Revolution Books
This is a great old-school underground book and record store, selling t-shirts and counterculture paraphernalia in addition to new and used CDs and videos. A nice place to catch some gossip on the local indie band scene. Theyll take your old CDs in trade. Good poster selection and they carry a pretty good spectrum of music publications too.
Cleveland Cinema/Cedar Lee
This is the premiere art theatre in northeast Ohio, the site of the Cleveland International Film Festival and the place to go to catch the latest in foreign films, indies, and festival winners. The big screens have terrific stadium seating, and the several smaller, European-style intimate screens allow for the showing of a number of different fine films in a relatively modest space. The location is terrific, as you can choose from a number of adjacent pubs and restaurants for before or after the movie.
Indianapolis Museum of Art
This is a really wonderful, well-managed museum. Not a tremendously large facility compared to those of some bigger cities, IMA nonetheless fields a splendid series of exhibits. I recently attended the touring show that IMA is hosting, The International Arts and Crafts Movement. Wow. This was a spectacular display that included a whole living room furnished in Frank Lloyd Wright style. The IMA is currently completing large-scale renovations and should have all galleries fully opened again in early 2006.
Educator's Music
Probably Clevelands best full-service music store, with a fine selection of all types of instruments. They run a good repair service, and lessons are offered on lots of different instruments. One of the best things is the sheet music annex across the street. A huge selection of music for band, orchestra, choir, and every type of solo instrument, voice, and chamber music combination including a number of items no longer in print. Educators is the store you should probably check first for your serious music needs.
Vidstar Video
While video-store chains and countless small stores have come and gone, Vidstar has served the Coventry area as a stand-alone video outlet, dating back 22 years to the era when there were still Betamax videotape machines! The service is always friendly, and its nice to support your local store. Somehow in a small space they manage to carry a fantastic selection of DVDs and tapes. Theres a nice vintage feel to the store space. Its a Coventry institution.
High Tide Rock Bottom
This is a wonderful non-chain type of store that stocks a variety of items from lava lamps to greeting cards to posters. They have a very eclectic selection of merchandise. Its one of a few stores that have defined the Coventry ambiance for many years. You can find gift items here that simply arent available in big cookie-cutter stores. Its fun to visit the store just to see whos hanging out there!
China Treasure House
Worth a look! If you want to purchase a small Asian statuette or piece of pottery, or some Tiger Balm for your aches and pains, China Treasure House is one of the few places to find it. Theres a very nice man who runs the shop, which his located on the east side of Coventry just south of Mayfield Road. They have some exotic incense and some literature thats hard to find anywhere else in Cleveland. Very cute shop to visit!
Mac's Backs-Books On Coventry
Terrific used book outlet in the heart of the Coventry Road shopping district in Cleveland Heights. Very pleasant staff, and an excellent selection of used items as well as a few brand-new books on local topics and by local authors. The stock turns over pretty quickly. You can sell some of your old books for store credit or trade them for books on the shelves. Highly recommended especially because the store has a direct archway so that you can walk through to Tommys restaurant.
Wings Hobby Shop Inc
This is a first-class hobby shop. My interest is model trains, and that seems to be the main focus of the store too, but they have a large selection of items in other hobby areas too. Their selection of railroad books is especially good. The salespeople know their stuff. A large inventory of HO scale trains and other scales too. If youre a serious railroad hobbyist, you know that there are relatively few good stores around Cleveland Wings may be the best in town.
Time Traveler Cds & Dvds
One of the last of the old-school CD shops in the Akron area, with new and used discs and a super-knowledgeable sales staff who between them seem to know every popular music album ever released. A lot of local musicians hang out at Time Traveler, and its fun to listen to the chatter while browsing the stacks. Good prices, great service, convenient location on State Road in Cuyahoga Falls, north of downtown Akron.
