Shopping in Castlewood

Pampered Passions Fine Lingerie’s founder and CEO, Alicia Vargo, strives to nurture the female spirit by instilling confidence through properly fitted undergarments, loungewear, and swimsuits that are comfortable and make women feel beautiful. After a bad experience at a national lingerie chain, Alicia shifted her focus in 2001 to creating a warm and welcoming website where ladies of any shape and size could discover sexy, flirty, and fun lingerie. Two years later, the first Pampered Passions Fine Lingerie store set up shop with racks of international lingerie, intimate apparel, and friendly staffers who offered complimentary custom bra fittings. Now, a decade later, Alicia has garnered the Denver Business Journal’s Outstanding Women in Business Award as she and her knowledgeable staff continue to outfit women with designer lingerie and apparel from Chantelle, Claire Pettibone, and Axami.

Aiming to nurture women further, Alicia provides special services to postmastectomy patients that include fittings by certified mastectomy-bra fitters as well as retailing mastectomy-centric lingerie and sewing pockets into most apparel available at the store. As a self-proclaimed feel-good junkie, Alicia also supports the battle against breast cancer through the founding of the Breast Cancer Pirates support group, which partners with the Highlands Ranch Community Association to raise money through their annual fashion show, and by donating time and money to Dress for Success.

Owner and head guide Theo Anest caught the adventure bug early, starting work as a guide in Vail Valley while still in high school. The day after he graduated from Colorado State University, he opened Colorado Skies Outfitters, and has since guided more than 1,000 individuals on fly-fishing trips and outdoor excursions throughout the Centennial State. Theo’s abundance of experience and watery wisdom has earned him numerous accolades, the most recent being a gold-medal finish in the 2011 Teva Mountain Games fishing category and designation as the first human to ever successfully hibernate. Together, he and a team of eight other professional guides lead all-inclusive guided float and wade trips through Colorado's public waters, teaching their clients how to catch more fish along the way. They also lead fly-tying classes and fly-fishing schools, and welcome all students and clients to return and use their store and website as a resource for learning and staying current on new techniques.

During your chosen exam, one of Peeper's experienced ocular doctors will peer deep into your eyes for minutes at a time. For a basic eye exam, the doctor will check your general eye health, screen for any diseases, and discern your current prescription needs using modern diagnostic equipment and a series of giant letter E's. If you opt for the more comprehensive contact lens exam, your eyeballs will also be meticulously evaluated to ensure a proper peeper-covering fit. Contact lens exams include two follow-up appointments if needed, both of which must be scheduled within 60 days of your first visit.

Vines interlaced with flower stems snake upward from the base of a glass vase to wrap around the red and purple spirals of carnation blooms. Customers can choose from fresh cut flowers or one of the striking arrangements available that vary according to the season. Each of Lydia’s arrangements manages to capture and condense the beauty of the natural world, from her Vera Wang–inspired rose bouquets to her wild and woodsy collection of cattails, asters, and bushy-bearded garden gnomes. She further personalizes floral arrangements with inflatables picked from her garden of 500 balloon varieties, as well as stuffed animals, chocolates, and greeting cards.

Rows of lofty wooden bookshelves sweep across $2 Buck Books, each packed with new and used books in a range of genres. Corridors of fiction and nonfiction books meander across the 4,000-square-foot shop, brimming with both hard and soft covers. The entire back corner of the store dedicates itself to romance novels, and a wall of children's books towers over child-sized chairs and tables. In addition to books, the store purveys a variety of DVDs, CDs, and records, along with Melissa & Doug children's puzzles. The store's exchange policy invites customers to trade in books or a sister's professionally bound diary in exchange for store credit, and its online Amazon store allows the shop to special order newer or rare selections.

Tile adds a clean, creative look to kitchens, bathrooms, and patios, but it's also an eco-friendly flooring material that requires no harsh chemicals or maintenance to keep it gleaming. Staff members at A World of Tile help clients to upgrade living spaces with this environmentally friendly alternative through in-house design consultations and a range of ceramic, stone, and specialty tiles. They amass products from across the globe, offering unique designs and SunTouch heated options that warm toes during cold winter months and prevent chihuahuas from shaking the whole year. During free hands-on workshops, staffers teach customers how to correctly install tile themselves or provide referrals to local contractors.