Shopping in St. Catharines

Linda Van Buskirk and Dorathy Gallo, the jewelry-making duo behind Beaded Finery, ornament wardrobes with eye-catching accouterments and edify students with the skills to do the same. The talented ladies incorporate glass beads, Swarovski crystals, and semiprecious stones into a lengthy list of handcrafted products that range from draping necklaces and moroccan-tile bracelets to satin handbags. A rotating schedule of classes instills amateur jewelers with the bead-stringing and clasping skills needed to express their style through colorful, sparkly accessories similar to those populating Linda and Dorathy’s shop. Each functional item is forged in Beaded Finery's private studio, ensuring one-of-a-kind craftsmanship and a safe place to vent one’s anger at the lack of crystal-encrusted medals presented at the Olympics.

Mattress Mattress of WNY Inc. promotes sweet dreams with a gallery of quality sleeping surfaces. Mattresses from top brands such as Sealy and Stearns & Foster come outfitted with features such as an extra-firm feel, Posturepedic pillow-tops, and pre-inserted peas to determine the legitimacy of a supposed princess.

Each edition of the award-winning Buffalo Spree magazine delivers a full month of event calendars, local feature stories, and articles showcasing art, design, and culture across Western New York. Dining guides highlight the best local eateries, and profiles of the area's movers and shakers introduce notable businesspeople and do-gooders. Shopping guides and reviews of designers and stylists keep readers up to date on the latest trends. Home and garden coverage bores a peephole into area abodes through photographic tours of residential interiors, exteriors, and laundry rooms.

Thanks to vast selections of singular gifts, both Jo-An's and Suzie's Hallmark Shops have achieved Gold Crown store status, making them ideal destinations for card- and trinket-seekers. Each store's vast collection of greeting cards, keepsakes, and gifts helps guests celebrate both special occasions and everyday memory-making opportunities. Customers can spice up parties, baby showers, and holidays with keepsake ornaments and vibrant gift-wrapping accoutrement. Additionally, their selections of recordable storybooks and plush toys help parents commemorate their children's milestones with lasting gifts that both parent and child will value for years.

Whether weddings take place within intimate chapels or sprawling ballrooms, the design experts at Weddings Etc. help spouses-to-be plan every detail of the most important day of their lives. As planning begins, inspiration flows between planners and couples at the Weddings Etc. studio, where a concept for the event is created and blossoms into design ideas for linens, flowers, centrepieces, and decor. Using the couple's vision, planners then introduce a large selection of fabrics into the mix, such as satins, polyesters, and crushed taffeta, which can accent backdrops, ceiling canopies, or sweeping tent designs within banquet halls. Weddings Etc.'s experts also use their experience with many types of weddings to cull ideas for visionary floral arrangements for the bridal party or to place atop tables or a favoured relative's head.

For half a century, the opticians and frame consultants at Crown Opticians have balanced designer frames with specialized lenses upon the noses of near- and far-sighted clients. Frames by designers like Gucci, Prada, Christian Dior, and Tom Ford suspend from clear display hooks on the walls of the boutique's interior. To supplement the advanced reflective technology of mirrors, the office's innovative Optikam lets clients compare side-by-side pictures of themselves in different glasses. Instead of snapping shaky self-shots with cell phones or point-and-shoots, clients pose in front of the Optikam's lens, posing for multi-part shots that reveal each pair's most flattering angles. The camera also serves an analytical purpose, silently taking precise measurements used by doctors for final fittings and processing.