Best Prezzies 2007 | House Of Dang | Best of Dallas® 2020 | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Dallas | Dallas Observer
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Best Prezzies

House Of Dang

A place as esoteric and edgy as the House of Dang really shouldn't be quite so reliable, but there's just no denying it. Whether it's Mom's birthday, your nephew's bar mitzvah or a just-for-the-hell-of-it present for a down-in-the-dumps friend, dang, this house has the perfect thing. For Mom, how about a one-of-a-kind coin purse made from vintage fabric? And that nephew would be down for a big red pillow with a screen-printed monster face, right? The list goes on, from cuddly onesies for babies to funky-fun handmade jewelry. The House of Dang features affordable, high-quality everything for anyone. Best of all, most of their merch is locally made, so you know you're giving one of your neighbors the gift of steady employment.

Best Saltwater Swap

Dallas/Fort Worth Marine Aquarium Society

Bubble, bubble, there's toil and trouble setting up a 200-gallon saltwater aquarium on your own. If you're determined to do it, pay a visit to the Buy and Sell forums on the Web site of the Dallas/Fort Worth Marine Aquarium Society. You'll meet fellow hobbyists who can outfit you with price-savvy used equipment and stock, from tank to Tonga branch and metal halides to Montipora, often at 50 percent (or less) of the cost of a new item. And considering aquarists' love of upgrading and the large membership of the forums, you're likely to find that the item you want (or someone who wants to buy your item) is just a short swimming distance away.

Best Shiny Objects

Accents Fashion Accessories

Dallas is a fine place to shop, but this city does an awful lot of importing chic looks from somewhere else. Like other stores, Accents Fashion Accessories in the West Village brings in a fair amount of imported baubles, but their in-house designers outshine them all. The store sparkles with color in the afternoons when the sun pours in, highlighting the displays of hundreds of pieces of wildly colored jewelry made by the Accents crafters. Luminescent beads and gems are an Accents specialty, and anyone who craves a little extra shimmer to glam up a cocktail dress or a favorite T-shirt will find it among the gleaming treasures here.

Best Shoe Salesman

Duncan Cragg at Luke's Locker

Only a real runner can help a runner find the right running shoe. Duncan Cragg, a Dallasite by way of South Africa, is not only a runner extraordinaire, he's an expert on kinesiology and stride and all of that high-tech study-of-movement blah-blah. He'll tell you which styles and brands of shoes you'd need depending on what distances and speeds you're running, then have you put them on and take a jog around the in-store track. He'll analyze your gait and pronation and produce the perfect shoe to further your fleet-footed dreams. Ready, set, go!

Best Shoe Store

Nordstrom

Almost everybody has feet—and if you don't we're sad for you—but there's only one place to go to dress them up for both men and women, and that's Nordstrom. More than $500 to spend on footwear? Come on over and sit next to us, Richie Rich, and we'll tell you all about the Santoni and Ferragamo men's loafers that would look just peachy on you. But don't worry, they have comfortable, stylish pairs for less than $100 or so. Need a pair of strappy, tiger-print pumps? Well, they may not have your size, fella, but for women there are enough brands and styles, in prices ranging from less than $100 to more than you even want to think about, to waste an entire weekend afternoon. Don't let the cheesy piano player fool you: Nordstrom may look intimidating if your idea of fancy shoes is spelled p-a-y-l-e-s-s, but if you look carefully and shop the sales, you can walk out with happy feet wrapped in a pair of super-comfy ECCOs that will last four times as long as those cheap honkers, and that's a bargain.

Best Skin Art

Elm Street Tattoo

Over the years, Elm Street Tattoo has earned random bits of publicity—on TV, blogs and in rags like this one. But it's not that they needed any, really. Good word of mouth is the biggest prop anyone can give a tattoo shop, and they get plenty from thousands of blissfully inked customers. The shop is home to celebrated Big D tat gun-slinger Oliver Peck (winner of the 2001 Guinness World Record Challenge for most tattoos in 24 hours, mind you), along with skin-prickers Dean Williams, Adam Stewart and Mark Galvan. Peck and company offer tattoos ranging from traditional sailor themes to Dia de los Muertos designs, pin-up art and complex original designs. The crew offers fine detail, topnotch healing advice and a super-clean environment in which to undergo the needle.

Best Source for Pack Rats

Dolly Python

Hey, one man's trash is another's treasure and pleasure—or so we tell ourselves when that hoarding obsession kicks in at Dolly Python. Old toys such as 1950s Erector Sets in the original boxes or Lincoln Logs! Wooden Fisher-Price Little People! Retro tapestry and leather suitcases! Vintage shoes and old books! It's a perfect storm of nostalgia and avarice—or old crap, if you're not the sentimental kind. Among our favorites are the not-quite-perfect paintings of people we don't know, items we truly covet and will, when we have a place larger than a one-bedroom apartment, display in places of honor.

Best Sport Florist

The Flower Pot

One day there are live football players posing in the shop's windows. On another, Olympic gold-medal gymnast Carly Patterson practically flies through the doors. We know, combining games and gladiolas is about as transcendent as Slice evolving into Sierra Mist. But it sure beats buying roses by the bushel at Sam's. This florist boasts unique arrangements, custom silk designs, wide delivery areas, those popular Wik candles, handmade jewelry and paintings from local artists that say "boutique" more than "strip mall." Their loyalty to local athletes is shown in their promotions. To tie into last year's Allen High School homecoming, shop owner Kim Lee hired team members to pose for a few hours wearing exotic mums in her display window. As for Ms. Patterson, the tumbler apparently craves petals like medals, and she gets her posies here.

Best Store in the West Village

Accents

If you're looking for a gift for your girlfriend and have no idea what she wants—or for that matter, what any woman wants—Accents is your store. Located in the West Village, the surprisingly affordable boutique sells an array of stylish jewelry that looks artsy but not too artsy, kind of like Scarlett Johansson. The necklaces, which start as low as $19, are striking, including handmade varieties with stones of different colors and shapes. Perhaps best of all, the salespeople can tell you what's in without sounding condescending, which in the boundaries of the haughty West Village ranks as the greatest coup of all.

Best Style Steals

Pitaya

One of Uptown's pitfalls is that it's easy to feel like a poorly dressed pauper amid the shiny happy people and high-priced merchandise. The great thing about Pitaya is that it looks just as nice as the surrounding stores but doesn't share their inflated prices. There are funky purses, necklaces and earrings and a decent selection of stylish basics that won't have you walking out with nauseating, nail-biting, after-purchase guilt. And while most of the tanks, skirts and T's are in bold, basic colors, there are also some uniquely patterned dresses that remind us of the world's favorite hip discount warehouse: H&M. Hmmm, with Pitaya so nearby, there's no excuse not to spend on trends.

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