Shopping in Seal Beach

After opening their first store in Anaheim in 1993, the grocery gurus behind Super King Markets noticed the globe-spanning diversity of their customer base. This keen insight led them to stock shelves with brands from across the world and around the corner, a policy which helped them win LA Weekly's Best Ethnic Deli Counter of 2009, Best Place to Buy Nutella of 2010, and Best Palace of Cheap Produce of 2011. Now expanded to five locations, the store still fills each outpost with fruits and vegetables, quality meats and private-label seafood, and an assortment of shells in the mixed-nut bar. Staff members behind the service deli weigh imported salamis, caviar, and cheeses for their upcoming high-school wrestling matches, and clerks in the liquor aisle dole out advice on each spirited beverages. Additionally, the Los Angeles, Altadena, and Claremont locations invite shoppers to linger longer with an expansive fresh bakery.

With everything from Hello Kitty bags and Lakers gear to cardboard movie-star cutouts and mylar balloons, no one can accuse Aahs!! gift shops of not having variety. The eight locations equip party hosts of all kinds, including parents looking for Toy Story and Disney Princess favors and maids of honor seeking scandalous accessories for bachelorette bashes. The stores’ battalion of T-shirts features images of superheroes and bands, and their array of movie merchandise pays homage to both recent releases and classics such as Star Wars,—the first film to document white dwarfs snubbing shooting stars. Aahs!! even helps customers celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, Valentine’s Day, or Halloween with rotating holiday decor.

The approach of Halloween also heralds the opening of Aahs!!’s fleet of Halloween-specific stores located throughout southern California. In addition to two Halloween Clubs that stay open all year, about a dozen temporary locations assemble thousands of costumes, wigs, masks, and props for trick-or-treaters and partygoers.

More than 3,000 styles of shoes from cobblers such as Nike, Jordan, Converse, Skechers, adidas, and Puma reside at WSS Footwear. A 58-store southern California footwear chain, WSS allows customers to browse their extensive shoe selection online and find a store nearby. New styles, such as Nike Running shoes, arrive daily alongside classic Vans Authentics, which come in sizes to accommodate the feet of both adults and future adults. Women's fashion shoes ready feet for prom, weddings, or walks in the park, and WSS also offers trendy clothing and accessories such as hats, backpacks, and sports balls.

FastFrame’s skilled framers customize borders for an array of wall-worthy pieces. Selecting from an extensive inventory of materials, they craft frames to showcase original artwork or to endow special photographs with a dignified display. Their carefully curated conservation materials prevent works of art from fading and prevent their subjects from sprouting a 5 o’clock shadow. But the framesmiths don't limit themselves to two dimensions—sports memorabilia, kids’ artwork, and other three-dimensional objects find artistic preservation within shadowboxes. They even transform flat-screen TVs into customized, framed works of art by installing a VisionArt feature, which transmits the still image of a painting, family portrait, or favorite infomercial onto idle screens.:m]]

For those wondering whether or not they need vision-correction surgery, the staff at Feinerman Vision Center has developed an online quiz as the first step in a comprehensive consultation process. After answering a series of questions—such as “Would your career activities improve if you were to be less dependent on glasses?” and “Are you sure your glasses wouldn’t be jealous?”—prospective patients are told what vision-correction techniques might be best for them.

Of course, no surgery takes place until board-certified surgeon Dr. Gregg Feinerman confirms the quiz’s notions during a follow-up consultation. Dr. Feinerman specializes in both LASIK and cataract surgery. He uses high-tech equipment to sharpen eyesight, including a blade-free LASIK procedure that relies solely on lasers to reshape the cornea. During Crystalens surgery, a different type of vision-correcting treatment, he replaces the eye’s natural lens with a new, flexible one. Many of his treatment methods, which also include custom cataract surgery, take about 15 minutes to complete and incur little downtime.