Shopping in Arvada

At Boulder Furniture and Mattress, a yawn isn’t a sign of boredom but an indication of contentment as patrons hop between memory-foam mattresses nestled in sleek bed frames, and plush sofas filled with downy throw pillows. A host of Danish convertible sofas class up the evenings of overnight guests with their modern lines and innovative shapes, and child- and college-friendly bunk beds sport functional features such as desks, futons, and storage drawers. A broad selection of bedding caps off customers’ mattress choices, with bamboo sheets and organic-wool mattress toppers waiting to shrink owners’ carbon footprints down to ant size.

Nominated as one of the best ski and snowboard shops in the 2011 CityVoter A-List, Larson's Ski and Sport earns local lauds with a large selection of gear for both winter and summer seasons. The staff bedecks the shop's walls with skiing and snowboarding equipment from top industry brands such as Dynastar and Nordica, as well as gear for warm-weather sports that range from kite sailing to kayaking. Alternatively, equipment rentals and lessons supply sportsmen with gear and know-how to ski, standup paddleboard, and windsurf. With an average of 10 years of repair experience, Larson's qualified technicians get skis and snowboards back in top form at the repair shop, where skilled hands fill in deep scratches, grind away flaws with a stone or belt, and apply hot wax for a faster, hair-free ride.

Ed and Kyle Becerra, Young's Market and Garden Center’s owners, took over the business from Ed’s father, who founded it more than 50 years ago. Locally grown perennials, annuals, trees, shrubs, and Chia Pets squint at the outdoor sun, and rows of flowers line the dirt aisles of tidy greenhouses. In addition to plants, Young's inventory includes soil, fertilizers, weed-control products, and pond supplies. In season, customers can find fresh produce at Young’s bustling farmers' market.

In true family style, brothers Nick and Kirby Kuklenski own and operate two “sister” Ace Hardware stores in Colorado Springs, keeping local homes beautiful with name-brand products and services. Lawns grow thick and colorful with Scotts fertilizers, plants, and seeds from the shops’ lawn departments, whereas computerized color matching in the paint aisles keeps outsides as vibrantly hued as flowers in a garden or a house fly strolling across an artist’s palette. Collections of DeWalt and Craftsman hand and power tools help homeowners assemble Webster grills, with staffers standing at the ready to build any piece bought at the store. Even autos can get in on Ace Hardware’s helpful services: keys are cut onsite, with Sidewinder keys including built-in chips that interact with car computers to ensure proper starts without feeding vehicles buckets of floppy disks.

Rows of lofty wooden bookshelves sweep across $2 Buck Books, each packed with new and used books in a range of genres. Corridors of fiction and nonfiction books meander across the 4,000-square-foot shop, brimming with both hard and soft covers. The entire back corner of the store dedicates itself to romance novels, and a wall of children's books towers over child-sized chairs and tables. In addition to books, the store purveys a variety of DVDs, CDs, and records, along with Melissa & Doug children's puzzles. The store's exchange policy invites customers to trade in books or a sister's professionally bound diary in exchange for store credit, and its online Amazon store allows the shop to special order newer or rare selections.

Djuna's furniture hunters scour the globe for distinctive home accessories, furniture, and artwork, sourcing their collections from importers and producers such as Harrogate House, Ralph Lauren, and Abend Gallery. Through their copious connections with respected merchants, the decorators at Djuna help clients create strikingly individual spaces throughout the home, draping interior landscapes with luxurious fabric, lustrous silver, and stately antiques. After perusing the ever-evolving stock of beds, garden salvage, and hard-to-find decor, shoppers can confer with a professional design team to seek inspiration for awe-inspiring home projects, such as turning the den into a warm, woodsy ski lodge, or accenting hallways with notes of hand-wrought iron. After equipping homes with newfound leather sofas or antique easy chairs, Djuna donates old furniture to responsible community recycling programs, reducing carbon footprints and ensuring that orphaned loveseats won't catch cold on the curb.