Shopping in Cary

For more than two decades, American Mattress has promoted peaceful slumber in bedchambers throughout the Midwest with their vast selection of mattresses, headboards, and linens. The sleep experts strive to stay abreast of the latest bedding technology: their Serta mattresses are made with gel foam that supports curves, and Tempur-Pedic mattresses repel allergens, mites, and poltergeists looking to spoon. This devotion to a good night’s sleep has helped them earn the title of Best Mattress Store from suburban Chicago’s Daily Herald five years in a row. Additionally, American Mattress doubles down on each of its beds with a 30-day comfort guarantee and a 60-day best-price guarantee.

Helping customers improve their vision is the main concern of the optometrists and eye-care professionals at Eye Boutique, who provide preventive screenings and help choosing from their more than 1,800 frames at each location. In each shop, licensed doctors of optometry scan eyes with comprehensive exams before diagnosing issues or prescribing high-definition Zeiss lenses and contact lenses from Optix and Acuvue. Designer frames from Guess, Nike, and Kenneth Cole house lenses fashionably, and Teflon protective layers help guard lenses from scratches and reduce glare. Sunglasses from brands such as Ray-Ban and Coach also protect eyes from harmful UV rays, creating an accessory that is both stylish and useful, like a diamond with a job.

Since 1989, Play It Again Sports has been keeping sports green, recycling gently used athletic equipment into new-to-you gear. Products from brands such as Nike, Adidas, and Wilson make up each store's enormous selection of new and recycled gear, which is replenished daily with goods for a wide selection of sports that ranges from baseball and football to snowboarding, skis, and ice skates. Treadmills and exercise bikes equip bodies with muscular suits of armor, and pintsize and adolescent equipment arms youngsters with protective padding until they eat enough bologna to grow muscles of their own. Knowledgeable staffers man each location, ready to answer questions, arrange gear deliveries or pick-ups, and even sharpen skates or wax snowboards. To ensure their stock remains robust, they also encourage athletes to collect their lightly used gear—including bicycles—and bring it into a local store to either sell or trade.

Alpine Accessories owner Rick broke into the business more than 30 years ago, when he began working part-time at a ski shop. In 1993 he decided to strike out on his own, operating a mail-order catalog for ski accessories out of his basement and garage. Two years later, Rick set up an online store that quickly outsold his catalog, making it more obsolete than an eight-track tape crammed inside a VCR.

The website’s success led to the first brick-and-mortar Alpine Accessories, which opened in 2003. Eventually, its inventory grew beyond ski accessories to also include ski and snowboarding equipment, apparel, and rentals. Today, Alpine Accessories sells and rents K2 skis, Flow snowboards, and mountain garb such as battery-heated gloves and mittens. The store's five standup-paddleboard instructors have introduced the sport to more than 300 students this summer through its lesson and rental program. In addition, its service department tunes and waxes equipment, so skiers can show off their like-new gear when slushing down the slopes or walking along city sidewalks.

In 1988, Russ Weldon was on the cutting edge of technology: car phones. He opened up the first location in what would become a chain of Wireless Zone stores with The Car Phone Store. His business took off, but it wasn’t long before cellular phones stole the spotlight from their car-bound brethren. Today, his business has grown into a healthy chain of Wireless Zones, which includes a location in Long Grove, and Russ and his team continue to adapt to technological advances. The staff curates a collection of cell phones, GPS navigation devices, prepaid phones, and accessories that help keep customers in touch when they’re on the go, far away, or far away and stuck in a pit of quicksand.

To call The Body Shop a mere skin and body care store is to miss half of what makes it special. Late founder Dame Anita Roddick was a pioneer for ethical business practices; upon opening her first store in Brighton, England, in 1976, she developed company values such as "Defend human rights" and "Protect our planet." She somehow balanced principles and profit, partnering in global campaigns with UNICEF, Greenpeace, Amnesty International, and the United Nations, all while expanding her brand into 2,500 locations in 60 international markets. After her death in 2007, then-British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said, “She campaigned for green issues for many years before it became fashionable to do so and inspired millions to the cause by bringing sustainable products to a mass market. . . . She was an inspiration.”

Indeed, the Body Shop exhibits an eco-friendliness that's hard to come by in a company of its size. Its products have been fair-trade since 1987, and its Against Animal Testing movement led to a UK-wide ban of animal testing of cosmetics. The products are made from ingredients harvested from around the world: shea butter from Ghana goes into body scrubs and butters, and Indian artisans craft wooden massagers and tote bags that are screenprinted by hand. But all that isn't to say the company's production practices overshadow its final products. Skincare treatments such as the Blue Corn 3-in-1 deep-cleansing scrub mask often appear in Allure, Marie Claire, and other national publications.