Shopping in Pittsfield

Jeff Lederman took a hobbyist's interest in personalized crafts more than 30 years ago, and today that hobby has blossomed into a gift mecca tinged with a distinctively masculine edge. RhinoGifts.com and its sister storefront Recognition Inc. fill orders big and small for all kinds of inscribed paraphernalia, from apparel and watches to cedar humidors for stogies, and incorporates customers’ own artwork, logos, and personalized messages to complete each gift. The outfit also emblazons trinkets for companies with no minimum order sizes, meaning big corporations and mom-and-pop shops alike can treat their employees to a commemorative pen on Dr. Spock’s half birthday.

Joining the witness-protection program is the best way to disguise your identity, but the vast array of costumes at Halloween Express gives the program a run for its money. For more than two decades, the chain’s 300+ stores have supplied customers with costumes year-round from vampire capes for Halloween to Caesar togas for the Ides of March.

In preparation for the fall of 2012, they’ve added new items to their Halloween collection. These costumes range from fuzzy blue monsters to skeleton zombies and can transform groups of four into Raggedy Andy and three clones spawned from his DNA. The store’s party supplies add a spooky touch to festivities and include tombstones, rotting pumpkins, and giant hairy spiders.

Since its humble beginnings in 1935 as a small health-food store that specialized in yogurt, GNC has evolved into the world's largest specialty retailer of nutritional products. The chain's more than 4,800 retail locations throughout the country stock numerous vitamins and supplements, all of which meet the company's strict standards for truthful labeling, ingredient safety, and product potency. They carry supplements that aid in sports nutrition, protein intake, diet, digestion, and beauty. Equally as dedicated to customers' shopping experiences as it is to product quality, the company created GNC University, an online learning platform, to help staff members bone up on nutrition and fitness knowledge. The knowledgeable sales associates field questions about everything from weight-management plans to stacking supplements for optimum earlobe strength.

David Art Center, in business for more than four decades, stocks a deluge of quality art supplies from name brands including Liquitex, Winsor & Newton, Daler-Rowney, and PrismaColor. Located just a few minutes from downtown New Orleans, the art-savvy staff also helps visitors to dress up artwork, photography, and two-dimensional dolls with a selection of more than 1,000 styles of moldings and mats, custom-cut glass, and dry-mounting materials.

The six teachers at Cutting Edge Quilts combine their individual quilting savvy to lead students through a wide range of classes. Amid myriad fabrics and ample creative space, the studio's long-arm quilting machine lets students sew their quilt top, batting, and backing together in a more-time-efficient manner than by using traditional machines or bribing a silkworm. Various quilting groups meet regularly, focusing on different techniques such as hand-sewing and scraps as they take advantage of the studio's gargantuan collection of threads, kits, and specialty fabrics such as Batik and Moda.

Cutting Edge divides its staff into a skate crew, snow crew, bike crew, and longboard crew. These teams of experienced specialists can answer nearly any extreme-sport question you throw at them -- and tune up your gear for safe and steady riding. On the shop floor, rows of BMX and Mountain bikes eagerly await their chance to pop some wheelies and tear up dirt trails. The shop's walls barely peek out from behind a vast selection of boards, shoes, and helmets. Cutting Edge is also a dealer of Kona, Santa Cruz, Pivot, Niner, and Transition bikes.