Best Stores For Swimsuits In The East Bay

Swimwear (credit: Matt King/Getty Images)

If you're heading for the pool or you're heading out of town, it could be time for some swimsuit shopping. As tricky as it may be to find a great look combined with a great fit, this is an item that you really want to try on before you buy. Find out where there's a good selection in your neck of the woods.

Men, women and children wanting a comfortable fit for sport and fitness will be attracted to a wide selection of Arena, Dolfin, FINIS, Nike, Speedo, TYR and The Finals brands in the training suit category. A handy online sizing chart breaks measurements down by brand. If you need the kit and accessories for competition, water polo or team swims, such as custom caps, bags, warmups and goggles, even starter blocks, you can find it all here.

Passionate about sports, the staff at this shop knows what its talking about. Staff members swim, play soccer and tennis, run marathons, compete in cross country and track and field. Their impressive bios are posted online -- inspiring enough to get anybody into the water. Shop at this running and swimming specialty store founded in 1982 to get assistance from experts who get it. This is where they like to say that fabric, function and fit matter as well as prints and patterns. A second location is in Berkeley's Solano Avenue shopping district.

Swimsuits available all year round is the first good thing about this family-run store. The second good thing is that it is open seven days a week. The third good thing is the inventory that spans fashion brands such as La Blanca as well as sport brands such as Jantzen. Best of all, this is a mom and pop independent sports specialty store. In business since 1957, that tells you that Montclair Sports is doing a lot of things awfully well.

Find Lori's Swim & Sun in the Moraga Shopping Center, located dangerously close to Loard's Ice Cream shop. This store is more about prepping your tan for day one on vacation and finding the perfect bikini, tankini or one-piece to flatter your figure. The racks are chock full with suits, coverups and sandals. It's a family business of life-long residents operating since 1996. Working to outfit the local swim teams, they're specialists in Speedo suits, too.

Dominique Ansari is a fashion designer of handmade dresses and swimwear based out of an appointment-only studio in San Ramon. Featured in fashion week runways and seen on the red carpet, Dominique's body con styling is fluid and sexy and made-to-measure. You'll not see the same suit elsewhere. View the look book of swimwear online or at her Etsy shop, and get in touch directly to discuss your own bold vision.

Laurie Jo Miller Farr loves walkable cities. A tourism industry professional and transplanted New Yorker by way of half-a-lifetime in London, she's writing about the best of the bay and beyond for Yahoo, USA Today, eHow, and on Examiner.com.