Best of Nashville Goods & Services

BEST PLACE TO GET A BIRTHDAY CAKE: SWEET 16TH

It’s so simple to go the easy route with birthday cake—white frosting, dried-out cake and more high-fructose corn syrup than your already over-caffeinated system can handle—but if you push a little harder, you can make one of adulthood’s rare cake-eating opportunities truly special. After almost two years of working in an office, with countless bland, that-was-so-not-worth-the-extra-10-minutes-on-the-treadmill confections thoughtlessly wolfed down, my cake standards have suffered. But there are moments when you realize the enormous potential within eggs, butter, flour, sugar and an intoxicating amount of fudgy chocolate. A couple months ago I tasted the best birthday cake I have ever had in my life. I talked about it the rest of the night. I talked about it the rest of the week. I got myself invited over for dinner the next day so I could eat more of it. It was from Sweet 16th in East Nashville—moist, fudgy, classic and oh-so-friggin’-worth-it. This independently owned bakery also serves up excellent cookies, pastries, breakfast scones, frittatas and even the occasional tomato tart. —LEE STABERT

BEST SHOP FOR EAST SIDE PRIDE GEAR: ALEGRIA GIFTS

Anyone who reads the Scene (or any of its blogs) regularly knows that East Nashvillians take their home turf seriously. If you’re looking to shout out loud, “I’m East and I’m proud!” then you need to check out Alegria Gifts. From a wide collection of East Nashville bumper stickers—“My other home is in Belle Meade,” “Way better than Smyrna,” “Nashville’s left brain,” “Over the river and through the hood” and more—to East-themed T-shirts, to jewelry and art created by locals, Alegria’s got you covered. And if you’re considering moving to the area, few people know more about the neighborhood than proprietor Bil Breyer, also a fixture in the area’s merchant association. But just as an old New York billboard read, “You don’t have to be Jewish to love Levy’s real Jewish Rye,” you don’t have to be an East Sider to love Alegria, where you’ll also find Hobo International handbags, Lou Zeldis jewelry, Brazil’s Havaianas sandals (the favorite flip-flops of America’s favorite former East Nashvillian, Oprah Winfrey) and Breyer’s own hand-cut, -dyed and –finished leather cuffs. —JACK SILVERMAN

BEST PLACE TO SHOP FOR SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS GIFTS: TEN THOUSAND VILLAGES

OK, so it’s a retail chain, but this is one we can enthusiastically get behind. There’s something here for any occasion: baby, holiday, birthday, Mother’s Day, anniversary gifts—there’s always a silky, sequined, woven or otherwise memorable bobble to be found. And the best part is that everything is handmade by one of 100 artisan groups in more than 30 countries, where Ten Thousand Villages works to bring shoppers “fair trade” goods. “We build long-term relationships with artisans that are based on mutual understanding and respect,” the website says. “Fair trade enables artisans to earn a fair wage and provides the opportunity for a better quality of life.” So every time you spend your cash at Ten Thousand Villages, you can realize that you’ve just helped an African mother or a young Latin American father feed their children. Go to tenthousandvillages.com to volunteer or even to create a gift registry. —LIZ GARRIGAN

BEST NEW WINE STORE: WOODLAND WINE MERCHANT

The employees at Woodland Wine Merchant are quick to offer their expertise to customers poring over the shop’s diverse selection. It’s a nice gesture, but usually unnecessary, thanks to the detailed descriptions the staff has thoughtfully penned and posted beside every bottle of wine on their shelves. Housed in a former bank at the corner of 10th and Woodland, the store opened in July with a focus on offering unique wines at a great value, along with a wealth of information about each product. The sleek, minimal decor in the shop keeps the spotlight on the wine, making for a pleasant shopping experience. For those who just can’t decide, knowledgeable staffers are ready and willing to make a suggestion in any price range. The store also carries a variety of high-alcohol beers and liquors to meet all your libation needs. And before you leave, sign up for weekly email updates to receive word of wine tastings and other events. —SARAH KELLEY

BEST THRIFT STORE TO SCORE USED VINYL: THRIFT SMART

Flipping through stacks of unorganized long-players and 45s with tattered or no sleeves is tedious for most people, and that reason alone justifies the worth in doing so. Since many people don’t have the patience to sift through stacks of old Christmas compilations and the Oak Ridge Boys, that leaves that dollar copy of Queen’s A Night at the Opera just waiting to be found. Great country 45s sit and collect dust in thrift shops all around the city, but not every venture delivers the goods. However, the most frequent provider of the sweet finds has been Thrift Smart on Nolensville Pike, which has yielded to my collection the above mentioned Queen record, countless 45s (including “Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man” by Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty—probably the best country song I’ve ever heard), Coltrane, Neil Diamond, various compilations of ethnic music and plenty of guilty pleasures. You won’t always find something worthwhile, but most everything is under a dollar, so you can mostly indulge in the urge to buy something for the sake of buying something—even if it does suck. —MATT SULLIVAN