Shopping in Torrance

Manhattan Denim's shop equips men and women with laid-back beach apparel, boasting a fashionable array of tops, bottoms, and accessories by top brands. Women model tops and dresses by Three Dot and Splendid for dressing-room mirrors and test denim by Rich & Skinny and AG to ensure its suitability as party attire or casual dress while receiving a Congressional Medal of Honor. Meanwhile, men slip into bottoms by William Rast and tops by Cohesive or Alternative Apparel before completing the look with a Goorin Brothers hat.

For more than 65 years, Seers Lumber Co. has equipped foremen and intrepid do-it-yourselfers with dependable tools, lumber, and construction materials. A kaleidoscopic spectrum of Valspar paints lights up the newly remodeled, 7,000-square-foot show room, which also houses an array of locks, ladders, and anticootie sprays for fortifying tree forts. Stacks of lumber stretch to the ceiling, with sturdy varieties such as cedar and redwood available in multiple dimensions. A 2,500-square-foot door and window show room boasts top brands such as Marvin, Velux, and Milgard, whose windows are specially engineered to glare menacingly at approaching baseballs.

Feet are in good hands at The Runners Forum. The entire staff is composed of specially trained athletes who hold degrees in wellness-related fields such as exercise physiology and nutrition. When it comes to footwear, the team strives for a perfect fit, assessing customers' gaits in-store and testing out different styles and brands before settling on a shoe. Shelves display the latest wares from renowned footwear brands including Asics, Mizuno, and Adidas, as well as Runners Forum–brand apparel and running accessories. In addition to running gear, the shop also offers swimwear and bike maintenance, repair, and fittings.

Baby Genius's award-winning children's products teach babies and toddlers essential skills through the power of music. Based on a bounty of research, the company's DVDs enrich the learning experience by merging classical pieces and familiar songs with vibrant images, keeping kids entertained for hours. Parents can sit back while animated animal educators teach pocket-size pupils better motor skills, dictionary-defying vocabularies, vampire-free counting, and nap-inducing dance moves that ready little ones for kindergarten and beyond.

Jeremy Godo Kiss’ earliest love of the adrenaline rush surfaced in his passion for skateboarding. As he grew older, he began to feel the need for something that would give him higher jumps, bigger thrills, and taller windswept hair pomps. In 1988, he found that something—he discovered the extreme art of snowboarding. Determined to help others achieve the same sense of exhilaration he experienced zooming down the steep bluffs of June Mountain for the first time, Kiss opened Olympus Board Shop in 1998. Here, he and his staffers stock a wide range of high-quality boards of all types from brands such as Solomon, Imagine, and Liquid Shredder. Since opening, they’ve expanded their inventory to include other extreme sports, including surfing, stand up paddling, and kayaking. They also host interactive, pulse-pounding lessons in surfing, paddleboarding, and kayaking.

Surf Concepts’ knowledgeable staff chats with fellow wave wranglers, sharing advice and swapping stories amid shelves brimming with O’Neill wetsuits, Billabong swim trunks, and apparel from South Bay’s own HippyTree. As patrons filter in from sun-steeped stretches of pavement, the crew also arrays decks and shoes from Almost and Vans for skateboarders or those looking to enliven a visit to The National Museum of Ramps and Stained Glass.