Shopping in North Andover

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.

Unlike a tuxedo fitting, getting fitted for a custom driver provides valuable feedback that pertains to more than how smooth your hips are. TaylorMade's physics-friendly experts place reflective markers on key points of your body, then capture your swing across nine high-speed cameras to reproduce a 3-D animation to take home on CD. In around an hour, you'll know more about your golf club than most married couples know about each other's font preferences; you'll receive statistics for over 25 aspects of your swing including launch angle, wrist-cocking angle, and the computed distance of carry and roll.

Concrete Wave brings a slice of California style to the Northeast. For more than 20 years, the shop's primary focus has been skateboarding. In addition to stocking decks and boards from makers such as Alien Workshop, Zero, and Original Longboards, Concrete Wave sells skate shoes and clothes from Nike, DC, Vans, and Volcom, among others.

Despite the emphasis on skating—which extended to the opening of a partner skate park in 2008—the shop is also as passionate about powder as an enthusiastic makeup artist. Technicians in the board shop tune up snowboards in preparation for the winter snow season and also sell boards, boots, bindings, and apparel from brands such as Salomon, Vans, DC, and Dakine.