Psst! As any Zelda/FF veteran knows, the best items cannot be found in stores.
(Or, at least, stores known to the rest of the community.)
*hijacks thread*
Has anyone ever given a character proficiency points in spears? There are some kickass spears in SoA/ToB, even without Item Upgrade installed. You can get a +3 spear before Chapter 4, in fact. More people should use spears!