Shopping in Madison

Backed by beloved brands including The North Face, Mountain Hardwear, Burton, Patagonia, and Arc'teryx, Fontana Sports has been cradling Madison's outdoor aficionados in a hammock made of high-quality sporting goods and friendly service for more than five decades. Outfit your summer surfing trip with board shorts such as the Patagonia Wavefarer ($58.99), or distract fellow snowboarders from your face-to-snow frequency with flashy POW Mustacheo winter gloves ($39.99). The impressive footwear selection can properly protect your lower paws from jagged sidewalks, inconsiderate glaciers, or icky beach insects. Sultry summer goddesses will bask in the laceless comfort of Reef's Bohemia sandals ($39.99).

With locations in 10 states across America, Stanton Optical helps clients from Georgia to California achieve better vision with prescription glasses, sunglasses, and contacts. Its shelves are stocked with more than 3,000 frames and sunglasses from high-end brands, including Coach, Calvin Klein, and Armani. Full-service onsite labs help optometrists immediately craft glasses and clone monocles without the delay of sending eyewear elsewhere.

At more than 1,000 Mattress Firm locations around the country, shoppers sink into plush mattresses, recline on firm beds, and belly-flop onto pillow tops. Knowledgeable staffers can help customers create an ideal bedtime environment by dispensing advice based on sleep preferences and illuminating the difference between the many kinds of mattresses. And to the delight of their customers, much of Mattress Firm's bedding wears the label of a premium brand, such as Sealy, Serta, Simmons Beautyrest, or Stearns & Foster.

Bean Sprouts Café's wholesome, vegetarian-friendly menu supplies palates with a nutritious array of fresh smoothies, snacks, salads, sandwiches, wraps, pasta, and entrees in portions to please kids ($5.25 for a main dish), adults ($7.95), and big daddies ($9.50). Gather enough forearm strength to punish burly bullies with the spinach, gruyere, and hummus wrap, or satisfy a Lilliputian appetite with the turkey or veggie-tofu Bunchkin Burger. All main dishes come with a choice of healthy side, such as edamame or freshly harpooned banana octopus. Organic baby bites with clever names such as Pea Diddy and Sam I Yam ($2.50 each) and family meal packs cement Bean Sprouts' familial air like a Scythian blood oath.

Helmed by a pair of passionate framers, Middleton Art & Framing takes pride in carefully protecting artwork from the ravages of time and sunlight through in-house constructed frames and glass that protects against UV damage. Local artwork adorns the walls of the cozy store, where guests confer with the knowledgeable staff to find the ideal frame to accent and protect any outlandish item, such as Turkish rugs, racing suits, or frame collections.

At PlayN Wisconsin, sock-clad kids lay siege to a 10,000-square-foot retail showroom, climbing ladders into redwood play sets, slipping down slides, and vaulting onto Springfree trampolines. Though the selection of outdoor play equipment is available for sale, open-play sessions encourage visitors to swing from the jungle gyms and hurl basketballs at performance hoops equipped with glass backboards for checking your reflection during slam dunks.

Besides hosting open play and birthday parties, PlayN Wisconsin helps families bring the play sets to their own backyards. Many items pack up for easy transfer straight from the store, and the staff can help move and reassemble existing swing sets at a new home. In addition, maintenance services such as power washing and staining restore wooden equipment weathered by the seasons and rebellious garden gnomes’ graffiti.