Shopping in Perth Amboy

The floral family working behind the scenes of Wild Orchid Flower prepares fresh arrangements made from delicate blossoms sourced from around the world. Roses, lilies, and lilacs arrive to the shop daily from premium flower growers before they’re assembled into beautiful bouquets for weddings, birthdays, bar and bat mitzvahs, and other special occasions. Delicate rose and tulip petals comprise soft arrangements for her, and arrangements for men include fruit baskets and decorative cacti, which dudes like almost as much as footballs wrapped in bacon.

Designer Stephen Seo, known for outfitting the cast of HBO's Entourage in custom-fitted suits, specializes in bespoke tailoring techniques, individually cutting, stitching, and finishing each garment by hand. After ordering his first bespoke suit from Savile Row in London, Stephen Seo marveled at its construction and decided to open his own atelier where he could hone his suit-making craft. His work has since been featured in numerous publications, including the New York Times. Fully customized to the client's measurements, bespoke clothing is created without a preexisting pattern.

A Brooklyn fixture since the early 1980s, Mr. C's Bicycles attracts enthusiasts of all stripes to its two-story, Seventh Avenue bike boutique. Professional bike fitters Carlos Valentino and Alessandro Matteucci maintain a fitting studio where they measure cyclists and analyze results to match them with their ideal handle-barred steed from manufacturers such as Cannondale, Trek, and Schwinn. The shop's daily crop of visitors can turn up serious cyclists training for the Tour de France as well as tourists renting bikes for a unique way to tour the boroughs or train to drive the family back home to Topeka in a rickshaw.

In 1978, Peter Amato and his father Anthony turned their part-time lawn-care business into a full-time botanical operation, expanding their employment team and developing a body of horticultural knowledge that would lead to stunning, custom landscape designs. Today, the floral hub sits on a 6-acre nursery, and the staff has shifted its focus from lawns to outdoor living spaces. The nursery blooms with flowers and plants ready to be picked up by customers and brought home to their backyards, while in the gift shop, shoppers browse an enormous selection of figurines, lights, and decorative accents. Clients may call upon the designers' artistry to discuss possible outdoor makeovers or peruse the website's extensive landscape resources and visit the greenhouse to curate their own gardens.

Guided by the expertise of Dr. Keith Gurland, the chief of ophthalmology at Bayonne Medical Center, the optical experts at Specs Unlimited have been calibrating prescriptions and outfitting eyes with name-brand frames for more than a quarter century. The full-service eye-care center flatters faces with designs from Prada, Gucci, and Ralph Lauren while also sharpening eyesight to read street signs or the fine print on tattoos. The professionals also fit contact lenses for patients hoping to walk through the world with ears and noses unshackled by spectacles.

The experts at Art & Frame Express help customers tweak the colors and textures of each custom-framed project until it’s ready. This helps clients make informed decisions among the store’s simple and ornate frames before the professionals transform an oil painting, tapestry, or diploma into a wall-ready masterpiece. In addition to outlining artwork, the staff uses digital printing to generate archival-quality giclées, design photo collages, and restore photographs taken during the days when cameras ran on coal. They also pair homeowners with artwork and snap passport photos before international flights.