Shopping in Chicago Ridge

The floral-arrangement specialists at The Enchanted Florist aim to create tangible expressions for their customers' affections through thoughtfully designed bouquets and gift baskets. Well-versed in the language of flowers, they compose arrangements brimming with fresh-cut snapdragons, lilies, and roses for celebrating the birth of a new baby, expressing sympathy, or retrieving a safe combination from someone with allergies. For birthdays, holidays, and other special occasions, the florists fill wicker baskets with Ghirardelli chocolates, Columbus salami, and fresh fruit. In addition to bouquets and gourmet baskets, they craft table arrangements, boutonnieres, and other floral creations for upcoming weddings, using the couple’s budget and taste as a guideline.

Since taking off the training wheels in 1972, Cycles N Sports has been a full-service bike shop, wrenching two-wheel wisdom into each bike it sells and service it renders. A staff of riding enthusiasts helps customers navigate the shop’s inventory, comprising spoked specimens from such major brands as Electra, Townie, Felt, Giant, Fly, and Stolen, as well as many specialty models. Whether you arrive looking for a bike or parts for a BMX bike, road bike, mountain bike, or the makeshift ramp from the roof of your house, the staff can happily assist and answer questions.

In 1962, Val Camilletti began working at Capitol Records, which was ushering in a new era of music, led by The Beatles and The Beach Boys. Ten years later, she opened her own retail record shop, which has spent 40 years distributing eclectic sounds to listeners who, Val says, "are tired of shopping for music in refrigerator stores."

At Val's, you'll find vinyl records lined up in tidy rows and rock posters on the walls. Its expansive, rotating stock features several musical genres and spotlights burgeoning local artists. Knowledgeable staff can also help customers hunt down rare issues, imports, or B-sides. If a record is not in the store inventory, Val's can order it within 24 to 48 hours, depending on how fast they can wake up Keith Richards.

Root 66 Aquaponics Garden Shop has all the accoutrements of a standard garden supply¬—USDA-certified organic seeds, pots, and organic fertilizers. But Root 66 is hardly your grandmother's general store. Its focus is hydroaquaponics, which creates a symbiotic relationship between a tank of fish and the garden on top of the tank. The sustainable method uses a system of pumps and tubes to harvest and distribute plant food from the fish tank below. The fish, in turn, are fed, sheltered, and taught to use salad forks by the plants above them.

In the shop's introductory video, founder Shawn Odneal says that hydroaquaponics is, "the future of food production and the closest I can get to self-sustainability," by "taking traditional gardening techniques and applying them in a new way." In addition to specializing in hydroaquaponics, he also strives to make gardening accessible to city dwellers with rooftop and vertical gardens.

Dr. Jordan Jones and his duo of fashion-conscious opticians, Gregory and Joseph Winjum, foster ocular health with comprehensive eye exams, and if necessary, outfit patients with the proper prescription contact lenses and glasses. Both the Chicago and Orland Park locations feature shelves neatly stocked with designer frames from brands such as Paul Smith, Tom Ford, Oliver Peoples, ic! berlin, and Prada. The wide selection of eyeglasses ensures that clients can find the appropriate styles to suit their face shapes, lifestyles, and superhero alter egos.

Over Art & Company’s more than 27-year history, its knowledgeable employees have placed approximately 500,000 paintings onto customers’ walls. They aim to consult with every customer before making a thoughtful, personalized recommendation from their stash of more than 10,000 elegant oil paintings and thousands of frames. Their goal is to bring out each customer's creativity by matching them all with perfect paintings and frames.