With Black Friday approaching, we figure it’s time to send out a newsletter of cool gadget stores for all your holiday gift-buying. Here are our 5 favorites, some in NYC and some online-only.
1. AC Gears
AC Gears has two locations, one at 106 Greenwich Ave (at 12th Street) and the other at 69 East 8th Street (at Broadway). A mix of cool headphones, unusual gadgets, imported watches, and strange stuff. Our favorites are the Grado Prestige headphones, starting at $80 and going up to$200. Also cool is the Nooka watch, with strange dots instead of hands to represent the time.
2. J&R
J&R, located at 23 Park Row across from City Hall Park, at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, is an electronics and digital emporium. They really do have an amazing selection of computers, cameras, MP3 players, printers, hard drives…you name it. If you’re thinking of buying a PC laptop, they have many of them out on display to play with, including an array of NetBooks.
3. Spy Shops
Spy Shops is at 138 East 34th Street, at Lexington Avenue. The place to go if you want a camera that looks like a pen or a beeper-size bug detector. They also have an encyclopedia of American police cars used from the 1930s through 1999.
4. ThinkGeek
ThinkGeek, an online-only store, carries some more unusual accessories than you can find at the local Best Buy. We like the Electronic Rock Guitar Shirt, so you can play guitar right from your t-shirt using the built-in speaker, $30. Or the Splitterbot, headphone-sharing robot, for when you and your loved one want to rock out together to one iPod, $8.
5. Gizmine
The Gizmine online store imports unusual items from Japan. Some can be found at AC Gears (such as the Bandai Gun Alarm Clock) but there are some new items too: This USB drive has built-in mini Post-Its, $50. Or this videocamera watch records in MP4, $220. Weirdest thing I found is this “Poking Box” that you stick your finger in, for $50.
(November 2009)