Shopping in Parkland

Opened in 1985 by brothers with a shared love for surfing, Boca Surf and Sail has grown from its humble roots as an easygoing shop often festooned with a Gone Surfing sign to a dependable pit stop for land and water gear. The store radiates with a love of surf culture, from racks of Quiksilver apparel to Meyerhoffer boards suspended from the ceiling and staff plucked fresh from the sea. Aisle after aisle of surfwear, apparel, and gear helps seasplorers enjoy crashing waves or the sun's warm rays cascading across beaches dotted only with shells and sandcastle McMansions.

Founded in 1977 by lovers of snow, surf, and street, BC Surf & Sport dispenses apparel, equipment, and accessories for board-riders of all types. The shop is filled with racks of long boards in dozens of colors and designs, plus surfboards and paddleboards, and various wheels, waxes, and other sundries. The outfitters also stock a wide variety of shirts, shoes, and wetsuits along with miscellaneous items such as headphones, stickers, and DVDs of famous waves crashing.

Armed with certification from the United States Cycling Federation, the bike mechanics at Atlantic Bicycle keep two-wheeled roadsters running safely and efficiently with maintenance services and help customers to select new bikes or gear. The experienced crew can perform basic services such as tuning up bicycles for warm-weather riding or more complex work such as fitting wheels with hand-laced custom wheels built onsite. The shop also keeps an extensive inventory of bicycles to meet needs ranging from everyday commutes to grocery-store-aisle wheelies, including all-mountain, urban, and recumbent styles as well as adult tricycles.

Flip through the packed racks of Kismet Recycled Vintage & Designer Clothing, and you’ll likely spy an ample stock of dainty peter-pan collars and bold prints recalling ‘60s mod fashion. But Kismet’s style hunters toe the line between retro and fashion-forward wares, anchoring their collection of vintage threads with modern pieces by True Religion, Jeffrey Campbell, and Christian Lacroix. They also patrol runways, fashion magazines, and the secret diaries of mannequins for inspiration for their collection, honing in on vintage pieces that echo present trends.

Though they now sit under illuminated display cases, Unique Eyewear’s chic sunglasses and frames are never far removed from the fashion runways of designers such as Prada, Ralph Lauren, Gucci, and Burberry. Guests in need of sharper vision or style can hand over a prescription to the store's staffers, who then order and swiftly slip single-vision, bifocal, and progressive lenses into stylish frames. They take precise measurements to ensure a snug fit and further personalize glasses with protective coatings, coloring, or etchings of your unique DNA strand.

Navroze S. Mehta and his daughter, Sonali Mehta Rao—the co-founders of MyMela—named their online marketplace after the festive gathering of sellers and buyers common to an Indian town square. Though they envisioned the store as a means by which to empower India’s artisans and forge meaningful connections among people separated by geographies, Navroze recently told Forbes that their inspirations were also personal. “Growing up in India, I was surrounded by the beauty of handcrafted products for both decorative and everyday use,” he says, and Sonali’s internship experiences in India showed her how desperate the makers of those beautiful products had become. Through MyMela, they work together to build a bridge between India’s master craftsmen and America’s customers—one that harnesses the power of a global economy to benefit both sides.

When they purchase their one-of-a-kind necklaces, picture frames, rugs, and other artisanal items, customers can also choose to help fund MyMela loans, a program that supplies interest-free loans to artists who then use the capital to continue their work and increase their quality of life.