Shopping in Boca Raton

A man enters a framing shop with a colossal photo depicting tiers of gleaming automobiles. After a brief search through a multitude of framing samples, the man comes to a decision. He wants his frame covered in blinking LED lights. Accepting the challenge, Picture Framing Warehouse and Art Gallery’s owner, Karl Can, along with his brothers and son Ali, get to work on making the client's vision a reality. Since 1993, the warehouse's certified framers have fulfilled a variety of custom-framing orders, encasing items ranging from paintings to tubas to 7-foot-tall mirrors. Picture Framing Warehouse and Art Gallery's 6,000-square-foot facility stays loaded with frames made by brand-name companies including Larson-Juhl, Omega Moulding, and Engelsen, available in more than 2,000 colors. Since some orders can be completed the same day they're placed, customers can wait for their completed project while browsing the colorful paintings and artfully framed frames lining the walls of the warehouse's dedicated art gallery.

At each of Advanced Vision Care's five locations, a team of optometric physicians examines peepers of all age brackets for signs of aberration or disease. They then furnish patients with prescriptions that can be formed into contact lenses or slung into stylish frames from the likes of Prada, Lacoste, and BCBG. The staff also performs Lasik consultations, in which they determine candidacy, recommend a Lasik doctor, and provide a series of post-op checks. Most locations house a multilingual team, who can answer questions or reflect on metaphysical quandaries in English, Spanish, or Hebrew.

The Christmas Palace first opened as a seasonal business idea 20 years ago. Today, the expansive holiday department store receives waves of visitors year round who stroll amid more than 30 styles of faux Christmas trees, shelves full of elegant ornaments, and novelty items such as a 38-inch Santa swinging on a hammock. Collectors stock up on train sets and Department 56 village-collection pieces, and gift givers load their sleighs with goods from Fontanini, a business that began sculpting nativity scenes more than 100 years ago in Italy.

Inside Learning Express Toys, children of all ages can find a host of entertaining and educational toys designed by brands such as Lego and Scientific Explorer. Seven days a week, staff members share their enthusiastic attitudes as they help children and parents peruse dolls and accessories, brain-stimulating word games, or science kits that fuel interactive learning. The store frequently holds special events for festive occasions, such as Father's Day and Lego Day, hosting such costumed characters as Santa Claus and welcoming royal delegates from the King of Legoland.

Since opening in June 2005, Postal Sweets has keep every inch of their 3000 square foot shop overflowing with bulk candies, plush stuffed animals, and kid-friendly gifts. Guests can fill small bags with any amount of loose candies and chocolates while packaged sweets, such as PEZ, Sixlets, and Sugar Babies, come in standard sizes. Postal Sweet also boasts a large collection of toys and gifts that range from Sesame Street dolls and Beanie Baby key chains to Hello Kitty accessories including notepads, stickers, and scratching posts for human claws.

Opened in 1985 by brothers with a shared love for surfing, Boca Surf and Sail has grown from its humble roots as an easygoing shop often festooned with a Gone Surfing sign to a dependable pit stop for land and water gear. The store radiates with a love of surf culture, from racks of Quiksilver apparel to Meyerhoffer boards suspended from the ceiling and staff plucked fresh from the sea. Aisle after aisle of surfwear, apparel, and gear helps seasplorers enjoy crashing waves or the sun's warm rays cascading across beaches dotted only with shells and sandcastle McMansions.