Best of Boston

The expectations were high when Tina Burgos, the fashionista behind Newbury Street boutique Stel’s (RIP), announced she was taking her popular online store to a Needham brick-and-mortar. By any measure, Burgos’s new endeavor has well exceeded the hype, with a tightly curated selection of the same indie designer fashions (clean, classic pieces from Ilana Kohn, minimalist looks from Maryam Nassir Zadeh) we love to shop online, not to mention an expanded home-goods section. Something else the Needham store has that the website doesn’t? Burgos herself, who often plays hostess to her loyal shoppers.