Sweet Whistle

Easiest way to become everyone's favorite friend? Buy your gifts from this Bryn Mawr-based online company, which curates luxe gift boxes full of festive items — cocktail ingredients, truffles, candles, catchalls — that feel handpicked and thoughtful. You can even modify the pairings (or create your own) to perfectly tailor your present. sweetwhistle.com.

H Mart

Among the aisles of instant noodles and pickled veggies at this Asian supermarket, you'll find a selection of hard-to-find Korean beauty products, like pearl-infused sheet masks, of-the-moment beauty cushions, and hyaluronic acid moisture packs. Sounds weird, but it's magic, we swear. 7320 Old York Road, Elkins Park, PA 19027, hmart.com.

Volta Market

Meet the neighborhood mom-and-pop shop with a holistic twist. Under the store's small-batch organics line, you'll find Dead Sea salt mud masks, silky body butters, and a giant hutch housing every kind of bar soap you never knew you needed. 1439 East Passyunk Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19147, voltamarket.com.

Kink Shoppe

Nonjudgmental shopkeepers? Workshops for beginners? An easy-to-navigate selection of ropes, XXX miscellany and apparel? BDSM suddenly seems—dare we say—accessible. 126 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, kinkshoppe.com.

The perfume wall at Joan Shepp

If you inquire about a ubiquitous fragrance like Chanel No. 5, a staffer might emit a good-natured chuckle, then direct you to the newly expanded fragrance wall. Lined with impossible-to-find brands like Maison Francis Kurkdjian, Montale and Eight & Bob, it’ll soon have you muttering Coco who? 1811 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103, joanshepp.com.

Port Richmond Books

There are days when you just feel like getting lost for a couple of hours in the company of more than 300,000 musty, well-loved books -- plus old magazines, fragments of maps, first editions of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, 1940s sheet music, and other undiscovered gems you'll find in this renovated silent-movie house. Okay, maybe more than a couple of hours. 3037 Richmond Street, Philadelphia, PA 19134, portrichmondbooks.com.

Bicycle Therapy

This bike shop, stocked with tons of Specialized bikes, Capo jerseys and a very bike-savvy staff, is to serious cyclists what FAO Schwarz is to six-year-olds: a giddiness-inducing toy store. 2211 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19146, bicycletherapy.com.

Philadelphia Runner

Not only will they hook you up with the perfect pair of trainers every time; you'll be welcomed into their community, which organizes races, group runs and more. Locations in Center City, University City, and Glen Mills, philadelphiarunner.com.

Redcap's Corner

Trendy places like Thirsty Dice and Queen & Rook are where you go when you want to hang out with your friends, have a beer or latte, and casually play some board games for an hour or two. Well, Redcap’s isn’t trendy. There’s no cafe. The store just recently upgraded from folding chairs. But what it does have is a hard-core dedication to providing an inclusive environment for serious tabletop gamers, whether your jam is Magic: The Gathering (tournaments every Friday!) or far more complex endeavors that make lesser players’ heads hurt by page two of the brick-thick manual. 3850 Lancaster Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19104, redcapscorner.com.

We Found a Way to Work Around the PLCB

While COVID-19 decimated the city’s restaurant scene, it also helped push Philly’s antiquated liquor laws just a bit into the 21st century. Here’s how.

The Lawsuit | The PLCB always acted as the middleman between wine dealers who sold specialty bottles (you know, the natural, biodynamic wine made by small producers) and places where you’d normally buy those bottles (restaurants and bottle shops). So when COVID-19 shut down all Pennsylvania state stores back in March, dealers in Philly were no longer able to sell their product, and independent wine retailers couldn’t restock their shelves. Two dealers, MFW Wine Co. LLC and A6 Wine Co., said “Enough!” and sued the motherfriggin’ PLCB.

While the suit is still moving slowly through the system — the PLCB appealed the ruling of the Commonwealth Court — the implications of PLCB-free wine commerce in the Philly restaurant industry are huge. Because even right now, in 2020, wine delivery is still nonexistent for retailers and restaurants. Right now, there’s still essentially no wholesale discount. Right now, retailers are paying gratuitous fees (and passing the cost on to us). And a lawsuit like this — which, mind you, has a good chance of succeeding — might very well change all of that.

To-Go Cocktails | The problems inherent in working within the PLCB’s convoluted systems were only exacerbated when coronavirus came along and shut down our nightlife scene entirely. Something had to give.

On May 21st, Governor Tom Wolf signed into law a piece of legislation that allowed restaurants and bars that had lost at least 25 percent of their average monthly sales due to the pandemic to sell cocktails to-go. Which means that for the first time since Prohibition, you can walk up to a bar in Philadelphia and order some martinis for the road, and nobody — not even a PLCB officer — can stop you from living your life. The to-go-martini kind of life.

Wine Shops! Finally! | When the PLCB temporarily closed all its stores, these shops stayed open and kept us drinking and drunk during the apocalypse. And they deserve all the attention in the world.

• Vernick Wine, 2029 Walnut Street, Rittenhouse

• Tinys Bottle Shop, 3124 Richmond Street, Port Richmond

• Di Bruno Bros., 9th Street Bottle Shop, 920 South 9th Street, Bella Vista

• Fancy Wine Club at Bloomsday, 414 South 2nd Street, Society Hill

• Le Caveau, 614 South 7th Street, Bella Vista

• Fishtown Social, 1525 Frankford Avenue, Fishtown

• Wine Dive, 1506 South Street, Grad Hospital

• Jet Wine Bar, 1525 South Street, Grad Hospital

The Indie Shelf

This itty-bitty, very pretty boutique is packed with must-haves you won’t find at big-box shops, all by indie, often international beauty brands. Bonus points for legitimacy: Owner Sabeen Zia is a cosmetic chemist by trade. 2247 Grays Ferry Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19146, Theindieshelf.com.

Jenzy

This e-comm app created by two local women tells you what size shoe you should order in a variety of popular brands (See Kai Run, New Balance, Livie & Luca) based on a photo of your tot’s feet. jenzy.com.

Philadelphia Salvage Company

The only thing better than combing through 35,000 square feet of salvaged furniture, fixtures, and only-in-Philly finds (like wood from the chocolate factory that’s coming down at 21st and Washington)? Doing so on a Thursday evening, when this arch-salvage warehouse serves up free beer and bourbon. 2234 West Westmoreland Street, Philadelphia, PA 19140, philadelphiasalvage.com.

Joan Shepp

Unless you’re a celebrity, you probably don’t often have the chance to rub elbows with fashion’s in-crowd – think Yves Spinelli (founder of cool-girl jewelry line Spinelli Kilcollin) and Jonathan Simkhai (founder of the eponymous clothing line). Enter Joan Shepp, which throws must-attend parties featuring the designers behind some of your favorite brands. The best part? You don’t need to be an A-lister to get in. 1811 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103, joanshepp.com.

Totem Woman

Goods for the outdoorsy woman (Patagonia hats, Barbour jackets), goods for the indoorsy woman (Rifle Paper Co. notebooks, Brooklyn Candle Studio candles), and goods for every other woman who has long wished that men’s boutique Totem Brand Co. would finally open a store just for us. 529 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147, totembrandco.com.