CLIPBOARD : DISCOVERY : THE RAND MCNALLY STORE

Travelers looking for “best bets” books, street maps and other guides to their destinations now have a place in Orange County to stop before they go.

“We carry the world,” said Guita Mahmoudi, assistant manager of the new Rand McNally store in South Coast Plaza.

The atlas publisher’s new outlet is one of just nine in the country and the first in a mall. Its other stores are located in the financial districts of San Francisco, New York, Chicago (which has two stores), Philadelphia, Cleveland, Washington and Boston.

According to Mahmoudi, Rand McNally chose South Coast Plaza specifically “because it was a good mall to be in.”

The guidebooks and atlases that have made Rand McNally a household name are available, of course, as well as books listing hotel and restaurant recommendations and describing the history of numerous regions.

“We have about 20 books on each country . . . and 2,500-plus maps,” Mahmoudi said. “We have 60 different maps of California cities alone.”

Regional topographical maps are also available, some of which focus on communities such as Laguna Hills or Mission Viejo.

“We have access to almost everything,” Mahmoudi said. “If we don’t carry it, we will almost certainly be able to find it for you.”

Another section of the store includes educational toys for children.

“The world is becoming so small, and we hear over and over again about how geography just isn’t being taught in school,” she said. “People who want their children to learn these things must teach them at home.”

Hours: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday; 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday (the store will extend its hours during the holiday season)

Address: 3333 Bristol St., Costa Mesa (in South Coast Plaza, second level, near Bullock’s and Rizzoli’s Book Store)

Telephone: (714) 545-9907