Pulse: Style: Ragas Report

Shop Talk : MONKEY HILL
“It’s nice for things to have stories,” says Bruce Imber, co-owner of Monkey Hill, Lambertville’s funkiest shelter emporium, located in the former home of Blue Raccoon. The story behind the seven-month-old shop’s fish tanks: In the ’50s, they were black-and-white TV sets. Or the story of the pretty white pine flip-top table: It’s built of wood from the floor of a 200-year-old Lancaster farmhouse. Or the brilliantly hued loomed rugs: made from secondhand felted sweaters. Behind the counter, a vintage playpen has become a doggie bed for Pat and Jackson, the shop’s resident pugs. Still, not everything in the store is a repurposed find. Pristine Italian leather chairs look and feel like buttercream frosting. Whimsically chic topiary garden sculptures come fresh from the studio of Princeton artist Robert Cannon. “We’d like to be the one item that makes you laugh,” says Imber. Co-owner Jobert Abueva agrees: “We’re the anti Crate & Barrel,” he says. —Lauren McCutcheon

Monkey Hill, 6 Coryell Street, Lambertville; 609-397-3332.

Test Drive: BodyScan
WHAT: A supposedly high-tech system to measure your body for an ideal bicycle fit.
HOW IT WORKS: Essentially, you stand up against the wall while the “technician” manually takes some measurements with the help of a laser pointer. He types these results into a computer, asks a few questions about your biking style, and produces a report of your ideal specifications.
THE PROS: Other than the fact that you might have a hot bike tech measuring your crotch height and the fact that it’s free, assuming you buy a bike, we can’t think of any.
THE CONS: Our tech whispered to us that the machine was “all sizzle, no substance,” and we couldn’t agree more. Reputable bike salespeople have been fitting customers since the 19th century, well before the advent of the laser pointer and this primitive software. Encouraging ploys like the BodyScam—oops, sorry, BodyScan—could foster other lame developments, such as Root Canal Pain Enhancement Gel.
PRICE: $50 (or free, if you buy a bike) at Danzeisen & Quigley, 1720 East Route 70, Cherry Hill; 856-424-5969. —Victor Fiorillo

What’s In Store

Just in time for spring, Old City’s Third Street Habit is offering vintage dresses in addition to its already great lines that include Anna Sui, Ella Moss and Alice + Olivia. Priced at either $52 or $62, owner January Bartle’s collection of halters, maxi dresses and miniskirts boasts fashionable ’60s mod and ’70s disco designs by
Chanel, Halston, Bill Blass and more.

Third Street Habit, 153 North 3rd Street; 215-925-5455.

Celebrating 50 years of pampering, luxury spa Pierre & Carlo has unveiled a new location in Wyncote. The state-of-the-art, full-service European salon offers endless luxe treatments, including the Kohler tub SOK: Guests submerge themselves in chin-level water that overflows the sides of a therapeutic tub. The result: a relaxing massage-like therapy for all parts of the body.

Pierre & Carlo, 8460 Limekiln Pike, Wyncote; 215-572-6300.

Check out the Freeman’s Auction House booth at this year’s Rittenhouse Row Spring Festival. Experts will be channeling Antiques Roadshow and conducting appraisals of jewelry, books, paintings and other collectibles. Here’s your chance to find out if Grandma’s needlepoint footstool is trash or treasure. —Blake Miller

May 7th, noon-5 p.m. Rittenhouse Row Spring Festival, Rittenhouse Square;
215-972-0101.