Shopping in Colorado Springs

Endorsed by Orvis as a fly-fishing outfitter, Angler's Covey boasts more than 5,000 square feet of products to equip piscators and fisherpeople with the tools needed to reel in river-dwellers. Step into the lodge-like shop and navigate racks of rods and reels resting atop a floor painted to resemble a winding stream. Angler's Covey carries more than 80 different fly-rod models ($59.99+) from some of the industry's top pole producers—try your new rod or fulfill A River Runs Through It–fueled fantasies in the shop's casting ponds, located just outside of the store. The shop also stocks an impressive collection of flies and ties, along with nets, lines, and other fly-fishing goods.

Independent Records & Video stocks a superb selection of new and used CDs and LPs, DVDs, and games. Invite the eccentric musical stylings of Erykah Badu's New Amerykah Part Two ($9.95) into your eardrums, pick up Jimi Hendrix's recently released posthumous studio album, Valleys Of Neptune ($6.97 used), or pan for gold in stacks of classic and contemporary blues, jazz, electronic, and pop music. To rest eyes weary from searching old copies of National Geographic for photos of giant pinecones, take a look at Independent's stock of movies, which are available on DVD and Blu-ray and span every genre and time period. Classic comedies such as Caddyshack ($9.99) line shelves alongside newer releases that dive deep into unexplored depths of Earth and man (Oceans costs $28.99, season seven of Curb Your Enthusiasm costs $32.99.) Though stock varies in each store, Independent is committed to customer satisfaction and will place a special order at no extra charge.

Relying on a BA in fine art and more than 11 years of experience, Reed Fair left his Chicago home to open 45 Degree Custom Picture Framing with Colorado Springs' mountains as his backdrop. His framery preserves treasured images with more than 1,500 styles of mouldings, more than 1,000 mat options, and eight varieties of glass. Fair holds eco-friendly art-preservation techniques at the top of his priority list, offering visitors 150 mouldings made from wood that is recycled, is sustainable, or has sworn it led a past life as a dining room chair. Guests navigate the roiling ocean of framing options that span modern, antique, and weathered moulds to select the right border for their photo, certificate, or piece of memorabilia. For added convenience, 45 Degree's crew will deliver the finished product free of charge.:m]]

In true family style, brothers Nick and Kirby Kuklenski own and operate two “sister” Ace Hardware stores in Colorado Springs, keeping local homes beautiful with name-brand products and services. Lawns grow thick and colorful with Scotts fertilizers, plants, and seeds from the shops’ lawn departments, whereas computerized color matching in the paint aisles keeps outsides as vibrantly hued as flowers in a garden or a house fly strolling across an artist’s palette. Collections of DeWalt and Craftsman hand and power tools help homeowners assemble Webster grills, with staffers standing at the ready to build any piece bought at the store. Even autos can get in on Ace Hardware’s helpful services: keys are cut onsite, with Sidewinder keys including built-in chips that interact with car computers to ensure proper starts without feeding vehicles buckets of floppy disks.