Shopping in Ballwin

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.

Imagination is given free reign at NewCastle Comics & Games, where real-time rounds of tabletop warfare are surrounded by thousands of back-issue comics from the '50s, '60s, and '70s. Faux stone walls help blur the line between reality and fantasy, calling to mind a medieval dungeon or Vincent Price's breakfast nook while also serving as a perfect backdrop for a huge assortment of new comics and graphic novels as well as Warhammer 40,000 events and Weekly Magic: The Gathering sessions. The shop also boasts a large selection of gaming cards and supplies that allows fans to step outside quotidian roles to become something other than a dutiful son, hardworking waitress, or the seventh clown into the car.

When Alive magazine publisher Elizabeth Tucker first thought about LASIK surgery as an alternative to the glasses she had worn since second grade, she didn't think it was an option. She feared the cost, worried about the time off work, and was unsure about how safe the procedure would be. Luckily, numerous friends told her about the transformative effects of their own procedures, and she finally decided to take the plunge at Crown Laser Center. There, a team of seven board-certified ophthalmologists, optometrists, and surgeons put Elizabeth and other clients at ease as they correct corneas with trained hands and cutting-edge equipment, boasting a 99% surgery-success rate. Elizabeth is now glasses-free and doesn't regret a thing. "It's been life-changing for me," she says in a video on the laser center's website, "I would recommend it to anyone."

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.

Rebounds Used Books & Teacher Supply was founded through the owners' experience selling their own professional books online. Now boasting a sizable selection of used books and teaching aids, the staff sells its publications both online and through its brick-and-mortar retail space in Chesterfield. There, peruse Rebounds Used Books & Teacher Supply’s evolving selection of paperbacks, cookbooks, textbooks, and classics, such as Zeus's tell-all autobiography.