Best Resale for Real Women 2009 | Upscale Plus | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best Resale for Real Women

Upscale Plus

If you're going to be a big lady, why not just be one? With places like this to shop at, it's still easy to look like a million, and we're not talking pounds. At UpScale Plus, the focus is on quality consignments, which means you won't leave the store looking like you've thrown on a sack. Instead, expect used career wear from Talbot's, Ralph Lauren, Jones Signature, Ellen Tracy, Nordstrom and other tony labels, as well as better boutique wear from Coldwater Creek and J. Jill. Also on the racks are formal wear and stylish casual attire, as well as a selection of resale items for the little ladies. Don't be shy: The price here is right, and so are the sizes.

Best Rockabilly and Cruising Gear

West Side Sinners

Erin Bolz of West Side Sinners definitely knows her niche: If you've got a pack of cigarettes rolled in your sleeve, have a Vargas-girl obsession and think Sam Phillips and Carl Perkins created the world, you're probably part of it. And to best serve you, her rockabilly lifestyle store's got everything the cruising crowd could possibly ask for, including hot-blooded retro-chic styles by Stop Staring and Bettie Page Clothing for both the ladies and the guys; Lucky 13 tees and work shirts; Rockmount cowboy shirts; and big sunglasses, shiny tuck-and-roll bowling bags and other accessories. It's a natural stop the next time you're cruising West Colfax.

Best Salon for Curly Hair

Shapes Salon and Studio

Sure, curly-haired girls can get a haircut at the same salons that their straight-haired friends patronize, but they risk the dreaded triangle hair (flat on top, poofy on the bottom) or the rounded, teased cut à la '80s hair-metal enthusiasts. Luckily for us curly girls, Denver has Shapes Salon and Studio, where the specialty is the Deva Curl method of dry-cutting curly locks. The hair-care system espoused at Shapes emphasizes washing with silicone- and sodium laurel sulphate-free shampoo, then drying hair with a pillowcase, but even if you don't follow those steps, you'll just need one haircut in their experienced hands for your curls to go from frizzy mayhem to Botticellian brilliance.

Best Shop at DIA

New Belgium Hub

Walk into the Greetings From Colorado shop on Concourse A, and you might walk out with a T-shirt manufactured in Haiti — boasting the wrong date for the founding of Denver. Wander over to Denver's Picture Show Popcorn, and you'll find neither a Denver-based movie (a rare commodity, admittedly) nor Colorado corn. For a true taste of this state before you leave it, your best bet is the New Belgium Hub on Concourse B, at the bridge to the regional jet facility. Here you can not only enjoy many of the delicious beers brewed by the Fort Collins-based brewery, including Fat Tire, but you can order up a full meal with a distinct Colorado flavor — and even pick up food to go. Now, if we could just convince DIA to set up concourse carts that sell growlers of the beer that made this state famous; what better souvenirs could travelers take back to their brewpub-poor states? And remember, since you've already cleared security by the time you reach the concourses, there's no liquid ban to dry up this surefire marketing scheme.

Best Shop at Northfield/Stapleton

Bass Pro Shop

From I-70, Bass Pro Shop looks like a mirage — a giant funplex surrounded by a sea of boats in landlocked Denver. And given the lack of a Northfield exit off the interstate, it can feel like you're chasing a mirage when you try to actually reach this store. But once you locate the proper exit (Quebec Street) and wind your way to the giant sporting goods outlet, you'll find your efforts rewarded with aisle after aisle devoted to every sport imaginable, as well as to home furnishings, gift items, clothing, even jerky. And if contemplating all the possible purchases is exhausting, you can always take a breather in the handy bar and restaurant. Special bonus: Bass welcomes dogs, hunting or not.

Best Shop in Belmar

Composition

There's quite a bit of high-caliber retail at Belmar, but Jennifer Roberts's modern design boutique, Composition, rose above the rest thanks to its plethora of delightfully creative doodads — the sort of stuff that may not be essential to your existence but will surely make life a tiny bit more wonderful. Hankering for a four-lens camera? They've got it. A messenger bag made from repurposed inner tubes? It's right next to the purse fashioned from recycled candy wrappers. A 200-page coffee-table book on typography? Should be one left by the ode to structural packaging. No wonder the place received a shout-out in the New York Times; it's a modern aesthetics' paradise.

Best Store for a Coonskin Cap

The Wizard's Chest

By Lonnie Hanzon, courtesy of the Wizard's Chest
The coonskin cap is an icon of American frontier history, and for many decades was a mainstay in any kid's toy chest. But you don't see them around much anymore, which can be a problem when you really need one — because there's simply no easy substitute. Thankfully, you can count on the Wizard's Chest, the Cherry Creek North toy and costume shop (an icon in itself) that carries the iconic caps year-round.

Best Store in Cherry Creek

Pekoe Sip House at Origins

Origins you might already know: Showcasing natural cosmetics in a clean, light store with a grass, ash and concrete color scheme and a pleasant perfume, the operation also gives facials and chair massages, inviting customers to stop and set a while. To make it easier, there's a Pekoe Sip House tea counter within the spacious boutique, with rustic barnwood benches and tables where you can sip a steamy Earl Grey cambric in a clear thermal glass and contemplate the merits of receiving a Denver-centric High Elevation Hydration Facial.

Best Store in Downtown Littleton

Pink Attic Cat

Formerly called Mind Your Manor, Amy Doherty's vintage shop in Downtown Littleton will put you in mind of your grandma's attic, stuffed to the rafters as it is with pure treasure — Scrabble tiles, typewriter keys, bits of ribbon, old-fashioned postcards, tin toys — and bona fide antiques, from pretty flowered teacups to full-sized tables and wardrobes. In spring, there's the added attraction of one-of-a-kind garden ornaments, furniture and quaint pot racks, but in winter, Doherty does up the holiday theme, making this ersatz attic a year-round joy to peruse.

Best Store in Old Towne Arvada

Lovely Boutique

Lovely isn't the first of its kind in these parts and it won't be the last, but the vogue-ish, eco-centric boutique is certainly a sign of the times. The shop, which opened about a year ago in Olde Town by young entrepreneurs Emilie Oliver and Hallie Westall, features reasonably priced but trendsetting clothing made only from sustainable natural fabrics and produced using ecological methods; Oliver and Westall also follow green practices in-store. If cotton, silk, hemp and linen from Alternative Apparel, Big Star, Frenzy and Stewart Brown rock your boat, head to Olde Town, pronto. You'll save money and the environment.

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