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Cliff's Variety
None of the hardware maestros at Cliff's will raise an eyebrow if you express a dire need for a 4x4 beam, a jar of rubber nuns, non-toxic silver paint and more cocktail toothpicks than anyone can safely use in a lifetime - though they might angle for an invitation. A community institution since 1936, Cliff's window displays alone are a local landmark.
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Clothes Contact
Everything here is priced to move by the pound, from Marilyn Munroe halter dresses to '70s European train curtains for your swingin' pad. Gauge your purchases by weight, and you'll spend nothing on a gauzy vintage Gunne Sax sundress, long Isadora Duncan scarf and polyester shirt featuring Italian monuments. Inspect your haul carefully before you hand over that US$20 - purchases are non-returnable.
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Cocoabella
This San Francisco chocolate purveyor commissions chocolate makers around the world to produce treats with delightful flavors and exotic good looks: a hazelnut chocolate mushroom, a chocolate peanut butterfly, a Russian tea-scented chocolate painted like a Kandinsky, and a confectionary cappuccino in a tiny chocolate cup.
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Community Thrift
When local stores have house-wares overstock, they donate it to Community Thrift, where proceeds go to community organizations - all the more reason to gloat over your thrifted Fiestaware plates and that cork lamp you found out back by the furniture. Donate your own unused stuff and show some love to the Community.
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Crossroads
Pssst, fashionistas: you know those designers you see lining Fillmore St, like Betsey Johnson and Marc Jacobs? Many of their creations can be found used at Crossroads for a fraction of retail, thanks to Pacific Heights clotheshorses who tire of clothes fast and can't be bothered to hang onto their receipts. That's why this Crossroads store is better than the other ones in the city (including Market and Haight St) - for even better deals, trade in your own old stuff and browse the half-price rack.
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Custom Originals (Al's Attire)
Hepcats and slick chicks get their duds at Al's, where vintage styles are reinvented in rocker gabardine, noir-novel twill and poetry-reading tweeds. Prices aren't exactly Bohemian, but recent finds in the 30% off sales rack include men's razor-sharp thin-lapel jackets and ambitious Girl Friday skirt suits with smart contrasting piping. Ask about custom orders for weddings, art openings and other shindigs.
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Dark Garden
Not sure what to wear to your Marilyn Manson tribute band's debut in the Mission, or to your authentic Victorian wedding at the Chateau Tivoli? Dark Garden might have your answer, as long as you don't need to take any deep breaths and can get help with the lacing (not exactly a cinch, no matter what they tell you). Corsets are made to order and surprisingly comfortable, especially the va-va-voom velvet numbers.
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Delilah Crown
The crowning touches to SF style are the screen-printing, pin tucking and vintage-pattern fabrics used in owner Kristina De Pizzol's signature silver-crown-label designs: easygoing skirts, shapely, sassy dresses, and limited edition tree T-shirts (call them 'tree-shirts'). Babies also get the royal treatment here with Bohemian baby tunics and gypsy skirts that make every tot look like the charming end result of the Summer of Love.
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Dema
Splashy patterns and snappy details put San Francisco Dema Grimm at the head of the class of Mission School cool, including cityscape-patterned shirts with buttons that look like gumdrops. Like any original designer, Dema's not dirt-cheap, but you get what you pay for with nostalgic bias-cut dresses that yield squealed compliments from friends. Check the bins and sales rack for deals up to 80% off.
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Discolandia
The oldest Latin-music store in the Bay Area and as funky as ever, making passers-by step in time with merengue, salsa and Tejano blasting out the door. Get yours on CD or vintage vinyl, and stock up on Spanish-language mags, adult comics and pulp fiction.
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Doe
Upgrade from the 'I escaped from Alcatraz' shot-glasses to Doe's signature belts featuring the fogged-in Sutro Tower on the buckle, Jill Bliss stationary with unruly California poppies and mushrooms in the margins, or a gold outline of the states of California with a gem inset in (of course) San Francisco.
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Dog Eared Books
'Zines, remainders and graphic novels pack this place, but intriguing new stuff also gets its due in esoteric sections (especially Pirate literature) and trusty staff picks (of note lately: Miranda July's latest short story collection and Adverbs by Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snickett). Don't miss the hand-drawn obituaries to the likes of Susan Sontag, James Brown and Edward Said displayed in the front window.
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Dsw
The basement clearance section is where recovering shoe hounds come once they've sworn that they've really bought their last pair for the season (you know who you are). Diligent research has uncovered black and pink Pucci sneakers, green Miu Miu boots and an inexplicable bonanza of limited-edition Adidas. For more deals, check out the designer's corner on the main floor - bags are on the mezzanine, men's and athletic shoes are upstairs.
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Encantada Gallery
Build your own Mission-style altarpieces with this motherlode of Mexican folk art. Every self-respecting piano deserves a burnished black ceramic candelabra from Oaxaca, fridges cry out for calendars featuring busty gun-slinging revolutionaries, and even offices can turn festive once bedecked in papel picado (cut-paper streamers). Encantada has it all, plus rotating exhibits of contemporary Latin American artists.
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Far East Flea Market
The shopping equivalent of crack, this bottomless store is dangerously cheap and certain to make you giddy and delusional. Of course you can cram ten orange ceramic platters and a turquoise sake set into your carry-on! Everyone needs more bath toys and Chinese opera masks! No one in your extended family should be denied silk brocade pillowcases with matching slippers! Step away from the dollar Golden Gate snow globes while there's still time…
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Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market
Remember what tomatoes are supposed to taste like, or the last time a cheese made you forget about dinner? You're in for a treat at this weekly roundup of the finest seasonal produce and artisanal foods. Other markets are certainly cheaper, but you can't find a much finer selection anywhere for local specialties like fresh Point Reyes Farmstead blue cheese, Bariani cold-pressed California olive oil, and Eatwell Farms dry-farmed tomatoes that are like summer in your mouth.
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Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant
Part store, part wine bar, totally tasty (hic). Stock up on California wines after you've tasted a few - start with Pinot Gris and work your way to Pinots and Zins, and swish and spit when you only want to taste. The staff are knowledgeable and the wine list is written in a colloquial way to make non-snobs feel welcome. This place is jammed on Saturdays, but otherwise the staff will take the time to suggest pairings and other wines to try.
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Flax
People who swear they lack artistic flair suddenly find it at Flax, where an entire room of specialty papers, racks of plump paint tubes in luscious colors, and a wonderland of hot glue guns practically make the collage for you. Home decor projects and kid-art projects start here, and the vast selections of pens and journals are novels waiting to happen.
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Flight 001
Having a nice flight in the no-liquids, no-legroom era is actually a possibility with the in-flight assistance of Flight 001. Clever carry-ons built to fit international size regulations come with just the right number of pockets for your new rubber alarm clock, travel Scrabble set and the first-class Jet Comfort Kit with earplugs, sleep mask, booties, neck rest, candy and cards.
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Foxy Lady Boutique
Pick up some naughty habits while you're in town - the mini-skirted nun's outfit comes in men's and women's sizes, or perhaps you'd prefer something in the librarian-dominatrix department? If you want your Halloween costume to pay off this year, try the 'Sexy ATM Machine' costume … and yeow, watch those deposits.
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Gallery Flux
Castro couples getting hitched may not be officially recognized by the state of California - for now, anyway - but there's no mistaking those eye-catching wedding bands from Gallery Flux. Back-lit glass shelves highlight the hypnotic swirls of precious metals in locally crafted Michael Daniels rings, and Nick Dong's brushed-gold rings with polished gems on the inside.
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General Bead
Blind beading ambition will seize you when you're upstairs, among the racks of bagged bulk beads, where visions of holiday gifts for the entire family appear like mirages: multi-tiered necklaces, sequined seascapes, beaded frames, lampshades even. To practice restraint, order smaller quantities downstairs with the bead-bedecked staff-people behind the counter, who will ring you up on bejeweled calculators.
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Giant Robot
The storefront of the uberhip Cali-Asian pop culture magazine understands exactly how you imagined life as a grown-up: stacks of comics, a never-ending supply of toys and stickers, and a wardrobe consisting entirely of T-shirts.
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Gimme Shoes
Get your kicks at this specialty high-end shoe store, where budgets are blown, comfort restored, and confidence boosted. Bide your time and those bronze Dries Van Noten kitten heels might hit the 60% off rack alongside Glory Chen's feisty cherry-red Mary Janes with the bouncy rubber heel. Men have their pick of limited-edition Pumas by Alexander McQueen and Paul Smith spats perfect for dapper villains.
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Global Exchange Fair Trade Craft Center
Consumerism with a heart of gold: wild splurges on glossy Vietnamese lacquerware, silver chandelier earrings from Mexico, and adorable stuffed hippos made in Sri Lanka seem somehow noble since the proceeds go right back to the community cooperatives who make these small wonders via nonprofit Global Exchange. The ultimate solution to office-birthday dilemmas are gift packs of organic Fair Trade coffee, tea and cocoa.
