Shopping in Chelmsford

Through open-water certifications and more specialized SSI scuba-diving courses at Northeast Scuba, aquatic wanderers of all experience levels explore New England waters and marine life. Their certified instructors often begin with introductory courses to immerse newcomers in the sport and give them the skills to nap in the bathtub. Specialty courses, such as wreck diving, night diving, and underwater photography, further immerse certified students in local underwater worlds. For those interested in teaching, the school also provides instructor training to SSI, TDI, and Shamu standards.

In addition to regular classes, dive instructors also organize group diving trips to local sites and far-flung waters, where on-staff underwater photographers document dives. Dive-shop staff members also rent or sell the requisite equipment for a range of underwater excursions from manufacturers such as DUI, Henderson, Akona, and Fourth Element and also repair and maintain components.

Well-lit and painstakingly organized, Used Book Superstores upend images of the precariously balanced stacks and dusty hardcovers most people associate with used book stores. More than 100,000 new and gently used books—from current bestsellers to staples of the literary world—sprawl across each of the five mammoth locations, which, like so many shattered crates of tea, dot the landscape of the greater Boston and south New Hampshire region. As bookworms hunker down with hardcovers, paperbacks, and children's books, neglected friends can peruse the store's voluminous selection of music, DVDs, and toys, all of which sell for a fraction of their original cost.

Since Dr. Stanley Pearle opened the doors to the first Pearle Vision in 1961, the franchise has expanded to more than 800 stores nationwide. In these stores, optometrists assess the ocular health of patients before onsite opticians help them navigate the assortment of frames from brands such as Versace, Ray-Ban, and DKNY. If they're not in the store, clients can utilize the Try-On tool, uploading a photo to see what they or their dog looks like in different types of glasses. Pearle Vision also helps focus the world with contacts from Acuvue and Biofinity.

Unlike a tuxedo fitting, getting fitted for a custom driver provides valuable feedback that pertains to more than how smooth your hips are. TaylorMade's physics-friendly experts place reflective markers on key points of your body, then capture your swing across nine high-speed cameras to reproduce a 3-D animation to take home on CD. In around an hour, you'll know more about your golf club than most married couples know about each other's font preferences; you'll receive statistics for over 25 aspects of your swing including launch angle, wrist-cocking angle, and the computed distance of carry and roll.

Eco-friendly, reusable Re-Pac Bags protect food, toiletries, and other items within confines that repel mildew and mould. Vibrant colours and patterns add touches of style to their tightly woven nylon liners, zippers, and polyester outsides, which have been rated safe for food by a third-party lab. The sacks range in volume from 7"x4" bags (about the size of a pair of sunglasses) all the way up to a gallon-size bag ideal for carrying toiletries or the world's largest gumdrop.

The company, which was started by a nurse and her mother, manufactures all its bags within the United States. It also backs each product with a lifetime warranty, which guarantees the bags stay safe during countless trips through the washing machine or the interdimensional wormhole in the dishwasher.

Andy’s Sport Shop draws upon four generations of expertise in peddling and maintaining gear for skiers, snowboarders, and scuba divers. During the winter seasons, the staff buffs and waxes snowboards and skis, reducing friction that can melt the snow surface and limit traction while careening downhill. The shop also stocks aqua-ready gear, including scuba fins and weight belts, which provide a useful dive-descent alternative to cement shoes. Outfitted explorers can enroll in a vast offering of scuba courses to pursue sundry certifications ranging from open-water diving to wreck diving to ice diving.