Shopping in San Francisco
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Eco Citizen
Idealism meets street chic in this boutique of ecofriendly, fair-traded fabulousness, from artisinal-made Afghani gold charm message necklaces, to Vivienne Westwood T-strap heels made of nontoxic PVC (recyclable on-site). Prices are reasonable and sales a steal – $50 could get you a fair-trade cashmere dress or SF-made Turk+Taylor recycled hot-air-balloon windbreaker.
reviewed
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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'.
reviewed
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Black & Blue Tattoo
This women-owned tattoo parlor gets it in ink with designs that range from graphic octopus-tentacle armbands to shoulder-to-shoulder spans of the Golden Gate Bridge. Check out the artists' work at the shop or online first for ideas, then book a consultation with the artist whose work interests you. Once you've talked over the design, you can book your tattoo – you'll need to show up sober, well-fed and clear-headed for your transformation.
reviewed
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Sur La Table
Can't fathom life without an espresso maker and citrus reamer? You'll never need to, thanks to these understanding salespeople. For the hippie gourmet, there's a windowsill grow-light for sprouting, ahem, herbs, and for the young aspiring chef, a cupcake-frosting set. Look for free demos that show how to master technique with your new gear.
reviewed
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Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Company
You too can say you made a fortune in San Francisco after visiting this bakery, where cookies are stamped out on old-fashioned presses and folded while hot – just as they were back in 1909, when they were invented in San Francisco for the Japanese Tea Garden. You can make your own customized cookies (50¢ each) or pick up a bag of the risqué adult fortune cookies – no need to add 'in bed' at the end to make these interesting. Cash only; 50¢ tip for photo requested.
reviewed
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Nippon-Ya!
Tea, seasonal treats and omiyage (traveler's gifts) ranked by popularity make Nippon-ya! worthy of exclamation. There's a whole wall of tea and treats to accompany it, like green-tea mochi, the ever-popular strawberry mochi with chocolate filling and arare rice crackers basted with sweet soy sauce. Everything is so lavishly wrapped that that goldfish keychain looks fancier than one from Tiffany's.
reviewed
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Needles & Pens
Do it yourself or DIY trying: this scrappy zine/craft/how-to/art gallery delivers the inspiration to create your own magazines, rehabbed T-shirts or album covers. Nab Jay Howell's Punks Git Cut comic illustrating failed fighting words, Nigel Peake's pen-and-ink aerial views of patchworked farmland, and alphabet buttons to pin your own credo onto a handmade messenger bag.
reviewed
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Clarion Music Center
The minor chords of the erhu (Chinese string instrument) will pluck at your heartstrings as you walk through Chinatown's alleyways, and here you can try your hand at the bow yourself with a superior student model. With the impressive range of congas, gongs and hand-carved tongue drums, you could become your own multi-culti, one-man band. Check the website for concerts, workshops and demonstrations by masters.
reviewed
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Britex Fabrics
No reality design show can compare with the four floors of nonstop fashion drama at Britex. First floor: designers bicker over who gets first dibs on caution-orange chiffon. Second floor: glam rockers dig through a velvet goldmine. Third floor: Hollywood stylists squeal 'To die for!' over '60s Lucite buttons. Top floor: fake fur flies and remnants roll as costumers prepare for Burning Man, Halloween and your average SF weekend.
reviewed
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Lyle Tuttle Tattooing
This shop was started by tattoo legend Lyle Tuttle, who inked San Francisco, and celebs like Janis Joplin, Cher and Joan Baez. Since his retirement, the shop's owned and operated by Tanja Nixx, who's developed a following of her own for full-color flying carp and Day of the Dead sugar skulls. Tuttle's shop worked with the SF Health Department to set industry standards for safe, sanitary practices, so you're in good hands here.
reviewed
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Original Levi's Store
The flagship store in Levi Strauss' hometown sells classic jeans that fit without fail, plus limited-edition pairs made of tough Japanese selvage and eco-organic cotton denim. Start with the impressive discount racks (30% to 60% off), but don't hold out for sales – denim fanatics Tweet their finds here, so rare lines like 1950s prison-model denim sell out fast. They'll hem your jeans for $10.
reviewed
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Good Vibrations
'Wait, I'm supposed to put that where?' The understanding salespeople in this worker-owned cooperative are used to giving rather, um, explicit instructions, so don't hesitate to ask. Margaret Cho is on the board, so you know they're not shy here. Check out the antique vibrators in the museum display by the door, and imagine getting up close and personal with the one that looks like a floor waxer – then thank your stars for modern technology.
reviewed
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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.
reviewed
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Alabaster
San Francisco's Victorian social graces may yet be revived by Alabaster's elegant luncheon invitation cards, glass cake pedestals, mother-of-pearl-handled opera glasses, and Fanny the French bulldog, who prefers to say hello from a polite distance. French decanters and moon-faced Fornasetti plates make impressive (read: expensive) gifts, but for vintage scores and botanical prints, head through the Zen garden to the annex.
reviewed
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Mingle
To break up the khaki monotony of the Gap and wrest free of H&M trends, get out there and mingle with SF designers. Local designers keep this boutique stocked with hot Cleopatra-collar dresses, mod ring-buckled bags and plaid necklaces, all for less than you'd pay for Marc Jacobs on mega-sale. Men emerge from Mingle date-ready in dark tailored denim and black Western shirts with white piping – the SF version of a tux.
reviewed
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Anthropologie
The big sister to co-ed fashion-victim Urban Outfitters, with versatile graphic-print skirts, sensible yet cute cardigans and romantic, vintage-inspired dresses. The house-wares lean a touch too heavily toward precious rustic chic, with the occasional mod splash of color: speckled orange and green bowls, Marie Antoinette-ish Baroque hand-towels and house numbers apparently pried off some unsuspecting cottages in Provence.
reviewed
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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.
reviewed
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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 nontoxic lemon and lavender products you need to clean up your home and your environmental act. The bamboo-fiber bedding is pricey, but Caldrea cleansers and Farmaesthetics soaps in ‘sweet pea’ and ‘cornmeal chamomile’ smell scrumptious and are priced to move.
reviewed
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Kinokuniya Books & Stationery
Like warriors in a showdown, the bookstore, stationery and manga divisions of Kinokuniya compete for your attention. Only you can decide where your loyalties lie: with stunning photography books and Harajuku fashion mags upstairs, vampire comics downstairs, or the stationery department's washi paper, supersmooth Sakura gel pens and pig notebooks with the motto 'what lovely friends, they will bring happy.'
reviewed
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Kamei Restaurant Supply
The human brain was not built to comprehend this broad a selection of ceramics, with three precariously stacked aisles ranging from basic geometric white to spectacular high-end raku platters that would make fried eggs look gourmet. But wait, there’s more: enough industrial steel pots to open 50 restaurants simultaneously, and scouring pads to suit the most discerning dishwashers – all at bargain-basement prices.
reviewed
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Paxton Gate
Salvador Dalí probably would've shopped here for all his taxidermy and gardening needs. What with puppets made with animal skulls, terrariums sprouting from lab specimen jars and teddy bear heads mounted like hunting trophies, this place is beyond surreal. The new kids' shop down the street (766 Valencia St) maximizes playtime with volcano-making kits, sea-monster mobiles and solar-powered dollhouses.
reviewed
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Park Life
Is Park Life a design store, an art gallery or an indie publisher? All of the above, with limited-edition scores that include piggy-bank lamps with fluorescent-coil tails, artist-designed statement tees with drawn-on pockets or bold semicolons, and Park Life's own publications on graffiti artist Andrew Schoultz. The back gallery showcases think pieces with sneaky humor, such as Ian Johnson's portrait of Miles Davis radiating prismatic thought waves and Erik Scollon's fist pump cast in tarnished disco-ball porcelain.
reviewed
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SFMOMA Museum Store
Design fetishists may have to be pried away from the glass shelves and display cases, which brim with cereal bowls that look like spilt milk, Pantone color-swatch espresso cups 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.
reviewed
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Sui Generis
Emerge with confidence from his-and-her designer-consignment boutiques knowing you won't spot another person working your new look. The well-curated collection of contemporary and vintage clothing skews dressy. Best for those who fit runway-model sizes, but with relatively fat wallets.
reviewed
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Barneys
The high-end New York fashion staple known for its inspired window displays and up-to-70%-off sales has hit the West Coast. Barneys showcases emerging designers; well-priced, well-fitted sportswear on its co-op label; and exclusive ecoconscious lines by Philip Lim, Theory, and its own affordable Green Label, focusing on clean lines with a clean conscience.
reviewed