Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with stores

Where's the best place to buy classical CDs in Winnipeg?

Johnny Assay — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:56:27 -0800

Are there any good brick-and-mortar places to buy classical music CDs in Winnipeg, MB? I'm flying up to Winnipeg to visit my family for Christmas this year. My current plan is to buy gifts for them at brick-and-mortar stores in the days leading up to Christmas. I'm hoping to be able to buy a classical CD or two as a gift for my sister; however, I'm not sure where the best place is to go to do this.

My go-to place for classical CDs in Winnipeg used to be the downtown A&B Sound; they had a huge selection in all genres, especially classical. Unfortunately, they closed down years ago. I know that Winnipeg's not a huge city, but there's got to be enough old-fashioned classicophiles around to allow at least one store to stock more than a few dusty old copies of Beethoven 5 and "Tchaikovsky's Greatest Hits" — right? Or am I stuck with what's available at the HMV locations in St. Vital or Polo Park?

What kinds of stores are out there?

Deathalicious — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:54:39 -0800

What kinds of stores are out there? I've gotten so used to buying most of my things at department stores or large chain grocery stores that if they suddenly disappeared I wouldn't know where to go to buy things. So I'm wondering where you'd get things if you didn't get your things at a large store. I already know you'd get meat at a butcher's, fish at a fishmonger's, bread at a bakery, etc. But where would you go for other household items? This occurred to me because I'd like to get a nice large bag of washing soda and I know that a fair number of grocery stores probably wouldn't carry that, but for sure there is a kind of store that would always having washing soda.

For practical purposes I'm interested in stores in the US, but out of more general interest anecdotes about store types in other parts of the world would be of purely academic interest too.
For example from personal experience I know that in Egypt there are store devoted exclusively to roasted nuts. Except for Western-style groceries catering to ex-pats, these nut roasters are pretty much the only place to get your hands on peanuts.

Help me learn about the clothing consignment business.

mintchip — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:18:57 -0800

Help me learn about the clothing consignment business. If someone is interested in opening a clothing consignment shop, what would they need to know? For example, is this a lucrative business? How would you know what kind of items to accept and how to price them? How would you hire employees? How would you protect against theft? Are there a general guidelines for how much retail should cost (rent wise)? How would one determine whether such a business is viable in a specific area? How do you attract consigners? What sorts of resources (books, web sites, etc.) would help someone learn about this type of business? What else do I need to know? Et cetera!

What is the purpose of these mirrors behind the customer, about waist-level, in checkout lanes?

meowzilla — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:25:11 -0800

What is the purpose of these mirrors behind the customer, about waist-level, in checkout lanes? They seem to be set up so that the cashier can get a good look at my butt - which I doubt is their true purpose. I've noticed that in two completely separate stores, there are large mirrors facing the cashier behind the customer, about waist-level or below. These are on every checkout lane, so there has to be a good reason for it (it costs money to put these up and replace them). I asked the cashier about them and she had no idea what these were for. I can't imagine what view they're supposed to give the cashier.

Is it possible they're for security? Both stores I noticed these are in slightly-bad neighborhoods, the ones where security guards stand around near the exit.

How prevalent are puppy mills?

isopropyl — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:01:11 -0800

Have any major pets stores (petland, petco, ....) been linked directly to puppy mills? I worked at pet and as a vet tech and the animals came to us so sick and for lack of a better word awkward. Most had yeast infections (presumably from overuse of antibiotics) and/or upper respiratory infections. The pets came in a semi-truck and were unloaded through a tiny door in the back. I confronted the owner and he acted highly offended and told me to worry about the pets current health and not where they came from. If the animals health didn't get any better after a few days they were sent back just as if they were broken commodities. I'm working on a speech to give to a large group at my university so any statistical information or links would be great also.

Crunchy, crafty mom shopping nirvana in NYC?

printchick — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 19:35:56 -0800

Which crunchy/crafty/eclectic/kid-centered type stores should I visit when I'm in NYC? I'll be there for a seminar but will have some free time afterwards. I am going to spend a weekend in New York City next month for a work seminar. While most of my time will be spent at the seminar, I should have time in the evenings and during the afternoon before my flight home. I'm looking for suggestions for great toy stores, craft stores, crunchy stores, funky home decor stores, markets -- in short, any place a kinda crunchy/crafty/resourceful mother of a toddler would love to visit in NYC. I'll probably stick around Manhattan but would take a subway trip to a borough if the place seems fantabulous enough.

Pearl River and Paper Source would be fun stops (we don't have Paper Source where I live) but I'd welcome suggestions for other places.

Thank you!

Can you help me find where my edgy target market shops for jewelry?

Redruin — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:27:18 -0800

Help me find places in the Washington, DC Metro area to sell edgy men's jewelry, and discover where my target customer shops. I have recently decided to start an high quality silver jewelry brand to cater to an upscale but "edgy" underground or indie crowd, and now I need to figure out where to sell it. Can't start my own (brick and mortar) store yet, so I would love advice on shops/boutiques that might sell this kind of thing in the DC metro area.

The aim of the brand, which will become more evident as the designs mature, is to offer fashionable non-boring jewelry that men can wear, and that rises above the cliche of skulls and/or snakes that dominates the biker/rocker jewelry tradition. I think I can provide a higher-class and higher-quality alternative without being cheesy, bringing more of a luxury fashion experience to those with less straightforward tastes.

So does anyone know where the slightly more affluent and discerning eccentric would shop in DC? I would love any info on the process of how selling in someone elses shop works, though I'm sure I'll learn along the way. Also any especially good places to advertise would help, like niche magazines, websites, etc. I am somehow out of touch with this demo in the area where I now live.

I'm sure it's not an easy question, but I will love any info you can give me! Feel free to buy the stuff too =)

Where's all the cool shops?

tomcochrane — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 19:30:12 -0800

Where are all of the cool shops in downtown Toronto? Myself and my girlfriend moved to North York about a week ago to go to York University. Today we headed into downtown Toronto for the first time to take a look around and see if there was anything cool to be seen. We took the subway down, and got off at Union Station. From there we walked west down Front St, up Spadina to Queen, down Queen to Yonge, and back to Union Station.

We found some interesting places on Queen, but mostly large, trendy chain stores. What we wanted to find were smaller stores, probably independently run. We're really into used book stores and CD stores, as well as vintage clothing stores and stuff like that. I also really dig comic book stores.

I have a feeling that we were in the wrong area of town for what we were looking for. Any ideas of where we should have been? For that matter, any suggestions of other places we should check out next time we are downtown? Where are some cool areas of the town?

Where to buy ska/reggae in NYC?

cyrusdogstar — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 22:02:35 -0800

Where can I get relatively unknown ska/reggae music in New York City (or online)? The specific target of my search right now is a recentish album by a group called the Debonaires (a southern California band formed in the mid 90s, not the 1960s group with the same name). I've had such good luck with finding music on iTunes -- even stuff that's not really mainstream -- that this is the first time I've gotten an earbug that I couldn't immediately buy off the iTMS (boo hoo, I know).

As such, and because I've only lived here for a few years, I'm totally clueless about decent places to physically obtain non-popular music in New York, even though I imagine the place is teeming with indie music stores and the like. Does anyone know of such spots that would carry a decent amount of ska/reggae type music? I'll make the "lol Jamaica, Queens" joke now to get that out of the way.

Alternately, online music stores with a non-terrible ship time (the label for aforementioned album does have it but it's 2-4 weeks ship time) might work.

Online sales for Palestinian woodworkers

Baby_Balrog — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 06:44:25 -0800

Help me help my friends sell their Palestinian olive wood carvings from Bethlehem, West Bank, via the internet. My friends make hand-made olive-wood crafts. They are interested in selling their products over the internet. They're familiar with Ebay Stores - but they're interested in websites that specialize in selling handmade goods - wood crafts - religious items - items from developing countries or that support families in depressed areas of the world. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Please help me find appliance stores in Paris

devilshgrin — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:40:33 -0800

A friend of mine owns an appliance store in the United States. He will be taking a trip to Europe and while in Paris he was hoping to check out how they do things there. I have tried looking for appliance stores in the French version of Google Maps, also tried google.fr looking for "appliance stores" Paris. I have not come up with any good results.

Does anyone have a suggestion for how I might be able to locate appliance stores in Paris? Do they have appliance stores like we have in the US? (i.e. washers, dryers, refrigerators, electronics under one roof)

Mappable results would be major plus.

I need to look at every online women's clothing store in the world.

xo — Thu, 01 May 2008 12:16:54 -0800

I'm looking to buy, or at least locate, a women's lightweight black 3/4 length jacket with slim tailoring (outerwear, not a suit jacket) online. I'm really particular, so I haven't found the perfect jacket yet. What online stores have I forgotten? So far, I have looked at:
Ann Taylor, Anthropologie, Arden B, Armani Exchange
Banana Republic, Bloomingdale's, BlueFly
Club Monaco
Diesel
Express, Esprit
Forever 21, Free People, FCUK
the Gap, Garnet Hill
H&M, Hot Topic
J Crew
Karmaloop, Kenneth Cole
The Limited, Lip Service, Lucky Jeans
Macy's, Mudshark Streetwear
Neiman-Marcus, Nine West, Nordstrom's
Old Navy
Saks
Target
Urban Outfitters
Victoria's Secret
Wet Seal
Zappos

What stores have I forgotten?

Name suggestions for an event space

zackola — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 07:03:58 -0800

NameMyStore Filter: Art/party/event space for kids needs a name: details inside... Mom is the proprietress of an educational toy/gift store. She's got extra space in the back that she is thinking about using to host kids' birthday parties/events (music/art/crafts). Help her come up with a name for the new offering. Desired words/sound of name includes "gallery", "cafe", or "studio". Other themes include kids, toys, particularly trains (the logo of her store is a train) and the color blue. No suggestions with incorrect spellings like "Kidz Kafe" please (it is an educational toy store after all) but puns and other wordplay are encouraged.

Suggestions so far include:

Animation Station (Animations is the name of the store)
The Blue Caboose (although I think this sounds a little inappropriate)

Thanks in advance!

Moving to Portland

triolus — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 06:11:30 -0800

I'm moving to Portland, OR next week, and wanted to get a feel for the area. What are some places that I absolutely should visit, places to dine and drink, and so forth? I'll be living off SW 21st Ave, and will not have access to a car for several days until the movers get it out there, so I'm really looking for suggestion within walking/rail distance. Several things on my mind:

1) Good, cheap places to eat. I won't be able to cook for a few days until, once again, the movers get my stuff out there.

2) Pet stores - I need food and a new litter box for the cats.

3) The local dive bars - where are they?

4) How is the public transportation system, in your opinion?

Plus anything else you can think of that can help an ATLien adjust to the new town. Thanks mefis!

Need help getting a gift!

eightball — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 20:01:33 -0800

What store can I find Philadelphia Eagles merchandise (t-shirts, sweatshirts) tomorrow in the DC area? I've been looking the last few days. Montgomery Mall, Champs, places like that. All the stores have the typical Redskins, Ravens, but not much else.

I'm in the Rockville area so anything around there would be best.

Anyone know any specific stores that have lots of out of area NFL team merchandise? Thanks!

Where do they go?

esereth — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 08:58:08 -0800

What do stores do with the racks and racks of clothes that just won't sell? At Old Navy, there are racks of unpopular clothes selling for $3.97, lower than you could even get them at Goodwill. Next week they will have disappeared, but not because they were sold.

I shop at a lot of thrift stores and there is never a huge mass of completely unworn semi-unfashionable Old Navy and Gap clothes, so I don't think they're going there. (Not to mention it can't be good for stores to have their name brands plastered all over Goodwills.)

What do stores and manufacturers do with all those unsold clothes? Are they sent to 3rd world charities? Are they torn up and somehow recycled?

Antiques/thrifts off I-95 near Philly?

citron — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 07:11:45 -0800

DC to Philly road trip - Any recommendations for neat antique or thrift stores along the way (ie, not far off I-95)? I am planning to drive basically a straight shot up there on 95, and have to pick up an item at 2, so I prefer not to veer too far off an exit.

I'm looking for unique furniture, vintage clothes, maybe a cool lamp.. Just basically any place you might find something neat at a cheap price.

Undiscovered thrift stores near DC?

mistsandrain — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 07:44:27 -0800

DC and surrounding area thrift store filter: I am willing to drive into rural MD or VA to find second hand/ thrift/ junk stores that have not been picked over- I am looking to buy mismatched dinnerware pieces and silver. Any recommendations? Hidden treasure troves? I am looking to rebuild my bohemian-ish stoneware kitchen set lost to divorce....

Gift Vouchers for Glasgow from Australia?

pipstar — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 22:45:34 -0800

A couple of my friends are moving to Glasgow, Scotland for at least a year to play music and do the young Australian abroad thing for a while. I'd like to combine their farewell and wedding present (slightly belated) into a gift voucher they can use once they've moved over there. Any suggestions? Glasgow IKEA is the immediate store that springs to mind but while practical is a fairly bland idea. Any recommendations of record stores, music shops (guitar strings and drumsticks) or vintage stores etc would be grand.

I'll need to arrange and pay for the gift voucher by credit card.

Also any fun Glasgow tips for a mid 20s musical couple would be cool.

Drugs for dogs

kyleg — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 13:15:58 -0800

What are some good online sources for pet medicine? Medicine from my vet is expensive, and I want to get the best price without sacrificing quality, service, or my dog's health. I know about 1800petmeds.com (and they don't seem to sell what I'm looking for on Amazon), but most other sites I've found look a little on the sketchy side. Is it important to buy from a US source? Where have you bought from and had a good customer experience? If it helps, I'm looking for Revolution for my large dog.

What are some good furniture stores in Toronto?

hazyspring — Sat, 19 May 2007 07:26:33 -0800

What are some good furniture stores in Toronto? My taste leans towards modern furniture (but not too modern), I really like Room & Board Furniture, as well as Design Within Reach (although it is a little pricey for me). I've been in most of the stores in the Queen West area, but I'm looking for specific stores I should check or even some other streets or neighborhoods that have a lot of stores.

Sometimes being vertically blessed isn't such a blessing

hazelshade — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 08:57:11 -0800

Tall, female MeFites: where do you find buy pants? I'm a tall-ish girl (5'8") and have a hell of a time finding pants that are long enough for me. Anthropologie, for example, has awesome pants but very few options that are appropriate non-shorties.

What American stores have a good selection of "tall" pants? Any recommendations for particular clothing lines/designers? I'm looking both for pants that are appropriate for work and casual pants -- willing to pay in the under-$200 range for slacks that will fit.

Item a day stores

jonah — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 16:13:13 -0800

Single Item Online Stores. They are popping up everywhere, which ones do you like? I'm talking about sites like Woot!, Steep and Cheap, and I just discovered One Gourmet Goodie. There must be others.

Know any cool DC Clothing Stores?

blasdelf — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 12:35:59 -0800

Do you know cool local female clothing stores in DC? I have a female friend visiting me at my parent's place in DC (near Dupont Circle) for a week, and I haven't lived here much in the last four years or so. We're looking to go clothes shopping together, and I don't know where to go. We're not looking for any national chains, anything overly like hot-topic, or specifically 'punky'. She's not at all the stereotypical "Math is hard! Let's go shopping!" girl, if that helps.

Here's a what she has to say about herself:

I'm a cute girl from Seattle with a quirky and fun taste in clothes. I love color. I'm in college, so I need something cheap. I'm especially interested in finding dresses.

Also, if you know of anything cool going on in DC from July 28th to August 4th, please feel free to comment.

Does this building really exist?

beetsuits — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 10:25:07 -0800

I am trying to determine if a building I saw once was real or a dream. I was with my family in another city, possibly Chicago, and we saw something I have always sort of remembered. It was night time and, on the side of a building, possible a department store, a story or two up, there was what I remember as being like a large cuckoo clock. At certain times, doors opened up and there was music along with animatronic characters, sort of Disney-esque.

Does that ring any bells? My family claims no memory of it and it's possible I dreamed it, but I would really like it to be true.