Shopping in Catonsville

Since 1959, The Chessler Company has precisely centered photos, artwork, and diplomas in beautiful, custom frames and mattes. Owing to its craftsmanship, the company now receives demand in the wholesale and commercial markets, including federal and state agencies, art galleries, and top-secret supervillain coalitions, but it still maintains a strong retail business for individual projects. The company's large stock of frames and mats also suits challenging framing projects, such as mirrors, heirlooms, and memorabilia. In addition to the framing services, Chessler's professional installers help patrons achieve gallery-quality displays by hanging large or tricky pieces in the home.

Mat About You's framing experts, whose work bedecks the walls of the Ritz Carlton, prepare everything from artwork to sports jerseys for eye-pleasing display. They pop pictures into ready-made frames or craft custom frames from their stock of molding to match patrons’ aesthetic sensibilities. Staffers also nestle keepsakes into 3D shadow boxes, help restore damaged photographs, and tap into museum-quality conservation techniques to preserve historic documents and sports memorabilia, such as the first tennis ball ever repurposed for a game of fetch.

Mat About You also boasts an on-site gallery stocked with potential frame fodder, such as original art, limited edition giclée reproductions, and open-edition prints. Customers can add extra pizzazz to their home decor thanks to the store's boutique collection, which brims with jewelry, furniture, pottery and ceramics, and garden adornments such as model solar systems to erect around sunflowers.

With help from the store mascot, Spike the Chihuahua, co-founders Scott Wable and Josh Dunkin use their fashion and design expertise to pair Jean Pool patrons with their ideal boutique denim. The selection—which won the Best Denim award from Baltimore Magazine in 2012—includes styles for men and women from brands such as J Brand, Joe’s Jeans, Hudson, and 7 For All Mankind, whose hemlines span from skinny to flare. In-store alterations ensure jeans fit every curve and vestigial tail, and accessories such as belts, tops, and jewelry help complete each new look.

Baby Genius's award-winning children's products teach babies and toddlers essential skills through the power of music. Based on a bounty of research, the company's DVDs enrich the learning experience by merging classical pieces and familiar songs with vibrant images, keeping kids entertained for hours. Parents can sit back while animated animal educators teach pocket-size pupils better motor skills, dictionary-defying vocabularies, vampire-free counting, and nap-inducing dance moves that ready little ones for kindergarten and beyond.

Beneath damask-patterned walls and soft curtains, red poufs give guests a cushy surface on which to try on the shoes they’ve plucked from the swank store’s glossy, white shelves. In addition to housing a wide selection of shoes, which ranges from heel-free flats to pumps designed to lend wearers a competitive edge in slam-dunk contests, staffers fill the often-rotating inventory with trendy accoutrements such as jewels, cheetah prints, and handbags accented with grommets and charms. They also sling unique pieces of jewelry, including demure pearl earrings and spiked bracelets.

They host a ladies' night every month, inviting clients to peruse new styles while sampling crudités and other treats.

Like friendly, escapable black holes, the ineluctable pull of hardware stores attracts everyone who lives in a modern structure or appreciates a well-crafted daiquiri. You don’t have to drive to the suburbs for your hardware fix with today’s Groupon to Ace Hardware Stores: you get $20 worth of blenders, key copies, cable splitters, watch batteries, house paint, and more for $10. Your Groupon is good at the Federal Hill and Waverly stores for any product and service. Whether your potted plants need special food to survive in your cold basement apartment, or your outdated faucet needs a 21st-century fix, the friendly folks at your local Ace Hardware can lead you to the perfect solution.