Hand-Built Bicycle Frames
Santa Fe has great local bicycle shops, but sometimes you just can’t
shop off the rack. Maybe you’re a giant and you need a specially sized
bicycle frame; maybe you’re a semi-pro triathlete and you need a ride
that’s tuned to your specs; or maybe you’re just a hipster kid who woke
up with a real job and you’ve got money to burn on a fancier fixie.
Custom bicycle frame builders are the stuff of legend—sought-after
builders may have a waiting list of years. You can wind up putting money
in an envelope, sending it to some faraway state and hoping, one day,
to see a bicycle show up. Charlie O’Leary, on the other hand, builds his
custom O’Leary Built Bicycles right here in Santa Fe. He hasn’t been
doing it long enough to become a legend, but his steel frames are
gorgeous, well-balanced works of high-performance art. The usual lead
time is approximately eight weeks for a basic road or mountain bike
frame and prices start at just over a grand. If you want to see an
example of O’Leary’s craftsmanship, you can check out a frame at The
Broken Spoke (1403 Second St., 992-3102, brokenspokesantafe.com) or
peruse his website. O’Leary Built Bicycles, 670-9463, olearybuiltbicycles.com
Office Supplies
Big-box office retailers got you down? Do the long aisles and tweaky fluorescent lights suck the life out of you and make you feel like you’ll be chained to a cubicle until the end of your days? Sure, you could fire up the internet and order items to be shipped to you with expedited service if that really makes you feel like less of a cog in the machine. Alternatively, though, you could call the friendly folks at Matthews Office Supply, where they’ve been providing a local resource for business and office needs for 50 years. There’s no minimum order, and everything is delivered to you the next day—with no delivery charge. With more than 30,000 items on tap at Matthews, you’ll never have to set foot in a big-box again.
Matthews Office Supply, 1587 Pacheco St., 428-8000, matthewsofficesupply.com
Socks and Underwear
Santa Fe does not want for frilly local boutiques that peddle upscale panties, but when you need some sensible, long-lasting nether-gear, exactly where do you go? One thing is certain: The thrift store is not the answer, and if everybody shops online at American Apparel, then we’ll all look the same with our pants off. Your best bet is to hit an outdoor apparel retailer. You’ll find panties and briefs that aren’t necessarily made with built-in Kevlar cups or high-tech wicking fabrics, but rather look and feel like the smalls you know and love. There’s a particularly plentiful panoply of panties available at Sangre de Cristo Mountain Works.
Sangre de Cristo Mountain Works, 328 S Guadalupe St., 984-8221, sdcmountainworks.com
Major Appliances
When the washing machine pukes up suds all over the Saltillo or the oven stops opening, it’s time for a major purchase. The obvious thing to do is to head on over to the home improvement superstore where some poor sap outfitted with a red vest and “pieces of flair” is going to be paid too poorly to know anything about the products in which you’re interested. If your goal is to live your life like a Saturday Night Live skit, by all means, go big-box. But if your goal is professional, courteous, knowledgeable service, you’ll want to hit New Mexico-owned Baillio’s or Santa Fe’s Sierra West Sales. Not only does Baillio’s have a better selection of models than the big-box chains, it has better prices. And if you live on the side of town where your appliances need to be fancy—Sierra West Design has the best selection of upscale and energy-efficient appliances in town.
Baillio’s, 3294 Cerrillos Road, 438-3039, baillios.com
Sierra West Sales, 856 St. Michael’s Drive, 471-6742, kitchensantafe.com
Fresh-Cut Flowers
If you like nature connection to be toll-free, you can call 1-800-Flowers or browse its hideous website but, if you prefer beauty that didn’t arrive on the overnight cargo cabin from some other state or country, you’re better off going local for flowers. You can even go double-local because a lot of Santa Fe florists are starting to buy more and more fresh-cut flowers from area farmers. But the best place to hone your aromatic aesthetics is still the Santa Fe Farmers Market, where many of the vendors bring wild assortments of New Mexico bouquets—the perfect table setting to go with your farm-fresh fare. The market is open every Saturday, with Tuesday and Thursday hours added between May and November.
Santa Fe Farmers Market, 1607 Paseo de Peralta, 983-4098, santafefarmersmarket.com
Santa Fe Reporter