• TKNY

  21 Avenue B, 212-677-0500; www.tkny.com

  Looking for that new Sony wireless mouse or the Japanese gizmo du jour? Always had a sneaking suspicion you need inflatable speakers? Ever since this hip little Alphabet City boutique-cum-gallery opened in May 2002, shoppers have had a brick-and-mortar alternative to electronics-import sites such as dynamism.com and japanrush.com for finding the latest way-out products and devices, Japanese or otherwise. From the superfluous Shower Shock caffeine soap ($24.99) and the stylish wall-mounted Muji CD player ($178) to two-second miso soup in a can and inflatable “safe rooms” for (supposedly) protecting yourself from biological attacks, TKNY’s inventory is ideal for the jaded New Yorker who thinks she has everything.

From the 2004 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine