BEST COMIC BOOK SHOP 2003 | Super Heroes Unlimited | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Miami | Miami New Times
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BEST COMIC BOOK SHOP

Super Heroes Unlimited

Located in a nondescript strip mall for the past seventeen years, this small shop is easily overlooked -- but shouldn't be. Its interior is packed floor to ceiling with all the superhero-related collectibles one expects from comics' "golden age," right up to the current "collectors' age" (because a mint-condition Superman Action Comics #1 from the days your granddad was a kid could put your child through college). Also you'll find trading cards of sports stars and cartoon characters, action figures, eye-popping Day-Glo superhero T-shirts, and a full assortment of contemporary comics. But like all the best superheroes, this store has a secret identity. Ask nicely, and mild-mannered proprietor Glenn Lightfoot will slip into the back room and emerge minutes later as Bargain Bin Boy, savior of comic-book lovers who actually want to read the things rather than collect them. Instead of today's average $2.25 to $3.00 funny book (not so funny for roughly a fifteen-minute read), Lightfoot's bargain books are just 50 cents each. And it's good stuff, too, in good condition: lots of Batman, Superman, Spidey, Spawn, all the X-folk titles, even some graphic novels originally priced at five to ten dollars a pop.

BEST DIVE SHOP

Austin's Diving Center

Austin's has been serving the dive community since 1968. In Miami, that's a very long time indeed. Here's why the customers keep coming back and why Austin's has won this award twice before: a huge inventory from more than 75 vendors, a highly professional sales staff, experienced resident diving experts, and first-rate technical support in service and repairs. Underwater-photography equipment is a specialty, with an unrivaled selection of cameras ranging from $15.50 disposables to $1000 movie cameras. For novices or accomplished technical divers, Austin's has what you need.

Readers Choice: Austins Diving Center

BEST FLEA MARKET

Opa-locka/Hialeah Flea Market

Following a 2002 incident when a Key Biscayne resident drove into a parking lot via the exit and punctured all four tires on those mean-looking spikes they have at rental car outfits too, this flea market's general manager, Scott Miller, put up "about 500 traffic signs" so navigating the streets and parking lot "is no longer an adventure," he promises. Once you get inside, however, that's a different story. Open seven days from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., the market -- eighteen years and going strong -- is teeming with more than 1000 vendors, including 70 offering farm-fresh produce, plus thirteen eateries. Shoppers and sellers come from around the world, and these days record crowds are pouring in, mostly on weekends, with an average of 85,000 hunting the sprawling grounds over two days. You can find most anything at this flea, but Miller notes, "We do not do gold-filled teeth." That was at a flea market across the county line in Broward, and supposedly those parking-lot dentists were shut down.

BEST FLORIST

Rios Flowers

No one along the Boulevard of Broken Dreams that is Biscayne has done more to beautify the strip than florist Geraldo Rios. While the police mount sweeps of hookers and tricks and pimps, and city bureaucrats issue code-violation fines, Rios has taken his own initiative to improve his block by decorating the two-story building that houses his shop with hundreds of stuffed bears and other fuzzy friends to celebrate Valentine's and Mother's Day. Rios's decorations are not just beautiful, they're a kind of public service for all of us who forget about our sweeties and, heaven help us, even our mothers on these special days. The sheer excess of Rios's decorations reminds us of the approaching holiday -- and his special 24-hour schedule allows any errant son, daughter, or lover to drop in and pick a bouquet on the fly.

Readers Choice: Trias Flowers, Antiques & Gifts

BEST GUITAR STORE

Guitar Center

This place carries more than just guitars. You can find musical instruments of all types, plus electronic gear like synthesizers, samplers, mixing boards, and DJ equipment. The guitar selection is huge, acoustic and electric, featuring brand names like Gibson, Fender, Korg, and Roland. What makes Guitar Center unique, though, isn't so much what they sell but who's selling. The sales staff are all experts, mostly musicians themselves, so you won't enter looking for something that sounds like raaa and leave with a piece that goes clang. While some music stores are paranoid about their inventory, Guitar Center allows you to touch everything. In fact it commonly attracts lots of folks who just want to fiddle around. Many resemble Wayne's World types who, like Wayne and Garth, obsess over instruments they can't afford. But most customers here can take home their dream Stratocaster because GC guarantees the lowest prices in town. On the other hand, who puts a price on dreams?

BEST GUN SHOP

Miami Police Supply

Are you ready for the End Times? They're coming. People ascribe different causes to the approaching apocalypse, but everyone knows it's nearly upon us. Whether the bottom drops out of the economy, terrorists turn our streets into Beirut, or God checks out Married by America and decides it's high time for the final reckoning, the few poor souls left to roam our city's blasted-out streets will stay alive only by dint of their preparedness. Miami Police Supply has all the gear you'll need for urban warfare and survival: camouflage and SWAT uniforms, emergency lights and sirens, bulletproof vests ($359 for a Triflex Level IIA), and brand-new .40-caliber Sig Sauer handguns (around $700, chicken feed for a gun described by a Miami Police Supply salesman as "the Mercedes of handguns"). The eager and knowledgeable black-clad pistoleros who staff Miami Police Supply will also be happy to show you their supply of cheaper weaponry, like the infamous Intratec 9mm, known as the cheap gun of choice for crack warriors in the Nineties and one of the weapons used in the Columbine school massacre.

BEST HAND-ROLLED CIGAR

Deco Drive Cigar

Joey B runs the fastest-growing cigar-store empire on the Beach. He and junior partner Robert, from the NYC area, started with one shop last year (1136 Collins) and quickly expanded to locations at 1650 Meridian Avenue and 1639 Washington Avenue, as well as the Ocean Drive shop. On Ocean, their Cuban roller, José Castro, working in the traditional way, can whip up a 45x6 (45 millimeters round, six inches long) corona, or a 5x50 robusto in several minutes using fine Honduran wrapper leaf and flavorful, medium-bodied Dominican filler, imported by Joey and Robert. "Rolling a cigar from scratch, without the use of presser machinery, is an art, not a craft," Robert says. "If you misuse that chaveta knife, you can ruin a cap and so ruin the smoke." Deco Drive is famous for its popularity among Italian character actors, from the movies and from the Sopranos, but under pain of nonfatal arm injuries, we've been sworn not to name them.

BEST JUICE BAR

Segundo Palacio de los Jugos

Palacio de los Jugos is a sprawling and colorful Flagler Street produce market and juice bar. That location's little brother -- Segundo Palacio -- is perfect for those who live too far south to make it to Flagler on a regular basis. There is something joyful and indulgent about sipping fresh mango juice at Segundo Palacio, or sucking coco frio right out of the shell, as opposed to the antiseptic, health-obsessed juice bars where exercise freaks line up like flagellants to gulp down their spinach and wheat-germ concoctions. Enjoy your juice in the sunshine (and fresh mango juice is undoubtedly the closest thing on earth to liquid sunshine) at one of Segundo Palacio's picnic tables. Yes, you'll smile to yourself, you do live in a tropical paradise.

BEST JUNK

U.S. 1 Discount Mall

You can get sofas, chairs, beds, tchotchkes of all kinds, and from every country. A recent scene: Hairstylist who frequents the place had her eye on one of those darkly tarnished replicas of Donatello's David, about a foot high, bronze-going-green. "That lidless, lipless decadence," she whispered mischievously. "Donatello would have gotten down on the Beach!" After some haggling with Amelia the salesgirl, the price was right, coming down from $45 to $25. "We're the best!" Amelia bragged. "You can spend hours in here. Look! Real aluminum ice-tea glasses from the Fifties in fruit colors -- creamsicle orange, Saturn red, TV yellow ... snowsled silver!"

BEST LIQUOR STORE

Crown Wine and Spirits

Crown, a frequent Best of Miami winner, relocated its Coral Gables store in September, and the new spot -- just a couple of blocks away from the old -- lives up to Crown's well-deserved reputation. Whether you're interested in wines (Crown took advantage of the increased shelf space at the new location to improve on its heralded selection), booze, or beer, the place remains in a league of its own. For a little something to go with your beverage purchase, check out the food. "We have a huge deli counter, with fresh baked bread and eight artisanal cheeses," says Crown wine consultant Fred Barger. "Pâté, fresh caviar -- you name it."

Readers Choice: Crown Wine and Spirits

Best Of Miami®

Best Of Miami®

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