Shopping in North Stamford

Under the leadership of manager Michael Shinsky, New Balance's professional fit specialists employ their expertise and iStep machine to fit runners, walkers, and athletes with an appropriate pair of New Balance shoes. Properly fitted footwear prevents blisters, strains, and comparisons to clowns. A selection of athletic apparel garbs active people from head to toe, encouraging support and free movement. The shop gives back to the community by raising money for charity, hosting road races, and accepting used footwear donations for Kids Helping Kids and Soles for Souls.

Raymond A. Kolkmann founded Raymond Opticians in 1959, prior to the advent of advanced lens technology, and consequently perfected his ability to pair patients with their optimal prescriptions. He later passed this skill to his three sons, who, in turn, imparted the art of optometry to their own sons through careful instruction and basic osmosis. Today, Raymond Opticians' third generation of ocular outfitters benefits from not only the techniques and standards developed by Raymond Sr., but also from modern lens technology, such as Varilux lenses that help correct vision problems and Transitions, which darken when outside. After examining and diagnosing each patient's eye issues, the doctors help them select from a vast array of designer frames and sunglasses by Oakley, Prada, and Versace.

At Jerry’s Artarama, resident artists draw on personal experience and channel the shop's four decades in business to help create works in nearly any medium. Shelves bravely bear the weight of multitudinous tubes of paint ranging from traditional oil paints made from 150-year-old processes, to easy-to-use acrylic pigments. Artists can wield a Mejillo TruColor palette to serve as a launching pad for paints, or take up PrismaColor colored pencils to add vivid pigmentation to sketches. For more specialized projects, customers can stock up on the store's street-art supplies and screen-printing kits.

Meanwhile, the framing professionals at Jerry’s Artarama navigate a bounty of glass, mats, mounting, and moulding options to personalize the framing of photos, watercolor landscapes, and napping bats. Frame options include the warm whorls of wooden frames as well as silver, black, or gold aluminum frames to complement any work's color scheme.

Westport Picture Framing's meticulous frame experts specialize in safeguarding art, photos, and prints and can frame almost any item or size to fit personal tastes and special occasions. With an impressive selection of high-quality materials to choose from, customers can match their boutique artwork or prized Calvin Coolidge trading card with the surrounding décor of the frame's impending wall space. Skilled artisans can also mount and display glass sculptures, lithographs, and serigraphs. Acid-free products and museum-quality, UV-free glass help to ensure the longevity and preservation of framed photos, keepsakes, and important receipts.

Established in the mid-20th-century heyday of custom men's stores, the second-generation clothier behind Zemo Men's Store turns guys into gentlemen with carefully fitted formalwear for rental and purchase. Tailors draw on an endless vocabulary of styles and fabrics to order custom suits and shirts from Hickey Freeman with features such as hand-sewn seams and high-quality brass zippers, measured twice to ensure a perfect fit. Readymade sports coats, shoes, and suiting from American and British haberdashers including Burberry and Aquascutum give any wardrobe reason to rattle its hangers with pride or slump in sorrow when rental versions have to be returned.

For almost 35 years, the knowledgeable staffers at Runner’s Roost have understood that different sneakers are necessary for marathoners, trail runners, and those seeking to escape a bank heist. They call upon their personal experience and training in these nuances to pair their customers with one of more than 200 shoe models in stock.