Shopping in Auburn Hills

Doctors Todd Saniszewski and Nora Clancy leverage a combined 38+ years of professional experience at Advanced Eye Care of Michigan, which is both a high-end store and an optometrist's office. They see their patients in onsite private offices, offering them guidance and information on any conditions or issues they may be facing. For clients in need of glasses or another prescription, Advanced Eye Care boasts a vast selection of brand-name frames in the front of the shop, and the staff equips them with custom-made lenses. The doctors' eye examinations can discover eye illnesses as well as test for the need for glasses or a third eye. Doctors Todd and Nora also have extensive training in the co-management of LASIK and cataract surgery. They take great pride in their staff, which works to make every visit to their office a simple one, instead of a convoluted symposium on insurance minutiae.

Inside a bright, serenely organized shop, long rows of BMX bikes salute riders with glossy frames and titled handlebars capped with colorful grips. Graffiti-style boards pepper the walls with skulls, sharks, and kaleidoscopic scripts, and marine adventuring beckons in the form of stand-up paddleboards and specialty surfboards. A staff of athletes of all stripes and terrain preferences helps guests sail through their wealth of options, special-order from hundreds of thousands of components not currently in stock, and discuss the practicality of converting the local public pool into a vert ramp. Buyers cull much of their men's and women's apparel from the Detroit area, including several hard-to-find brands.

The sunny yellow clapboards of a 135-year-old farmhouse announce the bright wares of the Village Lamp Shop, a family enterprise that has sold and repaired lighting elements since the days of the oil lamp. The Beuthien family sparked their business in the dawn of the 20th century, lighting candles and lamps for the observation of religious rituals. Now in its third generation, the lampsmiths specialize in filling homes with mid-century, retro, and antique fixtures restored to their original brilliance, as well as custom fabrication of everything from base to wavelength. Their handiness manifests in a line of cylinder lamps made on-site with '50s-inspired prints. The family's appreciation for kitsch and wry sense of humor comes to light through the store's mascot, Lou, a stereotypical 1950's partier who displays his spirit by crowning himself in a lampshade and singing Buddy Holly tunes off-key.

At Mattress Closeout Center, the staff uses negotiation skills to continuously replenish a diverse inventory of brand-name mattresses—many of them culled from factory overstocks, liquidations, last-year models, and overruns. While grazing through one of the brand-name liquidation center's two locations, guests can sip a cup of Tassimo-brewed coffee and research consumer reviews, retail prices, and each mattress's zodiac sign on the store's iPad. A follow-up text message sent from a staff member to each customer asks how well they slept on their new mattress and solidifies the store's well-established rapport, which is also backed by myriad testimonials from satisfied sleepers and bounce-happy trampoline enthusiasts.