By Ellen Ryan
Outside, even in the chill, there are flowers and children's laughter. Inside, there's my own. At a toy store named Alakazam!, I wind up a five-inch die-cast school bus; it zips down a counter, crashing into a box of sheriff badges and Cowboy Bandages. The nose-ringed, color-dreadlocked, spangly-nail-polished clerk doesn't even blink.

Image: Charlottesville's shopping district gives a pleasureable new meaning to the term "mall-walking." (Charlottesville Albemarle Convention & Visitors Bureau)

10: A Name Day Celebration!

10 Years, 10 to 10, 10% off

Celebrate with the artists and craftspeople of the cooperative gallery you've known and loved as Transient Crafters. It's been 10 years since the first seasonal shop opened in York Place and to mark that anniversary, we've adopted a new name: C'ville Arts. Plus, we're having a Name Day Party on Friday, Dec. 7, 2007. The gallery will be open from 10 to 10, with demonstrations, refreshments, and a special display of work by our members. As a thank-you to our customers we are offering 10% off all purchases that day. Please join us in celebrating our success!