Home & Garden in Sylvania

The staff at New Balance of Philadelphia & South Jersey isn't concerned with simply selling shoes—their mission is to pair customers with the footwear that will carry them comfortably through life’s arduous steps. Understanding that an ill-fitting pair of athletic shoes can cause pain to joints and potentially damage knees, hips, and the back, associates measure the length and width of each client's foot and conduct a gait analysis to chart the trajectory of their stride when walking normally or running through ball pits. The data are collected to help the staff match clients with their ideal shoe, keeping them running longer and looking good while doing so.

Paint Your Masterpiece nudges creativity so it emerges from its slumber and stretches its arms across a wide selection of unfinished ceramic bisque pieces, including picture frames ($30), cereal-size bowls ($18), and coffee mugs ($18). Budding artists can choose from more than 50 available colored glazes before splattering creative juices all over tiles ($10.50) and birthday plates ($20). Completed pieces are dipped in a clear glaze, fired in the studio’s kilns, and then placed on the studio’s test mantle to make sure they are display-worthy. For inspiration, tap into the dreamscapes of the subconscious or seek the assistance of the creative staff of ceramicists. To help bring artistic visions to life, pot painters are also invited to tinker with available aids such as books, stamps, and stencils. All the necessary tools are available for use on-site, and customers may pick up their masterpieces after approximately seven days.

Boasting years of horticulture scholarship and experience, certified florist Jennifer Cummins Linehan captains a team of talented designers as they assemble fresh blossoms into a variety of occasional bouquets. Their vibrant floral arrangements beam out upon weddings, funerals, and beekeeper singles mixers, and their custom bouquets express congratulatory, romantic, or sympathetic tidings. The staff draws from a diverse inventory of local and exotic buds, working in styles ranging from traditional to modern. In addition to flowers, the shop arms gift givers with potted plants and gourmet fruit baskets.

Mattress Firm has a large selection of beds from such brand names as Sealy, Simmons Beauty Rest, and Stearns & Foster. Sleep options range from the soft, cushy Hampton and Rhodes Perthshire pillow-top mattress set ($448+) to the firm and supportive Hampton and Rhodes Stirling firm mattress set ($198+). Browse the full selection on Mattress Firm's website using an Internet connection and Internet-ready navigation device.

Ken Cappelletty and Fred Moor, the men who man Ken’s Flower Shops, didn’t grow up dreaming about buds and stems. Raised by a local policeman, Ken likely spent more time playing cops and robbers than sniffing the neighbor’s rosebushes. It wasn’t until he helmed the cash register at a neighborhood florist in L.A. that he discovered his knack for design. Here, he started to see flowers as more than just plants, viewing them as art supplies that happen to smell nice. When Ken returned to Ohio, his parents helped him launch a small shop that arranged blooms in the morning and delivered them in the afternoon. Two years later, in 1967, his friend Fred took some of the reins, helping him grow the business into three local stores affiliated with FTD and Teleflora. From this labor of love, a legacy began to take root. At each shop, seasoned designers incorporate customers’ requests into birthday bouquets, wedding corsages, and gift baskets filled with wine, house-baked cookies, and stuffed toys cute enough to melt hearts and plush enough to sop up the mess. Their talent and creativity takes center stage as well, whether they’re filling vases with orchids, crafting wreaths from roses, or building bouquets from singing balloons. To this day, Fred often answers the phones, discerning customers’ style preferences from friendly chats rather than pilfered diary pages. To make giving easy as getting, the shop’s wares can be delivered locally or internationally, seven days a week.

The gardening experts at Black Diamond, Inc. have dispensed seedlings and seedpods, as well as wisdom on coaxing blossoms and branches from each, for more than half a century. Rather than just pairing visitors with plants to plop into the ground, they strive to understand individual gardening needs. They troubleshoot issues unique to each customer's landscape and impart advice about which plants play well with which fertilizers and insecticides, and which will end up calling each other names and refusing to share their LEGOs. The green-thumbed staffers grow a wealth of their own bedding plants and nursery stock, and they acquire the rest from local growers. This lets them assemble dozens of annuals and perennials, a wealth of pepper and tomato varieties, and a bevy of shrubs and ornamental trees that keep yards shady enough for pet ice cubes to play outside. Customers can also avail themselves of landscape design and maintenance services, which tap into the skills and experience of professionals.