Specialty Shopping

HAVE you ever had one of those days? You know, the kind where your kimono rips, you knock your boss's armadillo skull off the desk and break it, you can't find that Q50CL/MC light bulb you need anywhere, your child has declared an everything-but-peanut-butter diet unless he gets a New York Fire Department Engine 273 Ladder 129 T-shirt, and you spill wine all over your Danish friend's Mads Norgaard blouse.

Haven't we all?

But New York City's got you covered. Spend a weekend touring the city's singular collection of unusual shops and restaurants that feature unexpected specialties, and everything's going to work out just fine.

The Kimono House, tucked away on Thompson Street in SoHo, has new and vintage traditional robes imported from Japan for every budget, sex, age and occasion. They also have the shorter style that can be worn over jeans. Silk kimonos start at under 0; the ones made of finer silk go for much more. Though kimonos are the main item in stock, you can also pick up a pair of socks cut like a mitten, with a separate compartment for the big toe, or kimono-wearing bunny and bear dolls.

Kids go nuts for the Firestore in the West Village, which is really the combination of the police and fire stores that until earlier this year were on Lafayette Street. The old, battered fire helmets from the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the ancient New York fire log are not for sale, but every imaginable Police and Fire Department shirt is, as well as books, toys and the 2007 New York Fire Department calendar. There's even a 1970s "Bronx Is Burning" jigsaw puzzle that the Bronx Tourism Council cannot be happy about. The season for buying firefighter uniforms is over, but the season for buying toy fire trucks has arrived, so the store has stocked up.

Butik, a small shop also in the West Village, is the place to go for your Danish clothing needs. Most of the stuff on the racks is imported from Denmark, including Mads Norgaard sweaters, pants, scarves and skirts, and dresses by Baum & Pferdgarten.

There's no question who stocks the best armadillo skulls in town: Maxilla & Mandible, the classic shop around the corner from the American Museum of Natural History. The place is full of mounted animals and real animal skulls like the vervet (a small African monkey) and the Louisiana swamp rat. And let's face it, you can't have too many Louisiana swamp rat skulls. In the exoskeleton category, there's amazing stuff like the Heteropteryx dilatata (nonliteral translation: humongous terrifying greenish monster bug). For those who get skittish around real skulls, bones and insects, all hope is not lost. Try fossilized dung from Washington State for or the light-up cockroach keychain.

Light bulb stores are not great for browsing (and there's no in-house cafe), but Just Bulbs near Union Square is worth a stop. You'll see bulbs you never thought existed, in shapes and sizes undreamed of (among the select group of people who dream of light bulbs), as well as some old-school (class of 1910) bulbs.

Don't need a bulb? Think again, especially this time of year, when the fanciful strung lights (in the forms of lobsters, gingerbread men and much more) make for a creative addition to Christmas trees. One caveat: The store made the controversial decision to hang baseball-shaped Boston Red Sox bulbs next to New York Yankee bulbs, which is fine for them because there is no combustible material nearby. But don't put them together on the same tree, lest sparks fly.

That's just the beginning. There's Tender Buttons on the Upper East Side, where a period set of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves buttons go for 0 and tiny doll buttons cost .25. Then there are Rita Ford Music Boxes and the New York Transit Museum's store in Grand Central Terminal for all things subway - and many more.

But you'll need to eat, of course. And after visiting a light bulb store, could there be anything better than a peanut butter restaurant? Peanut Butter & Co. has been around since 1998, and it makes six varieties of peanut butter that go into Fluffernutter shakes, and into a sandwich made of cinnamon-raisin peanut butter, vanilla cream cheese and apple slices. (The traditional Lunchbox Special sandwich - P.B.&J. - is the cheapest, at .)

There is also Rice to Riches, which specializes in rice pudding, and S'Mac (Sarita's Macaroni and Cheese) for your mac and Manchego, and the venerable stalwarts of the Lower East Side, Guss' Pickles and Yonah Schimmel Knish Bakery.

And by the time you get here, there's bound to another unusual specialty shop opening up. Cough Syrup Central? Urban Ironing Board? The Lettuce Help You All-Iceberg Grocery? Be on the lookout.

Where to Shop

Only Saturday and Sunday hours are shown.

Kimono House, 131 Thompson Street (between Houston and Prince Streets), (212) 505-0232. Saturday noon to 7 p.m., Sunday noon to 6 p.m.

Firestore, 17 Greenwich Avenue (between Christopher and West 10th Streets), (212) 226-3142; www.nyfirestore.com. Saturday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sunday noon to 6 p.m.

Butik, 605 Hudson Street (West 12th Street), (212) 367-8014. Saturday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sunday noon to 6 p.m.

Maxilla & Mandible, 451 Columbus Avenue (between West 81st and 82nd Streets), (212) 724-6173; www.maxillaandmandible.com. Saturday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sunday 1 to 5 p.m.

Just Bulbs, 5 East 16th Street, near Union Square, (212) 228-7820. Saturday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday noon to 6 p.m.

Peanut Butter & Co., 240 Sullivan Street (between Bleeker and West Third Streets), (212) 677-3995. Saturday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Rice to Riches, 37 Spring Street (between Mott and Mulberry Streets), (212) 274-0008. Saturday 11 a.m. to 1 a.m., Sunday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

S'Mac, 345 East 12th Street (between First and Second Avenues), (212) 358-7912. Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 1 a.m.

Guss' Pickles, 85-87 Orchard Street (between Broome and Grand Streets), (917) 701-4000. Saturday closed, Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Much confusion, and contention, over this one and the Guss' in Cedarhurst, on Long Island.

Yonah Schimmel Knish Bakery, 137 East Houston Street (between First and Second Avenues), (212) 477-2858. Saturday 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.