Shopping in Arnold

Women's Closet Exchange's handpicked selection of pristine lady things has earned it recognition from piles of fashionable females, as well as St. Louis Woman Magazine. Lightly worn clothes that look heavily unworn fill the boutique's bright interior, with many bearing designer labels such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Marc Jacobs, Coach, Dolce & Gabbana, and Juicy Couture. Due to the nature of the business, the inventory is in constant flux—questing shoppers never know what gems they might unearth from a rack, a shelf, or the diamond mines beneath the store. On any given day, customers might find a Tory Burch tunic for $59, a BCBG Max Azria dress for $38, or some True Religion jeans for $49.

Trek Bicycle Store's team of passionate cyclists outfits customers with the same brand-name clothing, accessories, and bikes they know and use themselves. Firsthand knowledge of road, mountain, and city bikes from top industry brands such as Trek, MirraCo, and Gary Fisher means cycling specialists can fit each client with gear that best suits their needs. They help protect riders with helmets from Bontrager and guard them against inclement weather or hitchhiking bugs with jackets and gear from Pearl Izumi.

Trek Bicycle Store also offers repairs, tune-ups, and free maintenance services during the first few months after the purchase of a new bike. Driven by all things cycling, they also host in-store events such as socials and tech clinics.

The archery range residing in the basement of N&M Sporting Goods provides budding bowmen with a safe and fun environment in which to nock their arrows. The range stretches to 20 yards and features drawings of deer, hogs, and piles of unwashed dishes lurking amongst branches and foliage, lending the space an outdoorsy feel. The targets can be moved as requested, and novice archers can move in a step to the 19-, 18-, or 10-yard lines.

With parts and accessories designed by CatEye and Pearl Izumi, the specialists at Columbia Bicycle Center prepare cyclists and their rides for the streets of St. Louis and the rocky trails of southern Illinois. The team carefully selects each product through careful research and divination experiments, stocking their shop with rides by Scott, Bontrager, and Raleigh—a company that has been building bikes since 1887. In addition, the shop stocks helmets, shoes, pumps, gloves, and inner tubes to keep riders safe and ready for upcoming adventures.

Reams of colorful modern and retro-print fabrics span the walls of Fabric Nosherie, framing examples of quilts, dolls, and clothing items crafted by shop owner Shannon and her dedicated sewing students. "The fabrics do all the work," Shannon points out, noting that each sewing-machine steward draws individual inspiration from the colorful patterns. Shannon's love of sewing and her expertise extend from the instruction she's received from her needle-wielding husband and the fine quilting techniques she gleaned from her mother-in-law. Within nine years, the seam charmer perfected her craft and currently teaches students how to sew pet beds, assemble quilts from treasured T-shirts, and perform emergency brain surgery on teddy bears.

Within a historic Victorian-era house built in 1863, a friendly staff, an amiable cat, and a documented ghost oversee The Book House's selection of more than 350,000 books. Culled from hundreds of collections, auctions, suppliers, and rogue librarians in the past 25 years, the books range from new to rare to out of print. They nestle into every nook and cranny of the store’s nine rooms and three floors, which are connected by winding staircases. Thrifters and fans of alliteration can venture down to the Bargain Basement to discover discounted reads, and other bookworms search the first and second floors for tomes about any subject from history and philosophy to science fiction and children's books.

A portion of each purchase goes to support the Second Chapter Life Center, which helps young adults with developmental disabilities. The Book House also accepts used-book donations any time during regular business hours.