Shops & Wares >>

• Best Barbershop
  Manny's Place Barber Shop
  Blink and you'll drive past this quaint barbershop tucked away in a dingy strip mall on the northern edge of the City of Progress. Want to take the pulse of Miami-Dade's second largest municipality? Plop down on one of the three red-vinyl barbers' chairs, grab a macho car magazine, and engage... More >>
• Best Hip-Hop Barbershop
  The Back Way
  An unlikely combination in an unlikely place. During the day this little storefront, wedged between an antique shop and a plumbing-supply store near the Miami-Coral Gables frontier, is mostly a haircut hangout. Nelson, an affable, experienced barber, dispenses 'dos and relationship advice, in... More >>
• Best Skate Shop
  Universal Ski and Skate Outlet
  The in-line skater brings home a new set of wheels. They are too big. This bothers him. He returns to Universal, where he purchased the wheels a day earlier. Returns are no problem, he's told, even though he'd opened the packages. "Where do you skate?" he is asked. A nearby rink, he replies.... More >>
• Best Place To Style The Pooch
  Dog Charm Pet Grooming
  It's that time again. Fido is a mess, and you're in no mood to wrestle him into the tub. For 40 years Dog Charm has catered to the needs of area pet owners. At a cost of just $25, these canine lovers will bathe shaggy manes and brush them to groomed perfection. And they'll throw in a good... More >>
• Best Mall
  Aventura Mall
  Retail stores and malls in Miami-Dade County continue to multiply exponentially, complicating the question of where to shop. Oh the Falls has its merits: lush foliage, soothing sounds of water, and a view of the sky. But on a sticky summer day, when it rains sideways, you better hope you're not... More >>
• Best Piñata Maker
  Liliana Perez Piñata Factory
  In a small warehouse Liliana Perez stores papier-mâché creations, some up to six feet tall and covered in crepe paper of every hue imaginable. Each week Perez says she moves about 200 piñatas, including bright-green dragons, coffee-color horses, jolly clowns, and even butterflies.... More >>
• Best Botánica
  Vierge Miracle and Saint Philippe Botánica
  For practitioners of Santería and vodou, mystery has always been the vessel of the sacred. Since the days of colonialism, when slaves kept African gods alive by cloaking them with the names of Catholic saints, keeping a secret has meant preserving one's culture. Although the world has... More >>
• Best Art-Supply Store
  The Palette
  Old school is the way Sidney Kaufman describes his one-of-a-kind arts emporium. Indeed this spacious shop is frozen in time. At the 24-year-old Palette, you can find graphic-arts supplies that haven't been available in most stores since the dawn of the computer age. Transfer type, which was used... More >>
• Best Fantasy Clothes
  Oxys Fantasy Co.
  Marriage stale? Bored with your boyfriend? Feeling more stagnant than sexy? Before hunting for a divorce lawyer or breaking the monotony with small animals, try Oxys. Almost every clothing fantasy is accommodated in this emporium, which offers wares that make Victoria's Secret's selection seem... More >>
• Best Place For DJs To Buy Vinyl
  Yesterday & Today Dance Music
  If you want to track down your favorite DJ during daylight hours, head for the row of turntables inside Yesterday & Today, which retains its long-time position as ground zero for the doyens of clubland. The reasons are simple: a friendly and knowledgeable staff, weekly infusions of new releases... More >>
• Best Gun Shop
  Lou's Gunshop and Police Supply
  It's hard to find a knowledgeable gun owner who recommends any place other than Lou's. All the brands are in stock: Smith & Wesson, Sig Sauer, Colt, Beretta, Taurus, Glock, et cetera. And of course all the ammo and accessories are here, too. But that isn't really what sets Lou's apart. It's no... More >>
• Best Bookstore
  Books & Books
  After so many years it's reassuring that owner Mitchell Kaplan sometimes answers the telephone at Books & Books. Aside from their many tangible qualities -- a great selection, regular readings by nationally and internationally known authors, and a cool kids' section -- the stores are... More >>
• Best Spanish-Language Newsstand
  Guido's Stand
  Although he's only worked here for thirteen years, Guido Dominguez claims a newsstand has been on this corner for forty-three years. If that's true the place is almost half as old as the City of Miami. As the number of bilingual citizens has grown, so has the quantity of reading material in... More >>
• Best Design Firm That Doubles As A Record Store
  Plex
  Look closely at the most creative flyers touting the barrage of DJ events in Miami, and you're sure to spot the Plex credit. The firm is the creation of graphic-design team Steven Castro and Rick Garrido, who have done some gleefully twisted stuff. Less well-known is the appointment-only record... More >>
• Best Flea Market (1 Comment)
  Opa-locka/Hialeah Flea Market
  Entering this flea market seems like a trip to the Caribbean. Meandering among the throngs of customers that cram the hundreds of stalls every weekend, one can hear a Jamaican lilt, Haitian patois, and Dominican-accented Spanish. The blaring music is equally eclectic; it ranges from gospel to... More >>
• Best Bike Shop
  Broken Spoke Bicycles
  If you're a yuppie, this may not be the place for you. It's not in hip South Beach. Not even in kinda-hip South Miami. It's on NW Seventh Avenue, in an area some might charitably call industrial. And hey, there's not a lot of Lycra here, but there is a 1973 Orange Crate stingray, which sells for... More >>
• Best Soccer Shop
  Soccer Locker of Miami
  This little warehouse has a large, knowledgeable staff and the best selection of gear in town. Balls include the phosphorescent yellow Diadora ($17) and the traffic-cone-orange Fila ($25); cleats range from a $38 pair of black-and-white Diadoras to the flashy $152 Puma Cellulators; Adidas and... More >>
• Best Liquor Store
  Fox's Sherron Inn walk-up window
  It's late. You're home alone, and that Coke you're sipping just isn't cutting it. Definitely needs to be jacked up. You need a hit of the hard stuff. But you're out of whisky and worse, out of cash. Those not-so-convenient drugstore liquor emporiums shuttered their doors hours ago. What to do?... More >>
• Best Toy Store
  Dr. Einstein's Science Store
  Have you been searching for a gem-hunter's kit? A solar-powered model biplane? An ant factory, a hand-held metal detector, or ingredients to brew your own root beer? You have? Then breathe easy. Dr. Einstein has blown into town. Or rather his namesake, this toy store, has arrived. With a... More >>
• Best Asian Grocery
  PK Oriental Mart
  When Norman Wong left Hong Kong twelve years ago, he moved to Miami "because," as he says, "somebody's got to live there." He founded PK in 1994 and has worked hard to build the market's reputation as one of the most reliable sources of East Asian foods in South Florida. The store has a... More >>
• Best Place To Buy A Bonsai
  Miami Tropical Bonsai
  Imagine a delightful forest of hundreds of varieties of tropical and subtropical trees. There are old-growth hardwoods, including a 600-year-old bald cypress, its snarled trunk dappled with green moss. Nearby are rare Florida native species like lysiloma, also known as wild tamarind, and lignum... More >>
• Best Place To Buy Haitian Music
  Boujoly Music & Communications
  Can't tell your compas from your rara? Wondering what the difference is between the groups T-Vice and Top Vice? Are you dying to explore the world of Haitian music but don't have the foggiest clue where to jump in? Proceed to Boujoly, which boasts a wonderful selection of Haitian CDs (as well as... More >>
• Best Comic-Book Store (2 Comments)
  A&M Comics and Books
  The reek of aging paper and incense that assails you upon entry is a tip-off this is no Magic: The Gathering-come-lately comics-and-collectibles joint. In fact A&M has been slaking the thinking nerd's thirst for all kinds of four-color pulp fiction since before Chris Claremont drew the X-Men. It... More >>
• Best Indoor Nursery
  Motes Orchids
  Two wandering academics, Mary from Britain and Martin from the States, met and married in Kosovo in 1976. Within a year they decided to move to South Florida and set up an orchid ranch. Just another typical South Florida story. Today the sight of thousands of orchids in one of the couple's... More >>
• Best Record/CD Store
  Blue Note Records
  Much like the fabled jazz label from which it takes its name, Blue Note Records remains an easy reference point when seeking quality sound. Sure, other shops around town may dig a tad deeper into their chosen niches, but as a one-stop destination for all the music that truly matters, Blue Note... More >>
• Best Florist
  Roses by Karla
  A rose by any other name? Easy enough. Call Karla, Karla Dascal to be specific, the innovative designer behind aromatic floral arrangements such as Jungle Love, Jungle Passion, Papayas, Grapes, and Manzanas. Dascal might be better known in some circles as florist to the stars, because she has... More >>
• Best Bird Shop
  The Aviary
  One begins to hear the birds at this South Miami-Dade wonder from the parking lot long before glimpsing a single brightly colored feather. Shielded by tall wooden fences and dense foliage is an exotic avian world full of amazing hues and wild calls. Among dozens of cages spread out over the... More >>
• Best Used Bookstore
  Eutopia
  Someone obviously forgot to explain to Eutopia's owners that Lincoln Road -- once the repository of charming funkiness and strolling artistes -- has been transformed into a generic strip mall. How else to explain the existence of this recently opened bookshop brimming with out-of-print... More >>
• Best Place To Buy Vinyl
  Yardbird Records (inside Esperanto Music)
  For years Hallandale's Yardbird Records was a local fave for snagging rare vinyl treasures, making the shop's closing in late 1998 a sad day for the turntable set. With little fanfare however, Yardbird owner Michael Dean has renested behind the counter of the Beach's Esperanto Music. He's also... More >>
• Best Reason Not To Go To Cocowalk
  Because it's there. More >>
• Best Pawnshop
  The Loan-ly Pawn
  A John Deere lawn mower, a pair of K2 snow skis, used IBM computers, Madonna's Erotica CD, a metal folding bed, an antique Kodak camera, silver chains, Sony cordless telephones, a Huffy mountain bike, a pair of Pioneer stereo speakers, gold watches, a pneumatic hammer, a JVC car radio, a... More >>
• Best Recycled Junk
  Metal Arte
  Metal Arte is one of those places you could walk past and never notice, partly because of the distraction offered by the numerous sex-and-drug transactions in this somewhat sleazy neighborhood. But don't let the unseemly stuff deter you. In a strip of industrial buildings just north of NE 79th... More >>
• Best Sporting Goods Store
  Midway Sports
  Whether your game is baseball, boxing, or Ping-Pong, Midway Sports has your bases covered. This small shop is packed with gloves, bats, football helmets, shoulder pads, roller skates, and hockey sticks. The wall of balls (volley-, soccer-, basket-, foot-) even has junior sizes. Midway doesn't... More >>
• Best Beer Selection In A Store
  Milam's Market
  What's impressive about the beer selection at Milam's is that it's so civilized. All those nations coexisting peacefully on the shelves, waiting to be sampled by someone who likes to raise a glass and toast the merits of ale, porter, and stout. The assortment probably isn't the biggest in town,... More >>
• Best Baby Store
  Burdines
  Okay, so Burdines isn't one of those megaoutlets that carries everything from bottles to baby-joggers. It's a department store that specializes in clothing, especially baby wear. Need booties for a newborn? Check out the Carter's display. Overalls for a six-month-old? The Osh Kosh B'Gosh rack's... More >>
• Best U-Pick Field
  Granma's Garden
  Fruit and vegetables don't get any fresher than this. All you need to do is grab a bucket and choose the best ones. The selection here would make the produce manager at any supermarket green with envy. Amid the verdant rows that stretch for about 80 acres are basil, parsley, sunflowers,... More >>
• Best Dive Shop
  Aquaknots
  Many of Aquaknots' devoted customers have been patronizing this shop since it opened in the early Seventies, and they're not about to go anywhere else. The proprietors, Manny Seoane and Mario Ginoris, have been around for quite awhile, too. Both were on the sales staff before deciding to buy the... More >>
• Best Vintage Store
  Senzatempo
  Clothing peddlers usually triumph in this category, but for 2000 we look past the duds to Senzatempo, which means "without time" in Italian. For ten years this store has featured some of the most interesting, top-shelf, vintage material in the area. Besides stocking distinctive designer... More >>
• Best Secondhand Store
  Community Family Thrift Store
  Forget about all the boutiques for models, mainstream retail stores, and cool club-wear shops that have flocked to South Beach. Be truly revolutionary with your purchasing dollars. Enter secondhand-consumer mode and head for Community Family, where you'll find Kingston Trio albums, green pumps... More >>
• Best Sex Toys Shop
  Toys in Babeland
  Actually a Seattle-based store with a New York location, this place is a mecca of carnal commerce. The babes who own this adult toyland, Claire Cavanah and Rachel Venning, have pioneered a new concept: very woman-friendly service and products: "We want a trip to Toys in Babeland to feel like a... More >>
• Best Homestead Hippie Hangout
  Main Street Café
  The Age of Aquarius is alive and well at the Main Street Café. Tofu, soy burgers, a salad bar, and hummus are all on the lengthy menu that accentuates the vegetarian. Fruit and vegetable juices are on tap to wash down this healthy fare. Sun lovers can sit at tables outside. But if inside... More >>
• Best Global Grab Bag
  Brickell Village News & Worldwide Trading Post
  Located next door to Tobacco Road and run by long-time Road denizen, music promoter, and eccentric-man-about-town Mark Weiser, Brickell News is the most ecumenical array around, short of a flea market. And this stuff is all new. Well, a lot of it is. It's as if Weiser's brain exploded all over... More >>
• Best Place To Buy Latin Music
  Esperanto Music
  "No musical prejudices" reads a handwritten sign, the first clue about the forbidden fruit that lies within Esperanto. While live Cuban music too often falls victim to local political heat and a knee-jerk emotional backlash, you can still hear it on CD, thanks to this outpost of cultural... More >>
• Best Adult-Video Store
  Pleasure Emporium III
  The obvious criterion for stores in this category is pornography. Lots of it. The latest foothold in Pleasure Emporium's burgeoning empire (two South Beach stores and another near Miami International Airport) makes the grade with more than 4500 titles, ranging from Spanish (Latina Debutante) to... More >>
• Best Video Store
  Lion Video
  It's a tossup between the Beach's New Concept Video and Lion when it comes to selection: Both stand as cinematic oases in a desert of unadventurous Blockbusters. Browse the aisles of either store and you'll find a solid array of new and classic independent pictures, oodles of gay and lesbian... More >>
• Best Mexican Market
  Mexico Market
  Chilies -- fresh, dried, smoked, chopped up in salsa. They are the very heart of Mexican cuisine. And they are in abundance at Mexico Market. In fact this store comes as close to the real Mexico as any commercial establishment in South Florida. Here are things you'd have to search hours or... More >>
• Best Macramé Maker
  Daniel Tong
  With his hands Daniel Tong transforms hemp, nylon, and cotton into knotted masterpieces. He weaves black, green, yellow, and red ropes to create Rastafarian icons on wall mats, floor mats, and room partitions. Tong, a member of the Nyabinghi order of Rastafarianism, began experimenting with... More >>
• Best Costume Jewelry
  Chrisalyn
  All that glitters is not gold; sometimes it is marcasite with Austrian crystals. Heck, it was good enough for Granny to wear to the theater. And now granny's 21-year-old great-granddaughter wants to don the stuff for a night at the clubs. Before the young hussy steps out the door, she should... More >>
• Best Hair Salon For Kids
  Kids' Only Place
  This one-of-a-kind children's beauty salon is equipped with Snoopy hair dryers and even a wooden ship where toddlers and kids can play at being pirates while they wait for a trim. Moms can get makeovers and manicures without worrying: Stylists attend to junior's every need. The only conventional... More >>
• Best Place To Stow The Pooch
  El Saba Kennels
  So you're leaving town for a while and the age-old question of what to do with Fido is again rearing its ugly, scruffy head. You could try to con your best buddy into walking and feeding the mutt, but that almost torpedoed your friendship last time. Besides, when you returned, your floppy-eared... More >>
• Best Maternity Boutique
  Discount Maternity Warehouse
  Pregnancy is wonderful when there's an entire warehouse full of clothes to fit your moods, which, by the way, rise and fall like a yo-yo. At this manufacturer's outlet you'll find everything from the slinky and sensual to the obviously pregnant. Racks of cool eveningwear stand near stacks of... More >>
• Best South Beach Oasis
  Penrod's
  The wet T-shirt contests? Gone. The spring-breakers toppling into the pool with brewskis in their hands? History. In fact the pool has gone the way of South Beach crackhouses and disappeared completely. Resurrecting Fort Lauderdalian bacchanalia never really worked for Miami, where the action is... More >>
• Best Perfumery
  Alberto Cortes Cosmeticos y Perfumes
  "I can't even begin to describe Fahrenheit," says Keila Crucet, manager at Alberto Cortes. But after taking a whiff of the sample stick soaked in Christian Dior's hawthorn and sandalwood fragrance for men, she finds just the right words: "It's very out there." Besides offering such eloquent... More >>
• Best Big-And-Tall Shop
  Rochester Big & Tall
  Short of having a tailor make your clothes, it's hard to look good when you are a big or tall man. Let's face it, most stores catering to large gentlemen feature mostly T-shirts emblazoned with moronic slogans about the "big dog." Not Rochester Big & Tall, which opened its Aventura store in... More >>
• Best Bait Shop
  Kendall Bait and Tackle Inc.
  Joe Corbett greets customers while wearing a belt with fish embroidered on it and a button that reads, "I'm protecting what's in my genes. Are you?" Corbett thus models his two main passions: vitamins and fish. Most people know Corbett for the latter. The walls of his store are decorated with... More >>
• Best Newsstand
  Worldwide News
  Worldwide is a perennial winner for the simple reason that it's hard to imagine poking around the store's carefully arranged array of international newspapers, glossy magazines, and offbeat cultural rags, and leaving empty-handed. There's simply a mind-boggling wealth of reading options. Looking... More >>
• Best Spanish-Language Bookstore
  Libreria Distribuidora Universal
  Years ago, when a New Times writer was in graduate school in North Carolina, she took an independent-study course on Latin-American women writers. And no place in the United States did a better job of delivering the works of the most exhilarating escritoras than Juan Manuel Salvat's Little... More >>
• Best Used CD Store
  CD Warehouse
  Granted CD Warehouse is a chain of stores. Yet unlike Home Depot or Bennigan's, the four used-CD peddlers in Miami-Dade County reflect their communities. This is true because their suppliers are their customers. Ergo the CD Warehouse in Miami Lakes has a high concentration of Latin music, which... More >>
• Best Swimsuit And Lingerie Boutique
  Illusions by Raquel
  "The orange suit will work," says Rochell "Raquel" Greene, assisting a customer in her small Washington Avenue boutique. "The one in your hand ... not for you! Don't even bother trying it on." For three years Greene has been selling Brazilian bikinis and high-end Italian lingerie to the... More >>
• Best Juice Bar
  El Palacio de los Jugos #1
  El Palacio doesn't look like a palace, but then your body doesn't really resemble a temple. At this rustic little produce market, you can juice up en estilo muy Miamiense. The menu includes squeezings from a spectrum of tropical fruits, including maracuya (passion fruit), tamarindo (tamarind),... More >>
• Best Wine Store
  Crown Wine & Spirits
  Stop picking random bottles of wine from those shelves at Publix. Just stop it. I mean, what are you doing, really? Trying to infer from the price tag and pretty pictures on the label how good the wine is? When the expertise of Chip Cassidy and his knowledgeable staff are at your disposal, why... More >>
• Best Nursery
  Parker Sod Landscape Center
  If your relationship with your garden has been tepid lately, one glimpse inside Parker Sod's butterfly aviary (thus dubbed by its proprietors) will jump-start your enthusiasm. Attendants can advise you on how to attract any number of delicate and elusive creatures to your back-yard Eden or... More >>