Best place to buy a sword
Since relocating from Somerville to Cambridge, Absolutely Fabulous has become a kind of living-art installation, a 2000-square-foot boutique housing an enormous collection of vintage objects handpicked by New York artist/designer and owner Mara Kustra Loeber. The inventory ranges from retro (Formica kitchen tables with chrome edges) to crafty (vinyl records melted into ashtrays) to sophisticated (crystal wine goblets). Every nook and cranny has something for sale; every shelf is carefully arranged. The prices aren't cheap, exactly, and the staff won't bargain (we tried), but it's fun even to browse the assortment of ceramic sushi sets, metallic flasks, arty postcards, vintage clothing, fringed lamps, mahogany chests, and old bicycles with U-shaped handles and padded seats. Perhaps the strangest item recently on sale at Absolutely Fabulous was a curved sword. It was there for months, but suddenly disappeared. Turns out, it went - for $95.

Absolutely Fabulous, 1309 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, (617) 864-0656.