When I travel, the first places I (and most everyone else I know) usually hit up are the local hardware stores, supermarkets, stationery shops and probably a pharmacy or two. Alisa Grifo, the proprietor of the much-beloved NYC shop Kiosk, manages to recreate this oft rewarding pursuit through a series of curated country-specific shows. I bought these Japanese clips at her store when it first opened. And while I have never been to Japan (how is this possible??) at least I get to gaze upon these fasteners daily. I know I should use them, but I can’t bear to break up the happy family.

Manhattan’s Chinatown is chock full of food and vivid street life. But it’s also a bastion of oddities and small treasures. These instructional rubber acupuncture models are part of that trove. Rounding out the selection of teaching aids is a cow, a horse, a dog, a miniature foot, human figures (both male and female), as well as a smaller ear and more. You can purchase any of these online here. Or, better yet, get yourself downtown and have a person-to-person transaction at my favorite Chinatown pharmacy, the Lin Sister Herb Shop at #4 Bowery.

This antlered fellow looked completely at home in the neighborhood.