Vot­ing in the Fourth Annu­al Welling­ton­ista Awards is open from Decem­ber 1–15. Then come find out the results at our Awards Night at Mighty Mighty on Decem­ber 17!

To vote, vis­it this page.

Ah con­sumerism, we wor­ship at your tem­ple and wish to sub­scribe to your newslet­ter. These are the places in town that we hap­pi­ly spend our hard-earned dol­lars in.

Eye­ball Kicks: Eye­ball Kicks has evolved over the years. Start­ing as a haven for rock­a­bil­ly clothes and art, now Calvin and Monique have moved fur­ther from the clothes and more into the art — includ­ing a fram­ing ser­vice — with art from some of the world’s best pop artists and sup­port­ing numer­ous local artists. And, of course, it’s the best place to go to add to your tiki bar.

Graph­ic: As much as we might not admit it, Welling­ton is a town full of geeks. Geeks that make art, movies, web­sites, books, music and who read an awful lot of comics. There’s a huge range of stuff (divid­ed by pub­lish­er to keep the Mar­velites away from the DCvo­tees) and the guys who work behind the counter are friend­ly and help­ful, but with just enough sneer and con­tempt for what you’re ask­ing about to cap off a per­fect comic­book shop expe­ri­ence.  

David N White Gallery: It’s worth wan­der­ing around the cor­ner from Cuba Street to Abel Smith Street’s very own Aladdin’s cave. But do it quick­ly, before the accu­mu­lat­ed piles of sec­ond-hand crazi­ness that already cram the labyrinthine aisles final­ly col­lapse in on them­selves. From tiki gods to erot­ic fic­tion, swords to for­got­ten LPs, ‘eight­ies fash­ion to out­landish art­works, there’s no telling what your next expe­di­tion might uncov­er.

Artikel: The artikel girls con­tin­ue to cre­ate one of the most enter­tain­ing, visu­al­ly stun­ning, dance-induc­ing, present-shop­ping, jew­ellery-ogling retail des­ti­na­tions around. That cor­ner of Wake­field Street is so much the bet­ter for its exis­tence. This year they’ve expand­ed into one of the best con­tem­po­rary fash­ion pick-up spots in town. We don’t know how they do, but, god­damn, it’s sty­ley.  

Slow Boat Records: Whether it’s vinyl or CDs that you’re after, this Cuba Street icon will pro­vide. Proud­ly inde­pen­dent, Slow Boat’s range and ser­vice con­tin­ues to serve as a rea­son to buy music that you can hold in your hands.