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Photoworks
This is one of the city's best shops for quick, pro-quality photo processing and printing. They'll do capable work for film and digital shooters, including printing digital pics on classic Ilford black and white paper or putting your favorite images on canvas so you can make it into a pillow.
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Piedmont Boutique
'No food, no cell phones, no playing in the boas,' says the sign at the door, but inside, that last rule is gleefully ignored by cross-dressers, cabaret singers, strippers and people who take Halloween dead seriously. All the getups are custom-designed in-house and built to last - so like certain escorts, honey, they're not as cheap as they look.
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Plumpjack Wines
Discover a new favorite California vintage at the distinctive wine boutique that won owner Mayor Gavin Newsom grudging respect from even Green party gourmets. A more knowledgeable staff is hard to find anywhere in SF, and they'll set you up with bottles to flatter your sensibilities and grace your dinner party like a fundraising politician.
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Polk-A-Dot
Only pirates discover as much treasure in a lifetime as store owner Michelle Callarman, who scours warehouses of weird dead stock to fill doll-size chests of drawers with small wonders: antique mah-jong tiles, wooden nuns, badges for diminutive sheriffs. Dig around and you might find a porcelain knuckle-shaped brooch, an original book plate from Ozma of Oz , and Kimba the cat (sorry, not for sale).
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Propeller
Don't think of it as a design store, but a cocoon where decor metamorphoses occur: a single Wellington boot becomes a cheeky vase, rosy-cheeked porcelain baby-doll heads turn into uniquely sinister candle holders, and meticulous layers of hot glue make a mesmerizing lampshade. For truly original gifts, this design showcase highlights innovation and local designers, not just trendy brand names.
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Rabat
A frenetic collection of high-end and local designers (some of whom even work in-store), Rabat offers style without sacrificing function, with trim Nanette Lapore jackets and Michael Stars tees. The owner makes frequent trips to Europe to personally select the bounce-in-your-step men's shoes and flat-yet-snazzy women's shoes found at 3909 24th St - be prepared to pay the price for such stylish imports.
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Recchiuti Chocolates
Forget everything you think you know about American chocolate: this is San Francisco, where chocolatiers have been working their dark magic since the 1850s. No San Franciscan can resist Recchiuti: Pacific Heights parts with old money for fleur de sel caramels; the Mission splurges on edible chocolate paintings designed by local artist Rex Ray; and Noe Valley skips family camping trips and splurges instead on gourmet s'more bites.
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Red Blossom Tea Company
Think beyond the world of black and green teas to the universe of white teas, herbal infusions, and of course the signature blossom teas that unfurl in your pot like time-lapse photography of a dahlia in August. That pot-bellied 'dragon egg' Yixing teapot holds the flavor of the tea and gives just the right water-to-tea ratio for two cups.
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Residents Apparel Gallery
Local designers at design-school prices make eclectic SF chic easy at this certified green cooperative boutique. Take your pick of limited-edition screen-printed tees, button-down shirts and hoodies, locally made designer dark denims (no sweatshops here, thank you), clever reconstructed cashmere sweaters and reclaimed-vintage dresses, and designer jewelry in silver, gold and Legos.
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Rolo Garage
You'd go out tonight, but you haven't got a stitch to wear? Rolo Garage fixes that old excuse at 30-60% off retail for club-ready menswear, including artfully distressed G-Star jeans, a stag shirt so everyone is clear on your single status and sunglasses for tomorrow morning.
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Ruby
As resident pug-in-chief Ruby sniffs suspiciously at your ankles, browse necklaces made of tiny fern fronds captured in resin, robot-chic rings made of watch mechanisms and purses made of vintage upholstery fabric.
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San Francisco Flower Mart
When you're in San Francisco, in love, and in the doghouse, do what the locals do: bring armloads of relentlessly cheerful sunflowers, bask in forgiveness, and never let on that you got them for cheap at the Flower Mart. Many of the 80 flower and plant vendors offer seasonal flowers grown locally, not flown in, so you can enjoy your greenery the green way.
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Scrap (Scroungers' Center For Re-Usable Art Parts)
Renew, recycle and redo your home with post-industrial salvage arts and crafts from SCRAP - you'd be shocked what perfectly good raw materials San Francisco companies throws out. Take a workshop at SCRAP or the Craft Gym for inspiration, and make your very own 'Altered Barbie' or Tupperware lamp. Classes are held in the city (see website for locations); the entrance to SCRAP is at the confluence of Hwy 101 and Hwy 280, south of SoMa.
Read more about Scrap (Scroungers' Center For Re-Usable Art Parts)
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Sf Rock Posters & Collectibles
Anyone who hazily remembers the '60s may recall long-lost bands (and brain cells) in this trippy temple to the rock gods of yore. Nostalgia isn't cheap, so expect to pay hundreds or even thousands for first-run psychedelic Fillmore concert posters featuring Big Brother and the Holding Company, or the Grateful Dead - but you can still find deals on handbills and early photocopied punk fliers from SF's 1970s Mabuhay heyday.
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Sfmoma Museum Store
Design fetishists may have to be pried away from the glass shelves and display cases, brimming with collapsible rubber colanders, grass-printed picnic blankets and watches with a face to match Mario Botta's black-and-white SFMOMA facade. Contemporary art books will keep aspiring collectors absorbed for hours, and kids will be entranced by William Wegman's video of dogs spelling out the alphabet.
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Shoe Biz
Shop at any of the three locations on Haight St, but the 1420 'super store' is where to find new arrivals and buttery leather boots, and take the elevator to limited-edition Adidas heaven upstairs. Other locations: 3810 24th St in Noe Valley and 877 Valencia in the Mission.
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Soko Hardware
Cover all your San Francisco contingencies window wipes (for fog), duct tape (for earthquakes), paper lanterns (to disguise those awkward Victorian chandeliers) and a rice cooker (because soggy rice is a culinary crime in SF). Ikebana, bonsai, tea ceremony and Zen rock garden supplies are all here at fair prices.
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Sports Basement
All you triathletes who desperately need your gait analyzed or your kiddies outfitted with rental snowboards, you've come to the right place - and so have all you slackers looking to cadge a free coffee or hot cider in the Presidio. This 70,000 sq ft of sports and camping equipment was once a US Army PX, which is why you find hiking boots near the Fresh Produce sign.
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Spring
Spring has sprung a fresh new idea: housework shouldn't mean an instant headache from noxious cleaning fumes. Instead, this store thoughtfully provides all the non-toxic lemon, rosemary and lavender products you need to clean your home and clean up your environmental act. The organic cotton and bamboo-fiber bedding is pricey, but products by Caldrea and local maker Method in 'ginger pomelo' and 'cut grass' smell scrumptious and are priced to move.
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Studio
So maybe shopping is a substitute for Prozac after all - especially that silver necklace in the shape of a serotonin molecule. Spiff up your pad with locally made arts and crafts at bargain prices, like Ayu Tomikawa's woodcuts of the continuing adventures of an anime bumblebee, Brian Behnke's 'Phobia' paintings of fears sealed in wax for your protection, and Joanna Mendicino's white bird vases with flowers stuck in their heads.
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Suey Chong Co
Retail the old-fashioned way, with superior gifts and collectible memorabilia stacked on wooden shelves and monitored by a watchful grandmother. All babies should come equipped with adorable slippers shaped like tigers, and onesies with a pudgy anime version of their Chinese Zodiac symbol (even the snake is cute). Peek into the old wooden counter to see enamel hair pins shaped like flying bats and three-inch silk shoes for 'golden lotuses'.
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Sumbody
Tans are too LA; in SF, everyone is after that dewy, fogged-in-for-months-fresh face. This local company uses all-natural ingredients to polish the skin, such as rice bran and honey in the 'Rice and Shine' facial scrub that seals in moisture as you're taking your shower. For men, the lavender shaving soap and combo soap-shampoo are travel-kit musts.
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Sunhee Moon
Minding your girlish figure so you don't have to, Sunhee Moon creates flattering stretch denims and wrap dresses to make those curves work for you. You'll never need to wait for a sale, since there's always a 20-30% off rack - leaves you a little something to spend on locally designed jewelry.
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Uko
Felted, micro-pleated, quilted and outstiched are the fashion-forward signatures of Uko's inventive garments for men and women. Get bonus fashion IQ points for clever jackets with hidden pockets-within-pockets, Cop. Copine wrap skirts with oddly flattering flaps, sleek Hobo leather wallets in gumdrop colors, and silver drop earrings that add an exclamation point to your look.
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Under One Roof
All the fabulous gift ideas under this roof are donated by local designers and businesses, so AIDS service organizations get 100% of the proceeds from your indispensable Elvis tape dispenser and adorable Jonathan Adler vase. The sales clerks are volunteers, so show them some love for raising - get this - around US$11 million to date. Don't miss the sales annex for bargain SF souvenirs.
