Shopping in Auburn

At Northside Galleries, $90 worth of services goes a long way, approximately furnishing a black-framed single mat for an 11”x14” diploma ($95), a single floated mat and mounting for a framed 10”x12” piece of art ($89), or a double-matted glossy 8”x10” ($99) for a portrait of a cow balancing a papaya on its nose. Northside has more framing options than even Teddy Roosevelt can shake a stick at, though 30 framing profiles are handy for quick project solutions. Standard and acid-free mountings are available, along with stretching for jerseys and glass with reflection control and UV reduction. Frames range from plain to museum quality in a variety of styles ($3.50/foot to $70/foot), so take your time while perusing the chevrons of potential style.

The staff at Wisman's Appliance Service has kept kitchens running smoothly with appliance sales, repairs, and parts since 1952. The shop carries a fleet of fridges, microwaves, and freezers by name brands such as Frigidaire, Maytag, GE, Amana, Whirlpool, and KitchenAid. In addition to new and used machines, they carry discounted "Scratch and Dent" models that garnered minor bruises while being shipped or accidentally used as a piñata.

The Limelite Boutique cherry-tops customers' outfits with a lineup of designer accessories centered on its collection of colorful handbags. Alongside the more traditional purses, the online shop equips clients with wallets for easy organization or beach bags that celebrate carefree vacation days with summery prints depicting rows of flip-flops, lawn chairs lounging on the sand, and parents forcing their children to work summer jobs at the local corn dog hutch. Necklace sets and rings adorn décolletages and fingers with elegant twists of silver or colorful arrangements of stones, and a lineup of sandals from Sierra and Oka b. clothe footparts in open-toed ensembles of decorated straps and wedge soles.

MustHaveShoes.com's interactive site pairs feet with stylish new friends, crunching metrics that include size, price range, and style before suggesting pairs that match your ultra-specific criteria. Enter in a keyword or characteristic such as "sexy" or “Paleolithic,” then page through options such as Madeline Gabean's glam sidewalk stompers in chili-pepper red ($59). Typing in brands such as Poetic Licence brings up more than 100 different styles of heels, flats, and sandals, and keying in cryptic words such as "weird" returns a mishmash of ocular delights, including Electrica Love in silver pink ($146). MustHaveShoes.com speeds its carefully packaged cargo via domestic UPS ground shipping free of charge or passive-aggressive Post-it notes.

The staff at New Balance isn't concerned with simply selling shoes—their mission is to pair customers with the footwear that will carry them comfortably through life’s arduous steps. Understanding that an ill-fitting pair of athletic shoes can cause pain to joints and potentially damage knees, hips, and the back, associates measure the length and width of each client's foot and conduct a gait analysis to chart the trajectory of their stride when walking normally or running through ball pits. The data are collected to help the staff match clients with their ideal shoe, keeping them running longer and looking good while doing so.

Under the leadership of manager Michael Shinsky, New Balance's professional fit specialists employ their expertise and iStep machine to fit runners, walkers, and athletes with an appropriate pair of New Balance shoes. Properly fitted footwear prevents blisters, strains, and comparisons to clowns. A selection of athletic apparel garbs active people from head to toe, encouraging support and free movement. The shop gives back to the community by raising money for charity, hosting road races, and accepting used footwear donations for Kids Helping Kids and Soles for Souls.