books
Shopping
Swimmer
An inordinate amount of hair baubles, umbrellas, pillowcases, pajamas, dishware, and suitcases, all emblazoned with cartoony images (dancing gumdrops, winking clouds), is crammed into this impossibly tiny space. From Tokyo's Shibuya neighborhood store listing.
Shopping
Tokyu Hands
One of the best-known stores in Tokyo, this seven-level behemoth sells a little of everything, from wrapping paper to kitchen utensils. From Tokyo's Shibuya neighborhood store listing.
Shopping
Cow Books
Specializing in volumes on Japanese and American art and culture, this inviting, well-stocked bookshop, decorated with Eames walnut stools and a Jenny Holzer-esque LED ticker, makes for a stimulating rest stop. From Tokyo's Nakameguro neighborhood store listing.
Shopping
Matsumoto Kiyoshi
The Japanese equivalent of Walgreens, but stocked with super specific products—like scented floss to string through your earring holes to clean them—this mega-drugstore is supremely entertaining. From Tokyo's Harajuku neighborhood store listing.
Shopping
Greer
This paper goods shop has the intimate ambience of an eccentric professor’s study. From Chicago's Old Town/Gold Coast/River North neighborhood store listing.
Shopping
Hejfina
When Heiji Choy-Black opened her iconoclastic store—a Lucky favorite—back in 2004, there was nothing like it in town. She took a chance on esoteric, then-unknown lines, and her indie-centric focus has not wavered. From Chicago's Bucktown/Wicker Park/Ukranian Village neighborhood store listing.
Shopping
Sprout Home
Dedicated to unusual foliage and well-designed accoutrements used to nurture them (curvy glazed vessels, minimalist steel watering cans); it also offers a range of outdoor-themed goods, like buried-wood platters and blown-glass bird feeders. From Chicago's Bucktown/Wicker Park/Ukranian Village neighborhood store listing.
Shopping
Willow
Housed in a refurbished neighborhood watering hole, Willow is warm, inviting, and full of decorative objects with a vintage undercurrent—handcarved-owl bookends, Sarah Cihat rehabilitated dishware, vases that resemble tiny motor homes, and crayon-bright melamine lunch trays. From Chicago's Bucktown/Wicker Park/Ukranian Village neighborhood store listing.
Sites We Love
Pearl River
Chinese imports are the focus of this NYC-based site. Get everything from sequin-adorned slippers (less than five bucks a pair) to lanterns and lacquered chopsticks.
Sites We Love
Uncommon Goods
As the name suggests, this home and gift store sells out-of-the-ordinary wares that you never before knew you wanted. Example: an 8-inch tall ceramic night lamp shaped like a Chihuahua with an Elizabeth-ish medical cone around its neck. Unnecessary, yet so necessary.
