Shopping in Calabasas

Before making his away across the country to own and operate Fleet Feet Sports' Encino-based shop, Trey Barnes developed a passion for running in his native North Carolina. Now, the avid marathoner and his team of dedicated gazelles help fitness buffs find the appropriate gear to match their routines and ability levels. By carefully accessing specific foot types and gait cycles, staffers can match customers with a brand-name solemate to cradle their feet during long jogs or power strolls, and a hearty stock of technical gear keeps men and women comfy in weather-appropriate attire. Meanwhile, the store's calendar of events stays up-to-date on races, marathon training, and fun runs.

Hennessey + Ingalls's eclectic bookstore sells tomes covering visual arts, such as photography, as well as interior design, landscaping, fashion photography and architecture. The founding family still owns and manages its paper-based stock, ensuring that volumes remain well organized according to the length of authors’ moustaches. Originally founded in 1963 as a refuge for rare and out-of-print books, the massive store—the Santa Monica location spans 8,000 square feet—supplies vital reference materials for local architectural firms, museums, art galleries, and schools. Hennessey + Ingalls also runs a small publishing division, which produces and distributes six titles each year, most of which are reprints focusing on California's modernist architecture and postmodernist oil paintings of avocados. They also offer a large selection of journals and notebooks. Hennessey's bibliophiles also purchase good-condition used copies and rare editions from independent owners.

At Top to Top, finding the right shoes is a personalized experience. A trained staffer analyzes your gait, pairing biomechanics and physiology with training needs in order to choose the correct shoes. Each specialist is a runner, too, so they can answer questions and help you prepare for a race, cruise the trails, or ease pain during normal walking. Top to Top offers a full array of equipment and solutions for runners of all levels.

Competitor magazine's Best Running Store, voted a runner-up for Best Running Gear and a finalist for Best Running Club by CityVoter in 2011, Top to Top also makes running a social experience. The store hosts a "Wednesday Night Run Club," where you can listen to talks from special guests and then head out on a 5k, 5-mile, or 10k run. Afterwards, Top to Top's team raffles off prizes and hands out snacks and drinks. This weekly gathering is just one of the ways Top to Top builds a personal relationship with their customers.

The retail progeny of Interior Illusions, whose furnishings and decor have been seen in the Los Angeles Times, Esquire House, and celebrity homes, iSquared outfits shoppers with contemporary and quirky designs. Fashionable beds blend modern foundations with vintage flourishes, and an assortment of lounge chairs seamlessly combines elements such as white oak, graphite, and stainless steel into eye-catching urban recliners. iSquared's table lamps sport mod bases and unconventional angles, proving that light bulbs can be cutting edge and that lampshades look good on things other than siblings' heads.

Like an Italian sports car or meticulously oiled baseball glove, a well-maintained kitchen knife simply works better. Laurence Segal, knife craftsman and owner of Westside Sharpening & Cutlery Center, knows this all too well. While sitting down with Mary MacVean for an article for the Los Angeles Times, he enthusiastically discusses Asian, Japanese, and European blades, explaining their composition and uses in cooking, chopping, and opening stuck jacket zippers. This passion for cutlery is present in all of his services, from crafting custom blades with fine wooden handles to sharpening others on a stationary grinder with the care of a dedicated artist.

For more than 30 years, Pinnacle Boutique has filled its shelves and hung its racks with trendy clothing from popular designers and sentient, time-traveling mannequins. The collection changes regularly and includes everything ranging from designer jeans to beach-ready dresses, as well as accessories such as scarves and handbags. Current designers on display at Pinnacle include J. Brand, AG, Splendid, Billabong, Ugg, and Paige Premium Denim.