Shops & Wares >>

• Personal Best
  José Luis Burgos, 36
  José Luis Burgos is a barber at the Razor’s Edge in Miami Shores, where he has worked for eight years. What is your greatest triumph? 1993 I left Cuba in a small boat, but soon the motor quit. So I started rowing. I rowed for hours -- through the night. I lost all my food and didn't have much... More >>
• Best Record/CD Store
  Sweat Records
  Last year we gave this little-indie-store-that-could the title of Best New Record Store. A year later, Sweat has won the hearts of all who deem themselves hip in Miami and has undergone some serious growing pains. The original location took a major beating from Hurricane Wilma, and the store was... More >>
• Best Used-CD Store (1 Comment)
  Blue Note Records
  The kind of store you find on every block in parts of Manhattan, Blue Note has dusty bins that are potential treasure troves. There's always some schmuck who bought the new Ghostface expecting hip-pop, or the Minor Threat discography because the guys from Good Charlotte mentioned them in an... More >>
• Best Place to Buy Latin Music
  Museo del Disco
  There is no doubt that Museo del Disco has an enormous catalogue of Latin music on hand. What's not in stock is easily ordered -- which is typical these days. However, Museo del Disco offers a singular thing of value, one that is impossible to obtain from any Website: its owner, the exceedingly... More >>
• Best Place to Buy Vinyl
  Grooveman Music
  While serious vinyl fetishists might consider their post office box the hippest place on Earth, less-accessorized turntablists should mosey down to Grooveman Music to completely outfit themselves with all the necessary accouterments. You can literally walk in and purchase everything you need --... More >>
• Best Roaming Place to Buy Punk Vinyl (1 Comment)
  Up Yours Luv Records
  You might not notice Freddy the Bastard's little corner of the universe while you're drunkenly moshing at a club, and even if you did, it would be easy to dismiss his wares as the DJ's play pile or the band's merch table. But if you choose to closely inspect Fred's wares, you'll find a cache of... More >>
• Best Adult Video Store (2 Comments)
  XXX Outlet
  Hard-core, soft-core, money shots, midgets, lesbians, and lube -- whatever your desire, porn shops are there to satisfy your craving when you can't have the real thing. Everything from Jenna Jameson DVDs to fetish fun compose the inventory of your everyday adult video store. But XXX Outlet is... More >>
• Best Place to Screw in a Light Bulb (1 Comment)
  Light Bulbs Unlimited
  Everyone knows the old joke. How many (fill in the blank) does it take to screw in a light bulb? Here's a new answer for you: None, if you take your lamp to Light Bulbs Unlimited. Just ask the helpful employee behind the counter, and he or she will tell you exactly what it will take to lighten... More >>
• Best Publix
  Plaza del Paraiso
  The coolest-looking Publix is probably the one on West Avenue in South Beach. It's designed by architect Carlos Zapata and is a gleaming glass testimony to SoBe chic. The Publix in the Plaza del Paraiso strip mall is on the opposite end of the city, and makes a statement about Kendall. It's a... More >>
• Best Grocery Delivery
  Delicious Organics
  Every single thing in this place is organic. Much of it is local, and all of it is available for delivery. Delicious Organics is a three-year-old company owned by a young, beautiful, community-minded couple -- Jack and Annie Malka -- who believe in creating a market for all things... More >>
• Best Dollar Store (2 Comments)
  99 Cents Stuff
  This is the mother of all dollar stores. We're talking twelve aisles of everything from crayons to cassava melons. Load up the cart with pet food, toiletries, home-improvement stuff such as caulking guns, and kitchen stuff such as pepper grinders and stainless-steel meat cleavers. A four-pack of... More >>
• Best Secondhand Store
  Douglas Gardens Thrift Shop
  Just as you'll never find a Forever 21 in the Bal Harbour Shops, you'll never score good, cheap thrift in the Design District. For that you'll have to venture to not-so-fashionable Liberty City. Douglas Gardens Thrift Shop is a sprawling warehouse of anything and everything you never knew you... More >>
• Best Vintage Store (1 Comment)
  C. Madeleine's
  In your attempt to hightail it to the Aventura Mall to get your Gap on, you may have unknowingly driven right past a true fashion treasure along Biscayne Boulevard. You won't find capris in C. Madeleine's -- unless they're from the Fifties, and they most certainly won't be khaki. A veteran on... More >>
• Best Pawnshop
  Quick Cash, Inc.
  The bottom line is this: Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see. The duality is this: Customers might be desperate survivors willing to part with a treasured item for chump change, fully aware they'll never get it back. Or they might be regular folk who need a loan and are in a... More >>
• Best Botanica
  Botanica La Caridad
  Botanica La Caridad may seem an unlikely sanctuary. It's tucked inside a nondescript warehouse, surrounded by big-rig parking lots and underwear wholesalers. But it has become a favorite refuge for the downtrodden, the unlucky, and the demoralized. Ailing? Why not make an offering to La... More >>
• Best Flea Market
  Flea Market USA
  On Saturday at 5:00 p.m. this indoor market becomes the epicenter of Liberty City, the area's downtown social and economic heart. It's where you can get your hair done, a tattoo, and an airbrushed T-shirt, and watch a bootleg DVD (no need to drop $10 to see 16 Blocks) -- all before you even... More >>
• Best Strip Mall
  Aventura Commons
  Those who live on South Beach know what a hassle it is not to have a Target, a Whole Foods Market, or a PetSmart nearby. If we're going to leave our big-box-lacking island oasis for the sprawling retail jungles of the mainland, it had better be worth the drive. With the right tunes blasting from... More >>
• Best Florist
  Flower Megastore
  Mostly they travel by plane from farms in Colombia. Those that aren't destroyed by U.S. Customs are trucked into refrigerated warehouses for distribution to retailers. They are then sold at floral shops and by petal peddlers at intersections or roadside kiosks. Each time they change hands,... More >>
• Best Plant Nursery
  New Source Nursery
  Off the beaten path of Krome Avenue, New Source is almost exclusively wholesale, but the proprietors will make an exception if you pull up and start browsing. Not as orchid- or palm-centric as some of its competitors, New Source has acres of reasonably priced ferns, tropicals, and flowering... More >>
• Best Scrapbooking Shop
  Scrapbooks & Stuff
  Since the invention of photography, pictures have been thrown into plain albums where they fade into dust. Or maybe they're just crammed into boxes and shoved in a closet somewhere, forgotten until some distant aunt comes to visit and begs to take a look. Yet a recent artistic movement is... More >>
• Best Private School
  Ransom Everglades School
  There are plenty of pricey private schools in Miami where kids can get prepped for Hah-vard or Yale. They all have awe-inspiring campuses with topnotch athletic facilities and stimulating arts programs. But in too many cases, the youngsters must drive, walk, or bike to class. We chose Ransom... More >>
• Best Comic-Book Shop
  A & M COMICS
  Dust-coated, cluttered, and filled with vintage goodies, A & M Comics looks more like your grandmother's attic than a retail store. Stepping into the dimly lit space, you have to be careful to bypass customers squatting over the extensive collection of comics piled in the narrow pathways. Very... More >>
• Best Newsstand
  Worldwide News
  TO: Chuck Strouse, editor FROM: Best of Miami research department RE: Retiring a category Boss, it's time to retire this category. Year after year after year, our intrepid team explores every nook of this fine city in hopes of finding a newsstand even better than Worldwide. Doesn't happen.... More >>
• Best Bookstore
  Miami Book Fair International
  No, it's not a conventional bookstore, but hell, Miami is no conventional town. Chain stores dominate this field, and they're all pretty good, so if you have no patience, just go to one of them. But the street fair at this annual event spans one blissful, beautiful, blessed week every autumn --... More >>
• Best Used Bookstore (5 Comments)
  Kendall Bookshelf Incorporated
  Okay, we're in South Florida, so there's no crackling fireplace with swirling snow outside, but dammit if this isn't the coziest, warmest, most conversation-inducing joint in town. People don't just exchange used copies of Dostoevsky or Darwin here; they trade thoughts, opinions, and ideas. And... More >>
• Best Barber
  Luigi De Luca
  Ninety-year-old Luigi De Luca has been cutting hair for 25 years in South Florida, but the Sicilian can and will address any topic thrown at him with the air of a man whose knowledge far exceeds his chosen craft. Want to know about horseracing? De Luca has more than a few tips; he's been cutting... More >>
• Best Tailor
  Christian Garcia Custom Tailors & Shirtmakers
  Christian Garcia was a sixteen-year-old boy fresh off his exodus from Cuba when he began stitching together suits with his father in 1961. Pops had opened a modest little shop on NE Second Avenue in downtown Miami. In 1989, after inheriting his father's trade, Garcia moved the family business to... More >>
• Best Guayabera Store (5 Comments)
  Guayaberas Etc.
  This excellent store has four locations in Miami-Dade, but this one employs the friendliest staff and is next to (first-rate Spanish restaurant) Casa Paco's excellent deli, so it wins. There are other shops specializing in guayaberas, the semiformal warm-weather shirt of choice for abuelos... More >>
• Best Place to Buy Cuban Nostalgia
  Sentir Cubano
  In Spanish, sentir cubano means "to feel Cuban" -- as if living in Miami and consuming your daily dose of cortaditos were not enough. So maybe this Calle Ocho shop should be called Ser Cubano, "to be Cuban," because if you weren't already blessed by birth, this store has all the ingredients to... More >>
• Best Gun Shop (8 Comments)
  Ace's Indoor Shooting Range and Pro Gun Shop
  Miami needs more guns. Simply put, the police are overburdened and understaffed, and it's clearly time for private citizens to take matters into their own hands. No one's calling for armed insurrection yet, just more "deterrence." Imagine the message you could have sent to that bitch in the SUV... More >>
• Best Dive Shop
  Divers Den Miami
  "There used to be dive shops all over the place," says Judy Miller. "Now we're the only one in the area." As the owners of Divers Den Miami, Judy and her husband Jim have been running this one-stop shop for undersea fun since 1977. Experienced divers can rent or buy any equipment they need in... More >>
• Best Gym (2 Comments)
  MPower Project
  Ohh yeah! Feeeel the burnnnn! Ahh! Ahh! Oh I can barely lift my arm 'cause I did so many! I did over a thousand! Now look at my guns! Look at that cannonball bicep! Don't you just want to squeeze it? Oh yeah! Look, I can even flex my eyelid muscle! And I work this perfect buff bod at MPower's... More >>
• Best Handmade Cigars
  El Crédito Cigar Company
  The smoky-sweet scent of tobacco permeates the air at the El Crédito Cigar Factory. It's an aroma that Ernesto Perez-Carillo Jr. has breathed all of his life. As a young boy in Cuba, he toured his father's tobacco farms. The family's factory was among the island's finest. But the clan... More >>
• Best Hardware Store
  Shell Lumber and Hardware
  Ordinarily the process of buying two-by-fours, screwdrivers, hammers, and dry wall is far from heartwarming. But purchasing a nail gun at Shell is strangely therapeutic. There's the great service -- almost everyone seems to be of Bob Vila quality; you can find an expert on mahogany, bathroom... More >>
• Best Military Surplus
  Quartermaster Sales
  Don't be spooked by the apparently armless camouflage-clad child mannequin that greets you outside. This shop on a busy stretch of South Dixie Highway has everything you'll need to hole up in a survivalist bunker during your next paranoid delusion about a United Nations invasion of South... More >>
• Best Judaica Shop
  Judaica Enterprises
  Tucked away in a little strip mall, Judaica Enterprises has pretty much everything you'd expect -- bins full of kippoh, educational Jewish children's games, menorahs of all varieties, and shofars of various lengths. What sets Judaica Enterprises apart is its extensive stock of Jewish texts --... More >>
• Best Liquor Store
  King Liquor
  It's Saturday night, and you want to get wasted. Not just giggling, slurring-your-words wasted -- your mission is to become intoxicated past the point of being in control of your bodily functions. Well, then King Liquors has what you need. Walk past the seemingly endless wine racks, which are... More >>
• Best Wine Store
  Best Time Wine
  Happy Wine and Gourmet
  These sister shops, which sit ten blocks apart on Calle Ocho, carry a wide variety of inexpensive yet tasty wines. They also offer some specimens so rare and prized they'd make the most seasoned sommelier salivate. Stashed behind Best Time's counter, for example, is a bottle of 1967 Château... More >>
• Best No-Grape Winery
  Schnebly Redland's Winery
  That's right: no grapes. You've gotta try it before you judge. The Schneblys make some delicious little wines from a local tropical harvest that includes mango, guava, and passion fruit. The clean, crisp nature of the carambola (star fruit) wine ($13.95) makes it the most reminiscent of a... More >>
• Best Place to Go Before You Get Stoned (1 Comment)
  High Tide Tobacco & Gifts
  Miami has beautiful women and wonderful weather. And trust that we're no slouch in the killer bud department. Our fair city might not have the stonerific rep of Humboldt County in California, Hawaii, Alaska, Oregon, or anywhere in Canada, but damn, if you know where to look and your pockets are... More >>
• Best Place to Buy Art and Catch a Buzz
  Red Bar Gallery
  Dozens of pairs of two-dimensional eyes greet you as you walk into the dimly lit downtown establishment. Fruit and nude bodies garnish the deep-red walls. Friends and lovers lean in to listen more closely to the words escaping their companions' lips as they settle into plush, rosy furniture. A... More >>
• Best Zen Gift Shop (1 Comment)
  Bagua
  There is plenty of feng shui and good mojo going on in this delightfully aromatic shop to keep your Buddha buddies happy. The shop has all the incense, candles, and beautiful statuary you need to create your own sacred meditation altar in your home. Friendly Bagua staff members are quick to tell... More >>
• Best Hairstylist
  Richard Watters at RikRak Salon & Spa
  This fashion and beauty barge opened in 1989 with a handful of stylists and a couple of manicurists. The little shop grew into a bustling full-service salon, spa, and boutique that has never lost its charm. (Rick and his wife Raquel are the charming couple at the helm.) Rick knows hair, he knows... More >>
• Best Perfumery
  The Boys Cosmetics
  Look around your bathroom. There's something about the Softsoap dispenser, the Ivory in the shower, and the Barbasol shaving cream that's simply depressing. Concern about smelling good, after all, demarcated humanity's rise to civilization. The art of perfume has been considered a delicate and... More >>
• Best Facials (10 Comments)
  The Skin Institute
  The Skin Institute has been doing facials for fifteen years, and it offers some fourteen different versions, each tailored to specific skincare problems. While some treatments sound more like something you would want to order at a bar rather than slather on your cheeks (The champagne caviar... More >>
• Best Costume Jewelry (2 Comments)
  Adriana Bijoux
  The budget-minded fashionista wears her clothes until they have holes. She invests in sensible yet sexy apparel and stays abreast of trends not by purchasing a new outfit every weekend but through careful buys of low-budget accessories. The right baubles and bangles can speak volumes, and at the... More >>
• Best Internet Café
  Kafka's Café
  Franz Kafka was so sickly and miserable that he whiled away half his life in sanatoriums and wrote volumes about man's alienation in a grotesque, unintelligible, and hostile world. A visit to his funky South Beach namesake (open 7:30 a.m. to midnight) might have improved his humor. After all,... More >>
• Best Wi-Fi Connection
  The City of Miami Beach
  Someday soon Internet access will be as free and universal as television or radio today. For Miami Beach that future is now. Following a national trend of city-provided wireless service, the Beach will install its much-anticipated network over the next few months. The service will be free to... More >>
• Best Tea Shop
  Théine
  Ideally a tea shop should be like the beverage itself: inviting, soothing, and worth leisurely enjoyment in balmy afternoon hours. Tasty enough to share with your girlfriends, sweet enough to share with your mother. Théine captures that vibe to a tee, so to speak. Tucked away on a quiet... More >>
• Best Purse Store
  Mr. Pocketbook
  If you prefer Fendi handbags but will accept the more budget-friendly "Fendi-inspired" variety, Mr. Pocketbook has your purse. Its flagship store in Miami's scrappy Fashion District (2850 NW Fifth Ave.) is a windowless cement block, but inside is a world of evening bags, wallets, totes, coin... More >>
• Best Place to Buy Bridal Attire
  Miracle Mile
  Drive down Miracle Mile and you'll begin to notice a subtle pattern. There's David's Bridal (39 Miracle Mile), Bridal City (326 Miracle Mile), and Coral Gables Bridal (141 Miracle Mile). There's Chic Parisien (118 Miracle Mile) -- specializing in, yes, bridal. Miracle Mile really should be... More >>
• Best Designer Outlet (1 Comment)
  Maruchi Clothing Outlet
  The mind says Marc Jacobs sun dress, and the wallet says Target sweatpants. Mom called it "Champagne taste on a beer budget," but only those who have the malady know just how much it sucks. The afflicted are a persistent bunch, however. They will have their pretty clothes, and they will have... More >>
• Best Sex Toy Shop
  Déjá Vu Love Boutique
  If you thought discreetly buying condoms was hard (no pun intended), try the checkout with a twelve-inch, double-ended, glow-in-the-dark dildo. Now that takes balls. All joking aside, we understand this sex-toy-buying business can be somewhat nerve-racking, which is why Déjá Vu... More >>
• Best Tattoo Shop
  South Beach Tattoo Company
  When it comes to tattoos, there are two kinds of people: the mousy and the masochistic. The former usually squirm with fear and nausea when they hear the low hum of the ink gun as it nears their flesh. On the opposite end of the tolerance spectrum are the pain enthusiasts who seem almost... More >>
• Best Place for Piercing (3 Comments)
  New Age Body Piercing
  Take a deep breath. Slowly let it out. Crunch! Oh, yes. The thrill of the pierce -- that pain followed by an exhilarating endorphin rush -- is as exciting as the sparkly new ornament now dangling from your body. While most piercing places are really tattoo shops with a sideline, at New Age you... More >>
• Best Place to Get Stroked by a Lap Nanny (1 Comment)
  Salon Poochini
  Sebastian lounges on the plush floral sofa, while Peaches prefers the cool tile floor. Samantha perches in the wicker love seat; and as she turns her head, her Swarovski crystal and pearl necklace sparkles in the soft lamp light. For Chloe, lounging on the chaise is fine for now. But should any... More >>
• Best Place to Train Your Puppy
  The Miami Obedience Club
  Your Yorkie is making lots of mistakes. Your dachshund is a runaway risk. And Sparky refuses to sit pretty. You can take care of these out-of-control hounds by contacting the K9 experts at the Miami Obedience Club. For the past twenty years, they've been teaching Miamians how to teach their... More >>
• Best Pet Groomer
  New Age Grooming
  Owner Joann Gaetan has more than fifteen years of experience, and her enthusiasm for animals shows. She and her staff can spruce up even the frizziest of pets. Your Labrador can get a short hairstyle that will make him look like a shiny new pup. Your Yorkie will break loose of all those tangles... More >>
• Best Vet for Exotic Pets (2 Comments)
  Marc Kramer, DVM
  Sure. Maybe lots of vets can cure an iguana. But can they do a duck, a fish, and a rabbit along with the lizard all in one day? Exotic animal veterinarian Marc Kramer can. Dr. Kramer graduated from Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1999, and joined the staff of the Avian &... More >>
• Best Car Wash (2 Comments)
  The Car Wash
  "Would you like some popcorn?" asks the attendant, with a Cheesecake Factory-like smile. Then there are the free bagels, the full-service espresso bar, the comfy couches, the flat-screen TV sets, the periodicals. This is not a beauty salon or a Starbucks. It is simply the waiting room of The Car... More >>
• Best Auto Mechanic (2 Comments)
  Gabe Cortez
  The new redhead in town walks into an auto shop for an oil change and expects to be told her buggy needs about $500 in services to be safe. Not here. Gabe and his friendly, honest staff care about their customers -- they want to keep your business and attract your friends. He's been here "since... More >>
• Best Driving Instructor
  Victor, from A International Driving School
  What with the horrendous traffic, the endless construction on major roadways, and our immigrant-heavy population, driving in the Magic City can be a decidedly dangerous experience. If only more people learned from Victor Montalvo, owner and head instructor of A International Driving School. With... More >>
• Best Cheap Gas
  Hess Station
  You don't have to go to the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to find cheap gas. This spankin'-new Hess station has fuel that consistently ranks among the area's least expensive -- ten to twenty cents less than other pumping places only blocks away -- at its twelve credit-card-ready pumps. There's... More >>
• Best Bike Shop
  Bike Tech
  Do you still get chills when you think about buying a new bike? Or have you settled for getting a generic two-wheeler at Wal-Mart? Why not relive the excitement of your kiddy days and stop by Bike Tech. It carries cycles of the mountain, road, hybrid, and cruiser variety. Prices aren't bad. For... More >>
• Best Place to Get a Used Bicycle (1 Comment)
  Craigslist
  When Miamians are sick of things lying around their homes, many list said items on Craigslist. And this, my friends, is a way for two-wheel bargain hunters to snarf up a deal. A recent search turned up two $200 BMXs, in perfect condition, both being sold for less than $60. A slightly used GT was... More >>
• Best Scooter Rental and Sales (3 Comments)
  South Beach Scooters
  Those who aren't scooter people have a difficult time trying to fathom how anyone can get on one of those things and traverse the Hummer-clogged streets of the Beach. But some people dig that squealing buzz, feeling the wind in their hair, and savoring the druglike effects of the blurring neon... More >>
• Best Powerboat Rental
  Beach Boat Rentals
  If money were no object, you'd be sipping bourbon on the back of your private yacht right now. Seeing as that hazy fantasy probably won't calm your ocean-going ganas, get a few friends together and split the cost of renting a craft at Beach Boat Rentals. Few powerboat rental places come close to... More >>
• Best Sailboat Rental
  Castle Harbor Boating School
  One of the great things about big-city living Miami style is the ease of escape. When traffic jams and noisy people give us woe, we can board an eighteen-foot sloop, unfurl the main sail, and catch a ten-knot breeze. Once we're safely offshore, the wind powering us across Biscayne Bay, we can... More >>