With the tony address of 1 Highland Park Village, Austin-based Royal Blue Grocery is ground zero for the deep pockets who park their Bentley and sip their Chardonnay before noon. Conspicuous consumption becomes a competitive sport here. But fear not if you are a social worker or teacher on a shoestring budget. Wander the five aisles of products, comparing the price of Rice Krispies with chain grocery stores. Admire the hydrangeas. Play Solitaire while nursing a Nitro cold brew from Stumptown. Eat a veggie grilled cheese. Hobnob with the posh at a complimentary wine tasting. Impress coworkers with a lunch of freshly prepared foods. Before you return to your studio apartment, where your neighbor's bongo drumming reverberates through paper-thin walls, satisfy your hunter-and-gatherer instinct at the Chef's Case, featuring balsamic shiitake mushrooms, roasted broccoli and flank steak with chimichurri. Pretending was never so much fun.

Southern Dallas County is known as a dining and shopping wasteland. Alas, some of us live here, and we celebrate the small things. Hillside Village in Cedar Hill spares us the 25-minute trek to Arlington that we took in many years past for our shopping needs. With its lively central fountain and a few chain restaurants scattered here and there, it's an outdoor oasis where you can spend the day with the family, nibbling on a Wetzel's Pretzel and watching your kids splashing amidst the water jets. The shopping center has an American Eagle, H&M, Barnes & Noble, Chico's, Express and other major brands, served with copious parking on well-kept grounds. And it's got that undeniably warm, laid-back, multicultural southern Dallas vibe, which you can't find anywhere else in DFW.

DFW is experiencing a CBD boom, and all the shops opening up to sell the buzz-free hemp extract/miracle cure can seem the same. They're not, though. American Shaman offers a variety of products at a reasonable price. They take an organic approach while making their edibles and oils, and their staff takes the time to educate new and returning customers, proving helpful to new users not wanting to purchase snake oil in the Dallas hemp boom.