Best of Boston

Time was, Sari Brown’s designer handbag mecca LuxCouture displayed its wallet-emptying wares only on its website. That all changed last fall with the opening of her temporary showroom, where at last devotees could actually put their hands on that Michael Teperson stingray clutch or Velvetine hobo—stroking the luxurious leather, trying on a style in the mirror or begging a fellow bag addict to model it for them (seriously, it happens). Now, with the opening of a bigger, permanent LuxCouture store in Newton Highlands this month, we’re bracing for epic contact highs.