Shopping in West Saint Paul

Yelpers give the book store a strong 4.5 stars and agree that it's a charming space with a knowledgeable staff.

With today’s Groupon, dress your dwelling in the home décor version of temporary tattoos. For $15, you’ll get $30 worth of wall vinyl from Ekcetera, a small, inventive studio specializing in creative, quality, and custom designs.

Though it advertises itself as the largest no-kill shelter in the Twin Cities, Animal Ark’s homey facility seems more like a relaxing retreat for the more than 1,000 homeless cats, dogs, and rabbits that come through its doors each year. Cats bask in sunlight within feline apartments as dogs lounge atop soft raised beds in their own spacious kennels, sinking teeth into chew toys and treats. Of course, time at Animal Ark isn't all leisure. Canines awaiting their forever homes stretch their legs across a large outdoor play yard, aptly named the Ark Park, where ample trees and greenery mix with park benches where dogs can train their human friends to sit.

Potential owners can also get to know adoptable pets online. The website posts a first-person profile of each available animal that lists its breed, personality, and master’s degrees.

Makeup artists Jacqueline and Ashley bring their cosmetics-industry expertise to Roe Wolfe, where they consult with clients, apply makeup, and teach lessons, among other services. Ashley has designed makeup for more than 20 runway shows, including work at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York for their tastefully naughty auto-lingerie collection. Jacqueline has worked with high-end brands such as Shu Uemura and MAC. Either artist can ready clients’ faces for weddings, photo shoots, or haute security cameras. Their clean, compact storefront teems with high-end clothing, cosmetics, and accessories from brands such as Bobi, Winter Kate, and House of Harlow 1960.:m]]

In a convenient location with plenty of parking, EyesWear gives shoppers access to more than 1,000 vintage and modern designer frames to express their personal style and visual acuity. The boutique’s menu of lenses includes single-vision, ultrathin high-index, and mirror lenses that render narcissists immobile until you walk away. The staff can also create custom clip-on sunglasses for any type of frame to filter rays to their most enjoyable wavelength. In addition, patrons can have new lenses fashioned from a current prescription and inserted into old frames or opera binoculars.

Scrawled across shirts, pint glasses, and stationery, 30 Watt's collection of humorous quips and phrases elicit laughs by playing to the cynics inside all of us. Someecards' distinctive greeting cards feature pencil drawings of genteel men and women declaring such truisms as "If we were snow monkeys, I'd pick dead skin and insects off your fur even if I wasn't looking for a mate." These offbeat sentiments also grace pint glasses, mugs, and holiday cards featuring apathetic santas. 30 Watt rounds out its eclectic offerings with hats, shirts, and apparel for the golf course that might not fit every country club's dress code.