Hi Time Liquors
Hi-Time Wine Cellars is a traditional wine and spirits shop found in Costa Mesa. The shop has been around since 1957 and specializes in California, French and world wine. Its selection is quite extensivesomething for every price and palate. The wine shop also has a great beer selection, with beers from Germany, England, Scotland, Belgium and the U.S.
The Wine Club
This wine store has been in operation for almost 20 years. It offers some great values on wines and its newsletter features news on the latest offerings plus wines of the month and staffers' wine picks. The store staff is quite knowledgeable and helpful in aiding you in your wine selections.
Cliff's Books
Cliffs Books is a Pasadena area independent used bookstore that has many unusual and rare titles, so its a good place for readers and collectors both to check out. Thanks to CalTech being nearby, the store has a solid science section that you usually dont find in a used bookstore. However, if youre looking for a helpful, comfortable bookstore, this isnt it. The staff vacillates from somewhat friendly to downright surly.
Bookman
The Bookman is a large used bookstore, with a good selection of fiction and nonfiction paperbacks, hardcovers and rarer, hard-to-find books. As with most used bookstores, the selection can range from okay to great depending on when you happen to visit the store. The romance selection is quite extensive and, overall, so is the entire fiction section.
Whale Of A Tale Childrens Book
If youre looking for a childrens bookstore that has a great selection, layout and expertise, this is the place. The store is extremely kid friendly, and the staff really knows childrens books. In addition to books, the store offers a great stuffed animal selection. As you might expect with a high-quality childrens bookstore, this place has great story hours for young readers.
Videotheque
Videotheque is a wonderful video store find. This isnt your typical video store with 20 of the latest releases and skimpy is all other areas. The selection of films is amazing, with excellent independent, documentary and foreign film options. Also, everything is well organized, making it easy to find what you what quicklyeven if you do spend a lot more time just browsing through lots of great titles. Plus, the staff is extremely pleasant and knowledgeable.
Critters
If youre looking for a stuffed animal, Critters is a good place to check out. As the stores title suggests, Critters sells stuffed furry friends and offers a good selection of stuffed animals. They also have an amazingly great hand puppet selection. The store is small, but they fit a good selection in it.
The Paper Rabbit Montrose
Paper Rabbit is a great place to look for cards and scrapbooking supplies. The store has a good selection of items including stickers, pens, paper, albums and embellishments. But what Peter Rabbit specializes in is personalizing items. They have a great selection of items to choose from, and they do excellent work.
Wild Goose Chase Antique Americana & Interiors
Wild Goose is a store that carries strictly country-style and Americana antiques. The selection is good as is the quality of the pieces, and theres a wide range of antiques to help decorate and accessorize the country-style home. Overall, the antiques are well displayed, making it easy to look around and check items out.
Crazy Gideon's
I only went to Crazy Gideons because my handyman recommended it as a place to get a reasonably priced refrigerator. You really have to get in combat mode to go herethe salespeople are the hard-sell pushy type (they make used car salespeople look like wimps) and the place is crowded and dingy. That said, I did get a decent deal. I researched well before I went, checking out my options at all the top chains, and got a name good refrigerator at a price $200 lower than what I could elsewhere. You MUST haggle if you go here (my handyman told me that I needed to get them down to 30 percent of their price to get a deal). It was worth it--I got the refrigerator I wanted at a price I liked, but I doubt Id go back to get anything else. Most of their selection is junk, and its not a pleasant shopping experience.
