Looking for a place where a friendly staff actually reads the books they sell and will suggest something other than what's on The New York Times' best-seller list? Maxwell Books has been fighting the good fight against the warehouse chain stores and cluttered used book places since 1986 and is alive and doing quite well, thanks. The selection of hardbacks, paperbacks and children's books is good, and if they don't have exactly what you're looking for, they'll order it and give you a call in a couple of days. Check the shelves for personal notes written by staffers who critique many of the books in stock. You can also choose from a good selection of magazines and greeting cards. And watch the store's schedule of visiting authors who stop in to speak, read from their works and sign autographs. Additionally, you can buy gift certificates that will be honored at other independent stores throughout the country.

Aficionados--aka people who make a living playing guitar--may scoff. Surely, Charley's Guitar Shop on Royal Avenue is the place to buy a guitar in Dallas. Maybe so, but we don't have a grand or two lying about for a custom-made, and booking agents aren't lining up to offer us paying gigs for an off-key, painfully slow version of "Amazing Grace." So we're happy to shop at Guitar Center, the Wal-Mart of music stores, with its collection of about 8 zillion guitars, from $99 entry-level axes to vintage Gibsons and pricey Paul Reed Smiths. Here's why: bought a new Telecaster there (we rock on "Amazing Grace"). Guitar had problems. Took it back, without the receipt. No problem. When the store didn't have the same model to swap, the clerk, a very cool guy named Jacob, offered up a different model that cost $150 more and let us have it in exchange without paying a dime extra. "We want you to come back," he said. In fairy tales, retail and massages, a happy ending keeps you coming back for more.

If Fred Flintstone needed to redecorate the cave, this would be the first place he'd try. Huge rough-hewn log beds, dressers that look like nicely stacked woodpiles, candlesticks made out of hefty iron spikes. The cowboys 'n' Indians air of the place and the mixture of cabin, ranch, cottage and Southwest styles give this Park Cities veteran a lighthearted, on-vacation feel. Great for adding a casual touch to a room or two.

If you were paying attention, you'd realize that Rajan Patel and Jeffrey Lee had to come out from under the stairs at Stanley Korshak sometime, if only to feel the sunshine on their faces or the wind in their hair. After running Korshak's tiny flower business together for four years, Patel and Lee have opened their own new shop, "with our same fresh take on flowers," Patel says. After only a few months, Grange Hall/Urban Flower was contracted to provide floral decorations for the Dallas Contemporary Art Center's annual "Legends" award party. The architectural minimalist arrangements Patel and Lee made were blessed by Contemporary director Joan Davidow. "Visiting Grange Hall/Urban Flower is like stepping into a surreal fantasy forest, bedecked with paper animal sculptures, mystical scents and primitive bowls," Davidow says. "We both have studied fashion," Patel says, "so that's always part of our sensibilities. In the new space, we have gift items, art pieces and home décor."

This mixed-use development is a strip of über-contemporary industrial design with an angular vertical emphasis containing luxury lofts, shops (Virgin Megastore, Urban Outfitters, pictured above, Bath & Body Works and more), restaurants (Cafe Patrique, Cafe Express, Rockfish and more) and the eight-screen Angelika Film Center & Café that features art films. This is a strip mall urban village industrial collage jumble that's just plain cool.

No place in the metroplex, maybe the universe, has the selection of buttons that you'll find at Pursley Discount Fashions. From designer to your everyday plastic, all sizes and shapes, ranging from 2 cents up. There are tens of thousands to choose from. If you sew and are looking for notions, this place is like a trip to Disneyland. While you're there, you'll also be impressed with the selections of designer fabrics at discount prices and ladies' sample clothing.

Joel Hinojosa started picking up pocket money by giving his classmates at Adamson High School haircuts in his house 35 years ago. Many of those same customers still come to his four-chair shop at the back of Preston Tower (big high-rise across Northwest Highway from Park Cities Baptist). These days he barbers an impressive lineup of major sports and business figures in the city. For the average guy, $18 buys a very polished haircut and a whole lot of old-fashioned barbershop gossip. And you never know whom you're going to see in there. Could be somebody famous. Could be you in the mirror, hard to recognize because you look so much better.

Readers' Pick

Sports Clips

8300 Gaylord Parkway

972-668-5324

Outlet stores being what they are--discounted, picked-over merchandise that didn't sell well the first time around--it's hard to gush about this genre of retail. But Nordstrom brings in its goods fresh from its main stores several times a week, and the discounts are deep enough to make being slightly out of fashion, fashionable. The Rack is a Nordstrom-in-miniature, selling everything from swimwear to underwear to ready-to-wear. But it's the well-stocked supply of name-brand footwear that makes bargain hunting worth the hunt.

When you and your significant other start arguing about who's more "granola"--as in crunchy, earth-loving, all-is-one non-consumerists--just head to Green Living. There you can bicker over who knows more about ecologically friendly dish soap or who loves hemp bath towels the most. The friendly staff will help solve your disputes over recycled glass decorations vs. soy candles. There's no arguing, though, that Green Living can outfit your home from sustainable flooring to mattresses to reel mowers to organic cotton baby clothes to coffee and back again. But if the choice comes down to your preference for sandalwood or his longing for patchouli, you're on your own.

You can try all the discounts and chains. But when you have cleaning residue mucking up your carpets, call these guys. They don't stop until the water from their machines runs clear and your carpets are clean. And, well, that's what rug cleaners should do. Right? Clean your rugs. See the reason they are designated "best"? Good. Then have your rugs cleaned. So there.