They're everywhere

but I found a lot of good, solid gear that I'm still using 50 years later.

For pots and pans, I shopped Amazon. For gadgets, thrift shops.

Home Goods and Ross have interesting items once in awhile. Those are hit or miss, though. A tea house may have your tea steeper.

they don't have any mixing bowls I like. I got a nice set about 25 years ago at Crate and Barrel, but they don't stock them anymore. I need to replace the larger bowls which had an unfortunate encounter with the floor.

open. Or i might try Goodwill. Do you have one of those free exchanges where you live? (Sorry, I don't know the proper name.)

Ross and Tuesday Morning -cheapest but smallest selection
TJ Maxx - Good selection of pretty high end stuff
Home Goods - Similar to TJ Maxx but a little pricier.

I agree about the store. I wanted a pot I could make dumplings in and searched for a while to find a lid without a vent.

waiting for pick-up. I could've just walked in and bought it over the counter, but I wanted it there waiting for me to come and take it home.

https://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/williams-sonoma-fish-spatula/?catalogId=79&sku=9951203&cm_ven=PLA&cm_cat=MSN&cm_pla=Cooks%27%20Tools%20%3E%20Spatulas%20%26%20Food%20Turners&adlclid=1ada0f99d9971181bed66bb13059bcbf&cm_ite=9951203_458012899&msclkid=1ada0f99d9971181bed66bb13059bcbf

I ordered a Made in USA cast-iron frying pan from Lancaster Cast Iron; it arrived a couple of days ago. I'm tired of non-stick that works for awhile; then becomes stick-more. I've got some excellent Made in USA stainless steel pots & pans. But I'm still working on my fried egg technique. I'd been avoiding Cast Iron because I don't want to deal with babying it, but I'm thinking it may be my fried egg solution. I tried it out yesterday with nice results, but I still need a thinner spatula to work under the eggs to flip or plate 'em. Thus the fish spatula. It's stainless steel, but super thin and just the right flexibility. I'll be trying it out on fried eggs and pancakes during the week.

buy mail order like ebay...Works for me...
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but also from Goodwill and garage sales. We used to have more specialty cooking supply stores near me, but the pandemic seemed to take half of them. The prices were high, but I got a lot of All Clad and Wusthof.

A couple times, the kids got me a gift certificate from Williams-Sonoma. The second time I went (intending to spend some serious money), I was doing rough chores and errands on a really frigid day and was dressed accordingly. Couldn't get anybody to volunteer to wait on me and finally had to chase down and buttonhole somebody. They were ok, once engaged, but the rest of them looked at me like I was a homeless person coming in to get warm. I ordered the thing I needed, went home and used up the rest over the internet and am not asking for that certificate anymore. They can keep their stuff. I'm just not W-S material, I guess.

One of my garage sale finds makes me smile whenever I use it. A stick blender, never used, still in the box. The seller's MIL had given it to her while making it clear that Sonny Boy was not being fed up to MIL's standards. If I'd declined to pay the $5., I think she'd have let me have it for free.