Shopping in Darby

The wedding-attire experts at Philadelphia Bridal Company Bridal Loft dress the betrothed in avant-garde gowns from couture design houses including La Chatuise, Paloma Blanca, and Winnie Couture. The window-fronts’ intricate gowns entice brides to enter the shop's chandelier-lit confines, where a bridal specialist stands ready to help them try on fascinators, find a stylish veil, and snag the right shoes. Once brides-to-be have found their gowns, the staff can also alter threads to fit perfectly, rather than requiring too-long dresses to be worn with stilts.

Art Star Gallery’s wares include offbeat threads and home goods to furnish well-considered lives. Jewelry reflects influences ranging from high art to childlike impishness, including patterned glass earrings and mustache cufflinks, and tank dresses in funky prints swish around knees as they draw admiring glances. Shoppers can stock their homes with eccentric touches by purchasing paper goods such as greeting cards and prints to put in kitchens, in bedrooms, and over failed tunneling experiments in the cellar.

Baskets, trellises, and pots fill Healthy Gardens and Supply's racks and shelves, awaiting the day their mesh bottoms and wire tops embrace the tender roots and leafy tendrils of hydroponic and organically grown plants. The plant purveyor furnishes home growers with supplies such as grow lighting, tools from cable ties to thirsty lights, and nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. Additionally, a library of instructional books packs bindings with hydroponic how-tos, cutting instructions, and tips on how to comfort jealous houseplants.

Fashionably Ever After outfits children in both trendy, playful styles and traditional looks from its designer lines. Opening its doors in the center of south Philadelphia, the boutique welcomes boys and girls alike to try on clothing and accessories for newborns, infants, toddlers, and man-childs. Fashionably Ever After's expanded selection for girls runs up to youth size 16.

The Economist's globe-spanning scope, comprehensive analysis, and unflinching grasp on world issues make it required reading to stay up to date on world news, politics, and business. First published in 1843, the publication still casts itself as a newspaper despite its magazine-style layout; each issue covers the main events of the week, with analysis and opinion sprinkled across its pages for good measure.

A conversational tone and anonymity remain calling cards of The Economist's writers, keeping with the belief that what is written is more important than who writes it. After going to print on Thursday, their columns are printed simultaneously in six countries, helping the newspaper reach most of the world's major cities and sophisticated bird's nests the following day.

Through their shop and sustainable vertical-landscaping services, Urban Jungle aims to cultivate green space wherever possible throughout Philadelphia's brick-and-concrete ecosystem. Indoor plants, air plants, containers, and pockets that hang from vertical-gardening structures cater to apartment dwellers without a yard of their own to mow. Those lucky enough to have a rooftop or an open green space can personalize their landscapes with outdoor plants, recycled-metal sculptures, and stone fountains. Their gardening gurus also lead workshops throughout the year on topics such as making terrariums, vertical gardening, arranging floral centerpieces, or reinforcing beanstalks in hopes of reaching the Cloud Kingdom.