Jack's post about buttonholes takes me back to my childhood. (Like in the late '60s)
Mum was an UberSeamstress doing everything from alterations through tailored suits to wedding parties. She used to go to this old place that did buttons. Not much else, buttons, buttonholes, covering of buttons. They were up about five floors in an old buliding down a lane here in Melbourne. You used to go in this ancient lift like the one in Thoroughly Modern Millie. We used to tap dance in it for fun.(Or to hide our fear that the creaking contraption might break down) Anyway she'd take her pattern pieces and get the buttonholes professionally done.
They had boxes and boxes of buttons in a fairly small room with shelves way up to the ceiling. They knew what buttons were in each box. Funiest thing was when one of the shop assistants climbed a ladder to get the particular box down for Mum, slipped a bit and showered the whole shop with dozens and dozens of buttons. Do such shops still exist I wonder?