Kansas Stores and Shopping

At Brown’s Shoe Fit Company, Mark and his staff preside over a flock of shoes, sandals, and sneakers so expansive it ensures that any pair of feet can find a new home. Their inventory includes designs from renowned brands such as Børn, Clarks, and New Balance, all of which improve on traditional American footwear by being extra durable and constructed with 90% less apple-pie filling. They also stock popular kicks such as Crocs and UGGs, reflecting an adaptability to changing fashion trends that has enabled their store to thrive for more than a quarter of a century.

MVP Sports Magazine gives readers a waxy-paged window into the world of the young athletes and high-school programs that define the sports landscape in Topeka and Shawnee County. The quarterly publication covers the notable sports teams from nine area high schools—including Topeka High School, Topeka West High School, and Washburn Rural High School—along with area athletes competing in nonsanctioned sports, such as motocross, rodeo, and contacting extraterrestrials by Morse code flashed with a pocket mirror. Though MVP Sports Magazine publishes past issues online, an active subscription gives readers access to colorful, photograph-laden issues they can proudly display on their coffee table or tool bench.

Gentry's rich stock of apparel offers modern styles that can take you from the yacht to the charity ball and back. Slip into a pair of fashion-forward denim leg pipes from Diesel ($220), feel the button-up confidence of a Robert Graham sport shirt ($198), and then slightly dress it up with DKNY casual blazer ($295). Or just scrap it all, go traditional, and nab a Tallia three-piece suit (starting at $450) to clothe your superhero spandex until the time is right. Complement it all with a full selection of formal neck pythons, leather foot suits, and skincare products.

Bungalow 26's luxurious bath and body items will restore your body to a nubile state of relaxed joyousness unlike any since you got your braces removed. Polish and buff with Herb & Luxe Apothecary's all-natural Brand New Day salt scrub ($14.50 for 8 oz.), or feed your skin with 100% pure body creams ($16.50 for 8 oz.). The Laundress, a line of decadent laundry detergents, tenderly caresses threads in the spin cycle ($20 for 33 oz.), and Aspen Bay Candles burn for 100 hours and wrap noses in olfactory memories ($26.50).

Beadazzled is an art-glass studio and custom-jewelry shop that specializes in creating jewelry out of glass beads and natural stones. In addition to fully formed necklaces ($50+), bracelets ($48), and earrings ($20), Beadazzled supplies the experienced or novice jewelry-maker with everything needed to realize his or her own jewelry visions of stringing sugar-plum focal beads or sewing beads into knuckles and punching slabs of beef. Most beads are sold per piece; prices per bead range from five cents to $20.