Best Locally Owned Store with Things You Can't Find at Chains
1. Isabel Bloom
2. Watermark Corners
3. K&K True Value Hardware
Best Place to Buy Local Art
1. Bucktown Center for the Arts
2. Quad City Arts
3. Isabel Bloom
Since it opened in July 2005, the Bucktown Center for the Arts, at 225 East Second Street in downtown Davenport, has been a haven for both artists and their patrons. Its 17 galleries/studios feature the work of roughly 100 artists, said MidCoast Fine Arts Executive Director Dean Schroeder.
What's surprising - until you think about it - is Schroeder's claim that Bucktown is "the largest retail presence in downtown Davenport."
Bucktown's mix of retail, programming (with gallery exhibits and monthly Final Friday events), special events (such as Venus Envy and MidCoast's Bash), and education has bolstered traffic in the building, and Schroeder said that there's been little turnover over the past two and a half years. All of Bucktown's second-floor tenants have been there from the beginning, as have half of the first-floor tenants. "We're full," Schroeder said. "There's got to be some good energy there."
- Jeff Ignatius
Best Musical-Instrument Store
1. Griggs Music
2. West Music
3. Guitar Center
Best Clothing Store
1. Kohl's
2. Von Maur
3. Old Navy
Best Furniture Store
1. American
2. Good's Furniture
3. Furniture Row
Best Department Store
1. Von Maur
2. JCPenney
3. Dillard's
Best Antiquing
1. River Bend Antiques & Gifts
2. Doodads
3. Banowetz Antique Mall
Best Electronics Store When You Want Advice and Straight Answers
1. Best Buy
2. American
3. RadioShack
Best Bargain
1. Wal-Mart
2. Goodwill
3. Gordmans
