Best Ride When You Really Need One 2005 | NightRiders | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best Ride When You Really Need One

NightRiders

Have pocket bike, will travel. Boulder-based NightRiders has been caring for Pearl Street Mall drunks for nearly five years, and last September the company finally brought its for-hire designated drivers to the LoDo-reveling throngs. The best part is, they drive you home in your own vehicle -- returning on their collapsible scooters -- so you never have to bum a ride back to your car the next morning. Just dial them up, and they're on their way. Cheers!

Best Place to Go for a Roll

Segway of Denver

For the hopelessly tech-dependent, the battery-powered Segway may just become the city vehicle of choice. Four grand gets you one of the self-balancing, no-pedaling-required human transporters that go -- and park -- anywhere. Belmar shopping center's security forces are rolling on them, and now they're being spotted on the most fashionable LoDo streets. That's because Len Osmond recently opened Segway of Denver in the Waterside Lofts building, just across the street from the Pepsi Center, gambling that urban hipsters are tired of battling downtown parking meters. Just be sure to stay on the city's sidewalks: Segways only go 12.5 mph.

Best Unexpected Valet Service

Rodney's

All hail Rodney's, the parking savior of Cherry Creek. While all the usual suspects provide valet service for their gas-guzzling guests -- Whole Foods even offers it on weekends -- nobody would expect it of this divey fern bar. Still, Rodney's is offering it up for free -- yes, free! -- after 5:30 p.m. when customers come in for, at least, a cocktail. All the more reason to visit this outpost of smoker culture hidden in the basement of ritzy Cherry Creek North.

Best Store at Denver International Airport

Mile High Harley-Davidson

Airport retail shops capitalize on the wretched disposition of the procrastinator. Usual suspects such as the Body Shop and the Discovery Channel Store offer travelers a chance to hurriedly snag something meaningful for the family before boarding the flight home. But if Grandma has been hinting at some leather biker chaps for her birthday, head to the mezzanine of Concourse B, where Mile High Harley-Davidson has a selection of biker apparel, including T-shirts, leather wallets and jewelry. They also carry enough shot glasses to keep you stocked in gifts till next year.

Best Store at Stapleton

Miss Talulah's

Miss Talulah's has hit one out of the park. After almost five years in the Ballpark neighborhood, the dainty shop filled with all things ladylike and out of the ordinary headed to a new home in the just-built Stapleton Town Center. You'll still find the thoughtful mix of beautiful jewelry, artisan handbags, brocade slippers, Mariebelle chocolate products, soaps and lotions, but the bigger, more modern space also means more stuff. For the new shop, owner Robin Lohre forayed into patio furniture decorated in funky stripes and polka-dots, and she's taking a cue from the Uptown Talulah Jones by stocking children's toys, books and adorable baby clothes. Welcome home.

Best Store in Cherry Creek

Ten Thousand Villages

All the goods inside Ten Thousand Villages bear the "Fair Trade" stamp, which means the artisans who created them -- women, mostly, from Third World countries -- were justly compensated for their labor. So you can feel very, very good about dropping a little coin in this globally minded boutique. You'll certainly want to. The store is a wondrous place to find unique items for the home, from hand-woven floor mats and crockery from Southeast Asia to colorful bedspreads from India. At Ten Thousand Villages, you'll have the whole world in your hands.

Best Store on the 16th Street Mall

Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau

The Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau outpost on 16th Street was located a few blocks down the mall until three months ago, when it moved into new digs on California Street. While the inside is all new, the services are the same: Tourists can come in, look at maps and buy Denver-related trinkets. For natives -- or native wannabes -- there's a Ticketmaster and RTD outlet as well as little-known factoids about the Mile High City.

Best Souvenir Store on the 16th Street Mall

Where the Buffalo Roam

Most stores on the 16th Street Mall are souvenir stores, which is why any visiting businessman who suddenly needs a shirt to wear to an important meeting may wind up wearing a T-shirt displaying a well-endowed woman and the saying "Get a load of these peaks." Sure, Where the Buffalo Roam has some of the same stupid trinkets, but it also has a stash of University of Colorado memorabilia that includes soon-to-be collector's items. There's no Ward Churchill doll, but will a teddy bear wearing a pink sweatshirt with the football team's logo and the word "Mom" do? Go, Buffs!

Best Store on Boulder's Pearl Street Mall

Atmosphere

The Pearl Street Mall may be close to wholesale commercialization, but in the trendy West End neighborhood adjacent to the shopping mecca, there's still an independent flavor in the air. That holds true for nearby Atmosphere, a loft-looking "lifestyle" store that combines furniture, fashion accessories and baby clothes. The swank amalgam includes Mueller refrigerators from Germany (available in 200 colors), retro diaper bags, playful Offi birch furnishings for children, furniture upholstered in '50s-era fabrics, and tons more stuff that might be right at home in these stainless-steel modern times.

Best Slogan for Boulder Shoppers

"Keep Boulder Weird"

When David Bolduc, owner of the Boulder Book Store on the Pearl Street Mall, decided last year that he wanted to promote local shopping, he imported a slogan from Austin, Texas, which has had a successful "Weird" campaign going for years. But that's really no competition: Can Austin be one-tenth as weird as Boulder? Bolduc printed up 10,000 bumperstickers that say "Keep Boulder Weird: Support Local Businesses," which he hands out gratis. He also sells hats, T-shirts and mugs with the message.

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