Shopping in Claremont

Get some quirky, heartfelt inspiration for less with today’s side deal. For $25, you’ll get a framed 11’’x14’’ StoryPeople print from Sense of Wonder. This North Andover shop is a haven for local artists, artisans, and Dwarven smithing guilds. Along with its many one-of-a-kind items, Sense of Wonder is the only store in the Boston area that sells the popular StoryPeople line.

Today's side deal gets a lush Christmas tree into your house while simultaneously getting your family out of it. For $38, you get a pre-cut Christmas tree, up to eight feet tall, from Smolak Farms (up to a $75 value). Located just 45 minutes outside of Boston, this picturesque 300-year-old New England farm lets you and your family enjoy the Christmas tradition of taking your pick of hundreds of pre-cut trees. Because purchasing a Christmas tree after Christmas is considered something of a faux pas, this side deal understandably expires on Christmas Eve. This deal covers the tree only—rope is not included.

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.

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.

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.

Behind Magical Child's enchanting green and gold, Main Street–esque storefront, sunlight floods shelves of educational and imagination-stimulating toys, books, and games. Towering stuffed animals peer down on train sets—the way Clifford the Dog peers down on real trains—and puzzles from Melissa and Doug, alongside packages of Legos and Hasbro board games. A cornucopia of colorful wares permeates the shop, in which eyes can turn in no direction without meeting the glare of an alluring item. Racks of gently used clothing outfit children of up to 6 years of age, and a selection of more mature gag gifts and brainteasers grants older patrons diversion from humdrum office lives and asparagus-steaming socials.