Art students, their teachers and a panoply of similar folk long ago transformed Sam Flax Art & Design Store into an Atlanta retail landmark. The company bills itself as the place "where creative people shop." After decades on Spring Street in downtown Atlanta, the store relocated to its current address in 1986.

Its extensive selection in many categories--from writing and drawing utensils to furniture--makes the place feel like a department store, albeit of a sharply focused sort. Sam Flax is a multi-generation family business and also an authorized Herman Miller (of Aeron chair fame) repair center.