Metroland Online - Readers' Picks 2010

It’s unclear what Barnes & Noble offers to give them the edge that Borders lacks. What’s even less clear is why, if one is intent on patronizing a bookstore in the age of Amazon.com, anyone would choose either corporate chain over a small independent like the Book House.

Best Newsstand

1. Coulson’s

2. Borders

3. Westmere News

Extra! Extra! Newspapers are still alive and available at the same place you get your cigarettes, condoms, and nudie mags.

Best Internet Provider

1. Time Warner

2. Verizon

3. AOL

Three hundered ninety-four of our buddies told us that Time Warner’s really fast and easy.

Best Garden Store/Nursery

1. Hewitt’s

2. Faddegon’s

3. George’s

Hewitt’s is our winner here by a landslide—a gardening disaster you can prevent/repair with some of their fine products.

Best Florist

1. Price Chopper

2. Emil Nagengast

3. Lark St. Florist

We don’t think of Price Chopper as a florist, but they do sell flowers, so . . . they must be doing something right.

Best Home Electronics Store

1. Best Buy

2. Hippo’s

3. Radio Shack

Wait, you can still go to stores for that kind of thing?

Best Kitchen Store

1. Different Drummer’s Kitchen

2. Bed Bath & Beyond

3. Williams-Sonoma

We’re pleased to see that our readers chose a regionally based chain (headquartered in the Berkshires, with stores in Lenox, Northampton, and Stuyvesant Plaza) offering competitive products and good service over the national chains—by a sizeable margin.

Best Furniture Store

1. Old Brick

2. Taft

3. Huck Finn’s Warehouse

Our own aesthetic runs a bit more toward the “old cinder block”/ “milk crate.” But these sound nice, too.

Best Pet Supply Store

1. PetSmart

2. Benson’s

3. Petco

Who’s a good pet store, who’s a good pet store? Yes, you are! Ah, yes you are!

Best Gift Store

1. Wit’s End

2. Romeo’s

3. Pearl Grant Richman’s

Feel free to pick up something for us.

Best Wine/Liquor Store

1. Empire Wine

2. Exit 9

3. All Star

Empire’s combination of warehouse prices and wine-snob selection make it an easy repeat winner.

Best Vintage Clothing Store

1. Salvation Army

2. Goodwill

3. Plato’s closet

The region’s dearth of high-end boutique vintage shops is a blessing in disguise, as storehouses like Salvation Army and Goodwill have yet to be picked over. For surplus mall fare, Plato’s is your best bet.

Best Women’s Clothing Store

1. Macy’s

2. Ann Taylor Loft

3. H&M

But do any of these places carry Lady Gaga’s line?

Best Men’s Clothing Store

1. Macy’s

2. Jos. A. Bank

3. Spector’s

Real men wear only pelts.

Best Children’s Clothing Store

1. Gap Kids

2. Macy’s

3. Children’s Place

You can do pretty well at the department stores right after Halloween. Those plastic costumes wipe clean, nicely. And the kids love ’em year round. But if you’re set on actual clothing, sure. These places are good.

Best Women’s Shoe Store

1. DSW

2. Macy’s

3. Saratoga Shoe Depot

Oh, those? No, leave those on.

Best Men’s Shoe Store

1. DSW

2. Macy’s

3. Famous Footwear

Just knock it off with the tassled loafers, will ya?

Best Consignment Clothing Store

1. Plato’s Closet

2. Fifi’s

3. Salvation army

Weeeell, Salvation Army isn’t really a consignment store, but . . . .

Best Hair Salon

1. Rumors

2. Jean Paul Coiffures

3. Stiletto

In the future, if the evolutionary trends continue, we’ll all be over 6 feet tall, and we’ll have massive and completely bald heads. But, till then, you’re gonna need these folks.

Best Sporting Goods Store

1. Dick’s

2. Goldstock’s

3. Sports Authority

Good golly, you people sure like Dick’s. Um, like, because they won by a lot.

Best Head Shop

1. Deja Vu

2. Northern Lights

3. Orion’s

Smokers are an allegiant lot, so it’s no surprise that veteran glass-slingers Deja Vu and Northern Lights split the votes almost dead evenly. Onion’s, too, had plenty of Nag Champa burned in its favor.

Best Cigar/Tobacco Shop

1. Habana’s

2. Edleez

3. Smoker’s Paradise

You won’t have to worry about referring to a bong as a water pipe in these classy joints. You may, instead, find the perfect thing to make your humidor happy.

Best Holistic Shop

1. Peaceful Inspirations

2. Honest Weight Food Co-op

3. Green Grocer

Peaceful, honest, green? These stores are better people than we are.

Best Art Supply Store

1. Arlene’s Artist Materials

2. Michael’s

3. A.C. Moore

Local favorites Arlene’s have won this category for as long as we can remember, and deservedly so.

Best Bike Shop

1. Downtube

2. Plaine’s

3. Klarsfeld

No doubt about it, Downtube’s a mainstay. Time for a tune-up.

Best Toy Store

1. Toys ‘r’ Us

2. Toymaker

3. G. Willikers

Fancy that. The place where a kid can be a kid is a warehouse full of Chinese plastic.

Best Cellular Service

1. Verizon

2. AT&T

3. Sprint

Given the 200-vote margin separating Verizon from AT&T, it seems as though Metroland readers prefer the Blackberry to the iPhone—that is, unless you sneaky RPI engineers are all jail-breaking for Verizon compatibility.

Best Jeweler

1. Northeastern Fine Jewelry

2. Hannoush

3. Glennpeter Jewelers

Shine on . . .

Best Day Spa

1. Kimberley’s a Day Spa

2. Jean Paul Spa

3. Complexions

Aaahhh . . .

Best Musical Instrument Store

1. Parkway

2. Guitar Center

3. Hermies

Absolutely no “Stairway,” dude.

Best Apple Orchard

1. Indian Ladder Farms

2. Goold’s

3. Altamont Orchards

We hope the AMA takes no offense. It’s nothing personal. We just like apples.

Best Farmers Market

1. Troy Farmers Market

2. Schenectady Greenmarket

3. Saratoga Springs Farmers Market

Farmers markets are rapidly setting up shop in every vacant lot in the area, but Troy has long made theirs an event to plan your weekend around.

Best Produce

1. Price Chopper

2. Honest Weight Food Co-op

3. Hannford

The supermarkets have improved their produce offerings in recent years, and clearly our readers like that. But we’d like to see you make more of an effort to stock local produce—the area where Honest Weight really shines.

Best Place to Buy a Computer

1. Best Buy

2. Apple

3. Online

That was easy. They have “Best” right in their name.

Best Place to Service a Computer

1. Best Buy

2. Apple

3. Computer Renaissance

AKA best geek squad.

Best Shopping Plaza

1. Stuyvesant Plaza

2. Mohawk Commons

3. Latham Farms

Did you know that Peter Stuyvesant had a wooden leg? Yep, it’s true. Peg-leg Plaza doesn’t sound as fancy though. And we do love you, Stuyvesant.

Best Shopping Mall

1. Colonie Center

2. Crossgates

3. Rotterdam Square mall

How doth one begin to compare the nuanced attributes of these holy temples of consumer culture? The shine of the linoleum? The gleam of the fluorescent lights? The size of the horse statues outside P.F. Chang’s? ’Tis a quandary that evades the human intellect.

Best Shopping City

1. Saratoga

2. Albany

3. New York City

Yep, a few jokesters always have to answer “New York City,” which is not part of our region, or course, though doable as a day trip. Saratoga wins because it still has a high-functioning downtown shopping district; a surprisingly close second for Albany, given that its shopping is much more scattered around.

Best Shopping Outlet

1. Prime Outlets at Lee

2. Factory Outlets of Lake George

3. Woodbury Common Premium Outlets

They’re like little towns, where you leave with the residents’ possessions. It’s like low-impact pillaging! With a food court!

Best Supermarket

1. Price Chopper

2. Hannaford

3. Honest Weight Food Co-op

The region’s two most dominant supermarkets ran a close race, with the nod going to the one that is locally based. Honest Weight is most definitely not a supermarket, but we’re still glad to see them getting some votes!

Best Health Food Store

1. Honest Weight Food Co-op

2. GNC

3. Dean’s Natural Foods

Silly bodybuilders, Quick Trim and Muscle Milk do not a health-food store make. It takes Goji berries, neti pots, and ear candles . . .

Best Record Store (used)

1. Last Vestige

2. FYE

3. Blue Note

As if there was any question. Crate diggers gotta crate dig and Last Vestige has the gems.

Best Record Store (new)

1. FYE

2. Best Buy

3. Last Vestige

It’s like musical chairs—get it? We’re just glad to hear people still buy CDs.

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