Best store for men - Seize sur Vingt

Seize sur Vingt is French for 16 to 20 and is hands down the coolest store for men. You will never see yourself coming and going because the styles are all one of a kind. Have them make a custom shirt with one of their fashion forward seasonal shirting options. Once they have your pattern, you will find yourself wanting more. The Nolita sales staff ooze cool and will point you in the right direction. And with in-house labels like Troglodyte Homunculus, Wolf-Rayet, and UBNY, you can't go wrong.

Additionally, they recently updated their website with a state-of-the-art “custom” section, where existing custom and special order customers can browse luxury shirting swatches and order a whole season’s worth of shirts without ever leaving home. Amazing!

Head down the street to their other store, Groupe. Groupe 16sur20 is a multi-brand showroom that conceptualizes, designs, produces and wholesales ready-to-wear lines for both men and women. The store also plays host to a variety of artworks, automobile installations, screenings and festivities.

Since it mostly caters to men, I am still searching...

Seize sur Vingt

243 Elizabeth Street

Between Houston and Prince

Groupe 16sur20

267 Elizabeth Street

between Houston and Prince

Gracious Home in Chelsea

Every New Yorker knows about Gracious Home. As their moniker attests, "The Best of Everything For Your Home." People living on the Upper East Side have enjoyed it for decades. And us downtown hipsters either had to trek uptown or live without. But no more, Gracious Home is coming to Chelsea.

With all the new developments around Chelsea, the Flatiron, Madison Square Park and the Meatpacking District, there are a lot of new homeowners in the area. Everyone in the downtown area will soon be flocking to the new Gracious Home outpost. Imagine Bed, Bath and Beyond on steroids with better customer service. Need special tiles from Portugal, done! Baskets from Bora Bora, no problem! Reproductions of antique finials, hand-finished by Italian monks. They can handle that!

http://www.gracioushome.com/gh/

Sixth Avenue between 25th and 26th Street

Opens Fall 2008

Until then, I am still searching...