Shop Hopping in Tampa

Supposing you're not a shopper at all, but a musician looking for a cool place to kill some time and talk shop, maybe try out a new bass or something. Green Shift Music and Comics is for you. This is a seriously independently owned operation, complete with hand-penned signs and a mish-mash of shelves and tables to display everything on. Hung on pegboard and covering nearly every inch of wall space is the most amazing collection of new, used and vintage guitars, basses, banjos, mandolins and other stringed instruments. Crammed in everywhere else is an impressive assortment of other music-related goods: bongo drums, wah-wah pedals, strings and picks, speakers, keyboards, and albums (yes, real vinyl!). Then there's the comics section, which includes not only comics (new and back issues) but groovy collectibles, t-shirts, DVDs, trading cards, and other assorted great stuff. You could spend an entire day in here, easily.

What about clothes? Gap fashions got you down? Banana Republic too passé? Talbot's too dull? Limited too predictable? Forever 21 too ... young? Then you're ready for Squaresville. This is the sort of place where you can capitalize on other peoples' need to purge their closets from time to time. The finds vary from week to week, but you could very possibly stumble across the perfect go-go boots, a t-shirt touting a defunct '80s band, an old school bowling shirt, vertical-striped bell bottoms, a fringed vest, or square sunglasses. And if you're furnishing or accessorizing your bachelor/ette pad, this is even the perfect place to find retro tables, chairs, and lamps.

Fashion-forward shoppers will also want to check out this next one. DKM Accessories features private label designs, from handbags to vintage glass bead bracelets. The theory here is, why buy an entirely new outfit when you can refresh one you already have with a few well-chosen accessories? At DKM you can pick up a fabulous pair of Swarovski accented flip-flops, a giraffe-print market bag, a stylish necklace or two, a recycled seat belt handbag, or even a crystal-studded domino set.

Curiously, for some reason Tampa has a disproportionately high number of bead shops. Do Tampa residents love making accessories so much that aspiring bead shop owners find the city especially attractive? Do beaders naturally flock here to be with kindred spirits? Whatever the underlying cause, the happy result is that bead-a-holics can find literally any kind of bead their brains can imagine, from the humblest pony to the most ornate cloisonné. There are more, but four good shops to check out are Beyond Beads, Beadcorp, Beadlejules and Tampa Bead Café.

Shopping is hard work. So at the end of a long hard day of treasure hunting and bargain seeking, treat yourself to a little something sweet in the form of a treat from Soleil Chocolates, perhaps Tampa's most esteemed chocolatier. They offer only the highest quality, gorgeously painted chocolates in both traditional and more avant-garde flavors: cardamom, lavender, passion fruit, chocolate mousse, pineapple, chai, champagne, espresso, and more. If you're lucky, they'll have the retro cocktail collection available (Black Russian, Rusty Nail and Zombie are favorites). Not in the mood for chocolate? Try torrone (Italian nougat with pistachios) or a gigantic caramel apple. Obviously, this is a top spot to pick up a gift for someone special, too.