Shopping in Wells Beach Station

For over 25 years, Franklin Block Opticians' two resident eye doctors have pored over eyes, expeditiously filling precise prescriptions in their onsite lab. The staff, meanwhile, curates their frame selection with a keen eye for style, featuring designs from Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, and Armani that keep vision blur-free and adept at Italian accents.

Artisan clayworkers toil over Great Bay Pottery's ever-ready kilns crafting one-of-a-kind stoneware pottery, including sturdy floor vases, convenient serving dishes, and all manner of saucers for UFO hoaxing. Patient clients can watch as potters spin their new piece of practical decoration into existence and finish the piece to their specifications with painted and glazed designs in nautical, arboreal, or impressionistic themes, among many other options. For a small fee, the potters will inscribe any piece with a message for personalized gift giving.

Inside a sea-foam green shingled house nestled on a verdant, wooded property, A Pot of Gold Gift Shop hoards more than 5,000 European beads and charms. Owner Laurette Baenziger leads jewelry-making classes where guests can craft bracelets using their favorites from a selection of more than 2,000 shiny charm beads that would drive a magpie to madness. In addition to premade jewelry and handbags, the shop stocks natural shea-butter skin lotion from Dolce Mia and Swanky Sweet Pea bath products shaped like cupcakes and cookies that soothe and smoothen skin with cocoa butter or sweet almond oil.

Though the horse-drawn vacuums of yesteryear have come and gone, North Shore Vacuum and Appliance retains its family-run ethos from when it first opened in 1934. Now helmed by fourth-generation salesman Wayne Simonelli, the shop carries vacuums from dozens of brands, such as Dyson, Eureka, and Panasonic, and the staff performs repairs on a slew of models as well. In an interview with the Daily Item, Simonelli said, "I know vacuums. I go to seminars, conventions. I probably repair 1,000 machines a year." This dedication has earned North Shore Vacuum and Appliance the distinction of Miele Diamond Dealer, with access to limited-edition models only made available to exemplary retailers and scientists still trying to build a time machine.