddled you can't even remember if you grew that Magnum, P.I.... More >>
• Best cheap stuff for home renovations
  Build It Green NYC!
  Considering the harsh statistics—such as the fact that around 13,000 tons of construction waste are generated every day in the five boroughs, and that around 2 percent of the world's global climate change is credited to landfill-generated methane gas, nothing less than high-fives and bear... More >>
• Best bedding-supply store
  Sleep
  It's kinda funny—and a sign of how things change—that the swanky, über-female pamper parlor Sleep popped up right across the street from the infamous (and now-closed) testosterone-fueled punk bar Sweet Water. It's sort of fitting, in a yin/yang, right brain/left brain kinda way.... More >>
• Best black-metal/ extreme-noise record store
  Hospital Productions
  Looking for the newest jams from, uh, Hair Police, Ahlzagailzehguh, or Bloodhammer? Thank you, Hospital Productions! No longer do we have to fly to Bergen, Norway, or drive to Providence, Rhode Island, or deal with sketchy websites in order to satiate our jones for extreme noise—you know,... More >>
• Best flea market in Brooklyn
  P.S. 321
  For years now, all year round, P.S. 321 gets transformed every Saturday and Sunday into a thriving flea market for knickknacks, antiques, and furniture—good, cheap furniture, even (this writer found a killer wood dresser in near-perfect condition for a measly $60)—as well as loads of... More >>
• Best yoga studio for practitioners seeking more than a firm ass
  Greenhouse Holistic
  These days, when it's become much more common to find yoga classes that have degenerated into your basic cardio workout, serious yoga practicers looking for bona fide Sadhana "teachers"—not just Vedic-tinged aerobics instructors­—should check out Greenhouse Holistic. Offering... More >>
• Best vintage boutique turned book publisher
  No. 6
  On a typical day at the vintage gold mine No. 6, '60s bohemian styles imported from Paris and classic YSL and Alaia mix with must-have shoes, bags, and dresses by contemporary designers. But last fall, something altogether different appeared: small burgundy-colored books filled with the artwork... More >>
• Best hipster movers
  The Good Move
  Moving is one of the most miserable experiences in life, even if you're one of those overly organized weirdos who doesn't do everything at the last minute. The best-case scenario would involve having some cute guys do the moving for you—and not your boyfriend and his friends, who are... More >>
• Best hairdresser for long layers plus Japanese food advice
  Kelly at Lotus Salon
  I used to have a hairdresser come to my house and (depending how drunk he was) give me great haircuts while I watched TV. When he got deported, I didn't know what to do. I hate sitting in the chair and staring at myself while carrying on boring small talk with some super-dumb gay guy or... More >>
• Best pharmacologist
  Daniel Cohen
  We know what you're thinking, sicko: This Dr. Dan guy must dole out the happy pills like jelly beans, right? Well, no. Clearly, he believes in pills—that's his job—but we never get that creepy "wouldn't you like to be even happier?" feeling from him either. Daniel Cohen will give it... More >>
• Best dog-walker who can also introduce you to your future spouse (1 Comment)
  David Shernoff
  Well, sort of. David Shernoff, the man behind Dogs by Dave, a dog-walking, pet-sitting service in downtown Brooklyn, is responsible for at least one gay marriage so far. When a disgruntled client talked about being unsatisfied with life as a bond trader, Shernoff—who is quite satisfied... More >>
• Best spooky old jewelry
  Pippin
  If you're like me and break or lose things easily, the chances of Great-Aunt Edith's ring collection winding up in your careless hands are pretty slim. Swear you're going to take care of your things better and fill that empty jewelry box with snazzy heirlooms from Pippin. Though the store... More >>
• Best place for my mom to cruise for young gay men
  The Container Store
  My mom really gets along with the gays. In fact, it runs in the family. She also really likes to have the perfect container for everything: tiny little ones for leftover bacon fat, pretty glass ones for homemade ginger syrup, square ones for flour and sugar, and so on. These two passions are... More >>
• Best place to get grown-up kitchenware
  Bowery Restaurant Supply
  The fear of shelling out $350 for a frying pan is enough to keep some of us in a state of culinary arrested development. And although your apartment might be about the same size as your college dorm room, there comes a time to toss those dollar-store plastic spatulas of youth and buy a decent... More >>
• Best free stuff that doesn't involve getting in a dumpster
  ThriftOn!
  Let's face it—secondhand store Beacon's Closet isn't going to take your ill-advised Forever 21 dresses from two summers ago. Plus, getting coolly rejected by them and the equally discerning Buffalo Exchange nearby is enough to make anyone believe that the stores are in cahoots to make... More >>
• Best therapeutic ass-whuppin'
  Village Chinese Therapy Center
  Ever wonder why painful tension in your neck lives on despite that weekly visit to the massage parlor or acupuncturist? It's because touchy-feely body rubs and pins in the eyelids don't cut it when your life sucks and you blame your boss and your spouse—and your boss again—for... More >>
• Best overall shopping experience—full workout included
  Aqueduct Flea Market
  What happens when you dump the merchandise from Kmart, Target, Wal-Mart, H&M, and those handy gadgets sold via late-late-night infomercials in the parking lot of one of the biggest racetracks in town; split up the goods among 500 neatly lined merchants peddling out of stalls, vans, and boxes;... More >>
• Best proof that Mom and Pops are still the No. 1 providers
  The Hardware
  Fuck Home Depot! The so-called "You can do it. We can help" hardware super-franchise doesn't vibe with the needs of urban homeowners. What's up with closing stores between 9 p.m. and midnight? Any home-care provider worth its weight in salt knows that major shit doesn't break down until the wee... More >>
• Best liquor tastings
  LeNell's
  At first blush, LeNell's doesn't seem like a liquor store run by alcohol aficionados. Though billed as a wine and spirit boutique, it offers none of the prim organization and informative descriptions of an Astor Place Spirits or a Vintage New York. Rather, the proprietors have organized one wine... More >>
• Best baubles
  Erie Basin
  Next to Fairway in Red Hook lies the Erie Basin, a sludgy inlet boasting the remains of several boats, rotting docks, and no little amount of refuse. But a much nicer place to dock oneself is the shop just a few blocks away that borrows the Erie Basin name, but reeks of no such corruption or... More >>
• Best needle exchange
  Brooklyn General Store
  Most New York ladies are experts at bitching, but as home economics is banished from the high-school curriculum, many of us aren't nearly as adept at stitching. How will we ever make our trousseaux? Thankfully, the women who run Brooklyn General Store can remedy this gross defect. They offer... More >>
• Best way to feel like a (drunken) kid again
  Drinky Shrinky Dinks
  As a child, I always felt vaguely cheated by the concept of Shrinky Dinks. I would cut out the pictures of the Smurfs and Scooby Doo, color them in assiduously, place them on a cookie sheet, put them in the oven, and watch excitedly as they . . . got smaller? Where's the fun in that! I wanted... More >>
• Friendliest menswear
  Hollander and Lexer
  Too often, a high price tag occasions an accompanying hauteur—the more chichi the boutique, the chillier the sales associates. But even those frigid shopgirls and shopboys would thaw amid the costly goods and contagious warmth at Boerum Hill's Hollander and Lexer. Owners Hicham Benmira... More >>
• Best incipient retail phenomenon
  MUJI
  New York cool hunters getting their shop on in Tokyo, Paris, and London have long made a beeline for MUJI, the Japanese retailer whose affordable, super-minimalist, environmentally conscious product lines have developed a global cult following. Short for Mujirushi Ryohin, meaning "No-brand... More >>
• Best Zen frenzy
  Trader Joe's
  Regulars have their reasons. Thai lime & chili peanuts. Chocolate-covered pretzels. Instant spicy chai latte mix. Personally, I queue up at least once a week for the outrageously cheap pomegranate juice, $4.49 a quart, about half what you'd pay for an over-designed bottle of Pom. If the mobbed... More >>
• Best place to get lit
  Remains Lighting
  With the recent demise of one of the city's most delightful specialty stores, Just Bulbs, those in search of odd or hard-to-find bulbs probably will either be left in the dark (figuratively, if not literally) or will be forced to buy their antique, Edison-type hairpin-filament lamps at specialty... More >>
• Best place to plan that little getaway to Northern Germany (circa 1877), Palestine and Syria (circa 1894), or Mexico (circa 1909)
  Complete Traveller Antiquarian Bookstore
  If your present financial situation is such that you can't afford to cross the street—much less the Atlantic—indulge your inner wanderer with a couple of red-backed, vintage Baedeker travel guides from Complete Traveller Antiquarian Bookstore. Since 1837, these astonishingly... More >>
• Best place to find that coveted vintage keyboard
  Two Lines Music
  Music gearheads beyond the fledgling stage know that New York City is not the best place for finding bargains. That's really what touring is for: Troll through enough pawnshops in Boise (or Biloxi, or Bellingham) and you'll probably find that clavinet or MiniMoog in decent shape and at a... More >>
• Best place to get inked and otherwise adorned by real artists
  Hold Fast Tattoo
  In Shel Silverstein's deliciously vicious ABZ Book—A Primer for Tender Young Minds, there's a coupon that readers are invited to cut out and present to the nearest police officer in exchange for a real live pony. But the youth of today, with few exceptions, probably don't want mere... More >>
• Best place to savor the sweet smell of American capitalism
  Caswell-Massey
  The firm that would eventually become the legendary apothecary Caswell-Massey opened its quaint colonial doors in Rhode Island in 1752 (the New York branch began trading in 1833), making it one of the country's older extant retail establishments. That's probably all kinds of fascinating to... More >>
• Best place to celebrate the fact that your waist size now equals your age
  D.L. Cerney
  If those twiglike days of youth are long past (or if they existed only in your dreams), then, gents, hie thee to that timeless oasis of masculine finery, D.L. Cerney. The proprietor—the dapper, charismatic Mr. Cerney, who is his own best advertisement—will help you choose a perfectly... More >>
• Best place to plot the perfect murder
  Partners & Crime Mystery Booksellers
  Whether you're in the market for a handy how-to guide to regicide, parricide (either matricide or patricide), deicide, democide, mariticide, uxoricide, infanticide, and the related filicide and fratricide, or you're simply looking to brush up on your knowledge of garden-variety homicide or... More >>
• Best place to buy ukulele picks (and toy glockenspiels, padded guitar cases for your tenor electric, and other needful things) on a Sunday
  First Flight Music
  It's the same old story—hell, it's probably happened to you too many times to mention. But: It's Sunday afternoon, and as you're only mildly hungover, you've managed to get up in time to get to rehearsal (or practice, if you're in that sort of band) on time when you realize that you're... More >>
• Best custom hats for cheap
  Village Scandal Hats
  I first discovered tiny, utterly adorable Village Scandal Hats just before a late-summer thunderstorm broke, on my way across town to a silly art opening. I was also sadly underdressed for what was likely to be a tony event, so I was hoping to find something that would not only 1) keep my head... More >>
• Best place to celebrate the fact that the printed word, after all, is not (or not quite) dead
  Printed Matter, Inc.
  Art is where you find it, and for many that means where you can afford it: in the studios of friends, in galleries that show the works of those hopefuls euphemistically known as "emerging," and sometimes even on the street. Point being that good, reasonably priced art is out there, and if your... More >>
• Best magazine store in the Village
  Nikos
  Desperate for a copy of Namaste? Craving an issue of Juxtapoz? Checking something in The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs? Channeling Lilipoh—the Spirit of Life? Diesel Power? Zink? Semiotext(e)? All these, and more than 2,000 other publications, hug the narrow aisles of Nikos, a Village... More >>
• Best way to get a bottle of seltzer
  Walter Backerman
  Walter Backerman says he gets followed all the time—by reporters, that is. NPR, The New York Times, and, most recently, a TV crew from Japan are just a few of those curious about his anachronistic occupation as a third-generation seltzer man. "It's like I live in a movie," he said. "People... More >>
• Best vintage store in need of dressing-room mirrors
  10 ft. Single by Stella Dallas
  Brooklyn vintage spot 10 ft. Single by Stella Dallas is pleasantly affordable (most dresses are under $35), has an impressively ungrazed T-shirt section (most were $15, including a classy tee stating "I’d Rather Be 40 Than Pregnant"), and accessories galore ('70s mint-condition aviators for... More >>
• Best place to buy and Enjoy a excellent handmade cigar in the company of men who look like ex-cops and extras from The Sopranos
  PB Cuban Cigars
  Despite the serious medical, legal, and social issues that surround cigar smoking, New Yorkers have long cherished their stogies and those hazy bastions of casual male bonding, the corner cigar store. (Edgar Allan Poe's 1842 thriller, "The Mystery of Marie Roget," was based on the brutal,... More >>
• Best place not to get nicked
  The Art of Shaving
  To many Americans, beardy equals weirdy at best; at worst, beards equal something truly heinous, such as "terrorist," "revolutionary," "hippie," "radical," "anarchist," "redneck," or "rocker." And despite a fairly game—if ultimately pointless—effort by Al Gore to revalidate facial... More >>