Shopping in Cary

Runners are different. Different from non-runners and different from each other. Raleigh Running Outfitters' Jim Micheels understands this uniqueness. With more than 25 years of running experience and over 20 marathons under his belt, Jim is well versed in the art of motion. In return, Jim and his staff of running experts provide customers with the latest gear and technology to keep moving until someone completes the first Transatlantic marathon.

Inside the athletic outfitter, shelves brim with more than 60 styles of running shoes, along with racks of shorts, jackets, and shirts that keep body temperatures regulated. A video gait analysis system tracks customers' leg movement to analyze their stride, ankle motion, and foot strike.

Once Upon a Child is a kid-friendly marketplace where parents can buy and sell gently used children’s apparel, toys, equipment, and furniture. Each store recruits a team of buyers that carefully reviews potential merchandise and ensures that every item that goes on sale meets the store’s high standards for style, safety, and resale condition. To ensure the safety of customers’ little ones, the team stays up to date on the latest merchandise recalls and pores over each item with oversized magnifying glasses. As the beneficiaries of all this hard work, shoppers peruse brand-name merchandise sold at up to 70% off retail. Popular brands include Fisher-Price and Evenflo, and clothes boasting labels from Abercrombie, Levi’s, and Carters range in sizes from babies through girls’ size 16 and boys’ size 20.

When sports fans need to transform their house into a shrine devoted to their favorite team, Replay Photos is happy to oblige with high quality portrait photos and prints of every NBA team, every NFL team, and more than 130 college teams. Their framed and unframed prints capture thrilling moments and commemorate special events, including players standing around gabbing, slamming down a dunk, and the moment when teams win a national championship, and then stand around gabbing. They also sport unique wall art for 90 different college campuses, which is emblazoned with iconic landmarks and phrases unique to each school.

A graduate of North Carolina State University's School of Design, Holly Aiken channeled her passion for creativity to style her own successful business. Aiken fills her downtown Raleigh boutique with her own original bags and accessories, which feature sleek, simple designs made with durable materials. Her accessories sport vintage-inspired colors and geometric accents paired with vinyl and webbing trim built to withstand daily use or the storage needs of Mary Poppins. She makes each of her pieces by hand with a precise touch to ensure both fashion and long-term function.

Since 1968, Jerry’s Artarama has assisted artists through every phase of the creative process, including furnishing their studios with art supplies and finishing off their completed artwork with custom-framing services. They stock their shelves with student- and professional-grade supplies, including Winsor & Newton’s high-value Winton line of beginners’ oil colors and Williamsburg handmade paints. The framing department, meanwhile, keeps a wide range of mats, moulding, and glass on hand to create lavish homes for fine artwork or simple enclosures for family photos and important receipts.

The opticians and eyewear experts at Rick Hall Eyewear draw on more than 25 years of experience matching customers with their potential vision-correcting mates. They factor in a variety of lifestyle variants, including computer habits, jobs, sports, and hobbies, when selecting glasses for each client. They carry frames from designers such as Ray-Ban and Liz Claiborne and a full range of prescription lenses. They customize the fit for each person, and teach them how to use and care for their new glasses.