Accessories and shoes

For serious accessory hounds willing to venture south of San Francisco, 49 Square Miles delivers the full assortment of the casual-meets-luxury brand's handbags, belts, jewelry and small leather goods inside a nondescript warehouse that also houses its corporate headquarters. Lucky bargain hunters can also score samples or discounted one-of-a-kind prototypes.

"We never make the same thing twice," says Béatrice Amblard, a former Hermès artisan who has drawn a sizable following for her custom leather accessories. She works with an extraordinary selection of skins (including ostrich, Soldes Daxon chaussures,alligator and stingray), and each piece is saddle stitched and finished with Amblard's signature 18-karat-gold bee logo.

Staking a platform stiletto in the Wine Country and Walnut Creek, jewel-box-like Footcandy stocks plenty of the big three - Choo, Louboutin, Blahnik - but also newcomers Emma Hope, Charlotte Olympia and the store's brightly hued house line. These are shoes for serious fanatics, and no wonder. Owner Carolyn Butler's buying philosophy is: "I am the consumer, I sell to myself."