Goods & Services >>

• Best Place to go Shopping
  Deals -- Nothing Over A Dollar
  The best part of shopping, especially in today's stagnant economy, is the thrill of actually being able to buy something. That's why dollar stores are enjoying the same kind of renaissance that five-and-dime stores had during the Depression. Back then, Woolworth's and Kresge's were stocked with... More >>
• Best Place to Buy Used Clothes
  Plato's Closet
  Usually, thrift-store shopping is best done when you have lots of time on your hands and no specific idea of what you're looking for. But Plato's Closet is an excellent place to hit when you have, say, $10 and an hour to find the perfect something-or-other to wear for a blind date, a costume... More >>
• Best Realtor
  Kathleen Brock
  Kansas City is full of enough prejudice. We don't need it from our realtor. But too often, real estate agents try to steer their clients away from certain parts of the city. Not so with Kathleen Brock. For Brock and her staff, it's all about what the client wants. She specializes in selling... More >>
• Best Lofts
  21 Ten Lofts
  When we took the last downtown homes tour, we couldn't help but think that Kansas City didn't quite have this loft thing down. A lot of the places seemed too fussy, too suburban. There was an overabundance of smooth drywall and carpet (?!), and not enough exposed brick, duct work or sleek,... More >>
• Best Place to Get Some Tail
  Wind Wizards
  Way back, looooong ago, when we were somewhere between a fish and an ape, we probably had tails. But apparently we never used them much, because they've retreated into our hips over the course of evolution, making us the sleek Homo sapiens we are today. But we must confess a little tail envy.... More >>
• Best Place to Buy Cheap Dog Toys
  Dressler's Dog Supply
  When it comes to dog toys, we have a conspiracy theory: Most pet-supply manufacturers purposely make flimsy dog toys designed to remain intact for only a few days before their heads spontaneously pop off, sending stuffing everywhere and requiring us to make another trip to the pet store to shell... More >>
• Best Place to Find Adventurous Food Products
  105th Street and Metcalf, Overland Park
  In one Overland Park strip mall, a row of several foreign markets makes for especially cosmopolitan grocery shopping. Boasting an Indian market, a Latin market, two Asian markets and a Kosher grocer, this has to be one of the few strip malls where you can get banana leaves, sheep brain, 70-cent... More >>
• Best Candy Innovation
  Russell Stover Low-Carb Candies
  If you've tried the high-protein, low-carbohydrate approach to weight loss -- and these days, it's hard to find someone who hasn't -- then you know that the toughest thing about Dr. Atkins' wacky but effective diet isn't eating plate after plate of meat but going without sweets. Sugar is banned... More >>
• Best Local Library
  Kansas City, Kansas, Public Library, Main Branch
  The Main Branch of the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Library is not only a place to find books; it's a real community resource. It's even a place to hang out for entertainment -- having unearthed old films on original 16-mm prints, the library puts on several film festivals throughout the year.... More >>
• Best Clothing Designer
  Carrie Wilson
  You shouldn't buy a raincoat from this lady. Carrie Wilson makes most of her clothes out of paper. It may sound like a gimmick, but it's so much more than that -- the outfits Wilson assembles are totally hot. It takes getting up close to them for a person to realize that these bustiers, skirts... More >>
• Best Head Shop
  Cooper's Broadway Tobacco
  Oh, God, did we say head shop? We meant, uh, smoke shop. Yeah, that's the ticket. "We don't sell bongs here," says the good-looking kid behind the counter at Cooper's Broadway Tobacco. "We do sell water pipes." Behind the counter are all kinds of glass and acrylic devices that look like good ol'... More >>
• Best Billboards
  Boulevard Beer
  In May, Boulevard Brewing Company billboards sporting giant bottles of pale ale or unfiltered beer began foaming up around the city. Each bore a slick message such as "Imported from the other side of town," "Proudly not served in 40 states," or "Brewed in our backyard. Enjoyed in yours." Because... More >>
• Best Way to Get a Spankin'
  Gunrunner's Sensation Station
  It's worth attending a local fetish performance just to find the man-in-chaps (you'll know him by his ass cheeks) presiding over a massage table decked out with various tools of BDS&M pleasure. For the inexperienced, this can be a daunting introduction to the world of fetish. Coming face-to-ass... More >>
• Best Mechanic
  Pro Brake & Muffler
  Fans of the two-year-old, all-service Pro Brake & Muffler (brakes and mufflers are just part of the business) like the good-natured owner, Dan Boyd, and his team of four skilled mechanics, not to mention the reasonable prices (an oil change is only $14.99) and fast service. It's a privately... More >>
• Best New Used Bookstore
  River City Books
  When it comes to success stories, used-book stores are like three-legged thoroughbreds -- it's best not to put money on them, yet it's impossible not to cheer them on. So it goes with River City Books. Last December, Carrie Pacey opened the store at the entryway to the River Market, just across... More >>
• Best Full-Service Gas Station
  John's Full Service
  The gas station at Independence Avenue and Olive Street consists of eight faded gas pumps next to a sloped-roof storefront on a bleached-concrete lot. On any given day, John (who wouldn't give us his last name), the sixtysomething, platinum-mustached shop owner, totters around the pumps, poking... More >>
• Best Ad Campaign
  Stuff on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
  Who knew Queer Eye for the Straight Guy would be the TV hit of the year -- making it a perfect advertising vehicle for any retailer eager to sell fashionable clothes, gourmet food, upscale liquor and tasteful home furnishings? The owners of Stuff certainly didn't. In their Brookside store,... More >>
• Best Place to Buy Live Frogs
  Kim Long Asian Market
  There's a new king of Asian markets in Kansas City. With wide aisles and plenty of fluorescent lighting, the Kim Long Asian Market, a few blocks east of the City Market, is a welcome alternative to the competition's crowded shopping lanes. Proprietor Phung has turned the 11,000-square-foot old... More >>
• Best Yoga Studio
  Yoga Gallery
  We've left some yoga studios around town feeling we didn't get our $15 worth. (At one midtown studio, a twentysomething instructor wore a headset with a microphone and loudly chirped crackling instructions that grated on our nerves: "Look toward the skyyyyy, as if your whole body would float... More >>
• Best Health Food Store
  Mother Nature's Health Market
  We like Mother Nature's Health Market because it's a friendly little neighborhood health-food store that reminds us of our childhood in the '70s, when health food was all about granola and alfalfa sprouts. From meatless jerky to hypoallergenic dog shampoo, Mother Nature's crams a surprising... More >>
• Best Place to Let Out Your Inner Book Dork
  Spivey's
  Spivey's bookstore appeals not just to the person who loves to read but also, more specifically, to that reader who genuinely loves books -- as in, the physical objects. For some people, a battered paperback is just as good as the beautifully illustrated first edition of the same title. But are... More >>
• Best Place to Score Some Pussy
  Kansas City Siamese Rescue
  No doubt about it. Siamese cats are the sexiest pussies on earth. The way they strut with their tails waving high and that coy, "don't even think about petting me" demeanor -- once you've had Siamese pussy, you'll never go back to those cute, doting furballs people are always giving away outside... More >>
• Best Facial Artist
  Terry Binns
  As a drama student at Pittsburg State University in the 1970s, Terry Binns learned how to put his best face forward when he walked onstage. For the past two decades, he's been a lot more interested in putting the best face on his clients. Binns had planned to be an actor until he got a bit part... More >>
• Best Place to Brainstorm Remodeling Projects
  Habitat Restore
  Sure, you can always imitate the great remodeling ideas on Trading Spaces or Design on a Dime. But wouldn't it be better to be your own interior-design trailblazer? And for laughably low costs? We think so. That's why we regularly visit Restore Habitat, a sprawling warehouse in the Missouri... More >>
• Best Reason to Write Letters Again
  Paper Source
  Since the rise of e-mail, the handwritten letter has fallen by the wayside. But the beautiful stationery and cards at Paper Source will inspire even the most Blackberry-addicted technophile to find his or her inner Luddite and put pen to paper again. This lovely treasure chest of a store sells... More >>
• Best Hot, Young Floral Designer
  Dan Meiners
  Former graphic designer Dan Meiners turned his focus to flowers six years ago and, in the fall of 2000, opened a small studio in a downtown warehouse. Meiners -- who is just as photogenic as some of the imaginative floral creations he's whipped up for local magazine covers and photo shoots --... More >>
• Best Flea Market
  Monthly Antique Market & Collectibles
  You never know what you'll come across or, better yet, who you'll come across at this once-a-month gathering of detritus dealers and bargain hunters. It isn't just a carnival of kooky collectibles -- leatherette leiderhosen, inflatable motor-oil bottles, grimy vintage Barbie dolls, Marilyn Maye... More >>
• Best Urban Flower Shop
  Beco
  A number of downtown retail spaces double as galleries, realizing that what defines downtown -- and especially the Crossroads District -- is the artistic pull of the neighborhood. One of these double-duty retail shops is the lovely Beco, a flower shop that uses the natural light streaming in the... More >>
• Best Place to Teach a Kid about the Laws of Nature
  Cabela's
  A lesson in survival of the fittest or angriest or most pointy is to be had at Cabela's. Start with the pastoral scenes: taxidermied mountain goats on a fake mountain, stuffed beaver in an endless stream, motionless deer in a created forest glen. Then proceed past the outboard motors to the... More >>
• Best Start-Up Company
  Breakdanceamerica.com
  Two years ago, Jim David and his longtime friend Kevin Kusatsu started spray-painting "Breakdanceamerica.com" across vacant surfaces in downtown Los Angeles. The idea was to create brand awareness. When people looked up the name on the Internet, they hit a screen proclaiming "You'll buy our shit... More >>
• Best Public Service
  Kansas City Neighborhood Alliance's Home-buying Class
  Once a month, the folks at the Kansas City Neighborhood Alliance take a group of people who have no clue about buying a house, plunk them down at a table for a Saturday morning and turn them into savvy home shoppers. For a nominal fee of $20, the KCNA class covers everything from finding a... More >>
• Best Place to Put Your Ass
  The Speaker Chair
  With apologies to Retro Inferno, sellers of some of the coolest furniture most of us can't afford, there's no way to put together a "Best Of" issue without revealing what we know about the store's predictably expensive Speaker Chair -- hands down the most incredible sitting experience in the... More >>
• Best Cheap Mullet
  La Baron Hair Dressing Academy
  Hairdresser-in-training Tracey Robertson remembers well the day she cut her first mullet. The day the guy wearing the wife-beater and driving the monster truck pulled into the salon parking lot with his daughter, a cute girl with long, beautiful hair. People come to La Baron to experiment, she... More >>
• Best Place to Score Popsicles
  Budd Park
  Usually, the goods you can score in urban parks aren't so good -- weed, crack, hot VCRs. But up in the historic northeast, we've found a connection for goods that are so good we wouldn't hesitate to push them on our little nieces and nephews. It's easy to do the deal. Just stroll through the... More >>
• Best Psychic
  David Schneider
  The former host of the lovably campy public-access TV show Psychic Voyages, which ran weekly from 1984 to 1996, David Schneider is frequently tapped for radio appearances, public seances and occasional investigative work. "A detective called me to visit a crime scene once, a bedroom where two... More >>
• Best BookSeller
  Steve Shapiro at Rainy Day Books
  Steve Shapiro is a man to avoid if you're just browsing. He remembers your name and what you bought last time you stopped by. He remembers the name of every author you've ever mentioned, and he's made several mental notes to tell you about a new book that will undoubtedly be of interest to you.... More >>
• Best Yarn Shop
  Urban Arts + Crafts
  Urban Arts + Crafts is not your nana's yarn shop -- unless your grandma looks like she spent her youth defining chic on the Left Bank. At Urban Arts + Crafts, fifty-some varieties of spun loveliness, running the gamut from hand-dyed chenille to recycled Chinese silk and back to supersoft alpaca,... More >>