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New York Shopping Guide
The Village
Welcome to Greenwich Village. This is an area worth exploring for
its hidden stores and treasures.
Century 21
Surviving the World Trade Center attack, "New York's Best Kept
Secret," Century 21 is the department store where you can find
some of the best bargains in the city with 15 departments of top
quality and designer merchandise at 40% to 70% off retail prices!
FAO Schwarz
a wonderland of toys! 767 Fifth Avenue (58th St.)
(212) 644-9400
Upon entering FAO Schwarz, you are greeted by the 3-story clock
tower singing "Welcome to Our World of Toys." The adventure
is about to begin! Frederick August Otto Schwarz opened his "Toy
Bazaar" in NYC in 1870. His prosperous business finally brought
him to 745 Fifth Avenue, across the street from this location where
Bergdorf-Goodman Men's Shop is now located.
Woodbury Common Premium Outlets
498 Red Apple Court
Central Valley, NY
(845) 928-4000
Over 220 designer stores populate this hamlet of shopping in upstate
New York. Located about 1 hour from Manhattan, Woodbury Common is
a shopaholic's dream - designer clothing at bargain prices.
Shopping Midtown
Just around the corner from Midtown hotels, many of the world’s
greatest retailers lure sophisticated shoppers.
Bloomingdale's
1000 Third Avenue
(between 59th & 60th Streets)
212.705.2000
that New York institution at Lexington Avenue and 59th Street, is
perhaps the city’s most trendsetting department store. Dating
back more than a century, Bloomie’s is invariably packed with
shoppers. In the sixties and the seventies, the store catered to
young, affluent Eastsiders, but soon shifted its emphasis from merely
reflecting Eastsiders’ taste to actually setting it. Nothing
much has changed today — except for Bloomingdale’s even
loftier heights of savvy.
Macy's
In busy Herald Square, the intersection of Broadway and Sixth Avenue
at 34th Street, stands one of NYC's most famous icons of shopping
- Macy's Department Store.
Since 1902, Macy's Herald Square is one of the last turn-of-the-century
department stores in existence.
Saks Fifth Avenue
611 Fifth Avenue (at 50th Street)
212-753-4000
One of the most famous retailers in the world, this elegant department
store has been dressing the well-heeled since 1902.
Fifth Avenue
Remember those long-ago lyrics praising Fifth Avenue’s Easter
parade? “On the avenue, Fifth Avenue, the photographers will
snap us. . . .”? This grand avenue, from the mid-Thirties to
the low Sixties, captured American imaginations earlier this century
as a household word connoting elegance. Today, the most prestigious
names in fashion, including Tiffany and St. John, still line the
thoroughfare. You’ll find a wide variety of shopping choices,
including Saks Fifth Avenue, Henri Bendel, Bergdorf Goodman and
Trump Tower, in addition to landmarks such as St. Patrick’s
Cathedral and Rockefeller Center. Near here is the world-renowned
Christie’s Auction House. Also on the Avenue are Wempe’s,
The NBA Store and Michael C. Fina. Extensive renovations at Saks
have added new sparkle to the historic building, and Henri Bendel,
always elegant, is now in its opulent new quarters at 55th Street.
The pretty vest-pocket parks and atriums nearby are delightful havens
where you can sit and rest while soaking up the atmosphere.
57th Street
Come to New York and relax? But of course. Browsing is a joy in
this Midtown neighborhood, where scores of bookstores and galleries
line the blocks just off Fifth Avenue. Can’t live on books
and art alone? The shops on 57th Street, from Second to Seventh
avenues, offer plenty of alternatives — antiques, fashion,
jewelry and crystal, all state-of-the-art themselves. You’ll
recognize Burberry, Chanel, Hermès, Escada, Ann Taylor and
Charivari, among others. Would you expect less from a street whose
most prestigious edifice is Carnegie Hall? In addition to the Russian
Tea Room (as much a New York icon as Carnegie Hall), several hip
restaurants rev up the pace of this creative district.
Park Avenue and Environs
On Park Avenue, that strip of well-trimmed greenery — hardly
a park, but enough of one to justify the avenue’s name —
and those gleaming towers and grand apartment houses belie an underlying
truth. The tracks of Cornelius Vanderbilt’s New York Central
Railroad run right down the center of it, underground and out of
sight, of course. Above ground, the only track in evidence is the
fast-track of this elegant boulevard and its environs. A haven of
antique and art galleries, Park Avenue shops also offer apparel,
jewelry, luggage, electronics, china and more. One of many notable
boutiques is Scully & Scully. Neighborhood landmarks include
the fashionable Waldorf=Astoria, with its art deco design, and the
remarkable St. Bartholomew’s Church, where Sunday concerts
provide a great opportunity to check out the interior of the magnificent
building.
All That Glitters
The pace — and the pulse — quickens on 47th Street, between
Fifth Avenue and Avenue of the Americas. In the Diamond District,
dozens of old-world jewelers deal in diamonds, precious stones and
metals of all quality levels.
New York’s renowned designer showrooms, open only to the trade,
are found on Seventh Avenue between 34th and 42nd streets. This
intriguing aspect of New York’s fashion industry is worth a
look.
At 39th Street, just down Seventh Avenue from Times Square, a statue
of a tailor at a sewing machine marks the entrance to the Garment
District, the largest area for clothing manufacture in the United
States. The energy here is great — racks of clothes and trolleys
overflowing with bolts of cloth are wheeled in and out of buildings,
across roads — and sometimes almost over pedestrians! The Fur
District (between 27th and 30th streets) is its own bustling enclave
of activity where rich furs and pelts add to the opulence.
Department Stories
Macy’s, on Herald Square at the intersection of Sixth Avenue
and West 34th Street, is one of the world’s largest, most famous
department stores. People expect to be able to buy anything at Macy’s
— and they very nearly can. For a top-notch shopping center,
the Manhattan Mall, on Sixth Avenue and 33rd Street, can’t
be beat. Its seven levels and 90 specialty shops offer yet another
opportunity for a satisfying shopping experience. You may recognize
the exterior of the building as the venerable Gimbel’s, Macy’s
chief competitor for 80 years.
Shopping Uptown
Shopping is at its best in the lovely residential neighborhoods
on the east and west sides of town, from 58th to 98th streets.
Upper East Side
Madison Avenue
A bastion of elegance, Madison Avenue is so fashionable, so chic,
so continental that even its renowned advertising agencies have
a hard time describing it. This delightful thoroughfare is easily
on a par with the Rue du Faubourg in Paris. The most prestigious
names in fashion make their home here — Ralph Lauren, Yves
Saint Laurent, Giorgio Armani and Gianni Versace, to name a few,
along with elegant Barneys, which carries many of the famed lines.
Art galleries, neighborhood boutiques and cafes also line the avenue.
Lexington and Third
Full of interesting shops and cafes, these avenues bustle with local
residents frequenting neighborhood boutiques and restaurants. The
Citicorp Center (153 E. 53rd St. and Lexington Ave.) is where you’ll
find Houston’s, Barnes & Noble, Market Café, Citibank
ATMs and more.
Upper West Side
Columbus Avenue
If you head north along Columbus Avenue from Lincoln Center (at
West 65th Street) into the seventies and low eighties, you’ll
discover the sights, sounds and shopping delights of this lively
area. The revitalized thoroughfares of Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway,
as well as Columbus, offer lovely small shops, antique galleries,
toy stores, children’s apparel and more. You’ll be in
good company if you stop here for a cappuccino at one of the cafes,
browse in some of the excellent bookstores, or plan dinner at any
of the scores of good restaurants. And speaking of gourmet food,
a cornucopia of outstanding delicacies from patés to fresh
baked goods spills forth at Zabar’s, an Upper West Side landmark.
Flea Markets
The latest trend in shopping occurs year round at Manhattan’s
popular indoor/outdoor flea markets and city-sponsored farmers markets.
Check out the Greenflea Flea Market (212-721-0900) on Saturday on
the East Side at E. 67th, between First and York avenues (6 a.m.
to 6 p.m.); on Sunday, on the Upper West Side, Columbus Avenue at
W. 77th Street (10 a.m. to 6 p.m.). Merchandise runs the gamut from
antiques and collectibles, books, prints and records to Hollywood
and American memorabilia, crafts and more.
Shopping Downtown
No area of New York has increased in style, ambience and popularity
in recent years as has Lower Manhattan, now at the cutting edge
of art, fashion and dining.
Flatiron District
Wonderful old buildings are the order of the day on and around Fifth
Avenue from 14th to 23rd streets — and the good news is they’re
brimming with one-of-a-kind shops and unusual merchandise.
Chelsea
West of the Flatiron District, this neighborhood is the home of
the city’s main flower market, so sidewalks can sometimes take
on the appearance of lush gardens. And there’s a lot going
on in addition to the roses: A new generation of entrepreneurs is
converting the stately buildings of old into trendy boutiques, making
Chelsea a new must-see on any New York City shopping tour.
Greenwich Village
In the West Village, tree-lined streets are home to fine and funky
boutiques, and popular restaurants and clubs that cater to a young,
hip crowd. On the major shopping streets — Bleecker, Broadway
and Eighth — you’ll find everything from antiques to trendy
fashions. The human-scale architecture and pleasant jumble of building
styles add to the “village” feel of this easy-going community.
At Washington Square, students from nearby New York University mingle
with local residents.
SoHo
The neighborhood South of Houston Street (hence the acronym SoHo)
is a favorite haunt of locals and visitors alike — the magnetic
energy of West Broadway, the so-called Fifth Avenue of SoHo, is
hard to resist. And on Spring, Prince, Greene, Mercer and Wooster
streets, avant-garde fashion, art, lifestyle galleries and restaurants
are housed in handsome buildings from the 1850s. The newest neighborhood
landmark, the Guggenheim Museum’s SoHo branch, is located at
575 Broadway in a redbrick structure that maintains the original
cast-iron storefront façades.
TriBeCa
Another neighborhood with an acronym, TriBeCa (the Triangle Below
Canal Street) rates raves for ambience. Loft living here combines
with light commercial activity, and the area abounds with boutiques,
art galleries and restaurants. Canal Street, which marks TriBeCa’s
northern boundary, is a bustling casbah of bargain retail outlets.
Chinatown
Welcome to the largest Chinese community outside the Orient and
a delightful cross-cultural experience. Chinese, Thai, Malay, Burmese
and Vietnamese nationals all call this area home. On Mott Street,
small specialty stores abut restaurants, and street vendors abound.
More than 200 restaurants are here in New York’s most ethnically
distinctive neighborhood.
Little Italy
Mulberry Street north of Canal is lined with shops selling wonderful
Italian foods — and that’s not to mention the superb Italian
restaurants in the neighborhood. Probably the greatest concentration
of regional cuisine outside Italy is here — let your nose guide
you.
Lower East Side
The shops and emporia of the Lower East Side offer a glimpse of
New York’s immigrant roots. In the bargain district encompassing
Orchard, Grand, Delancey and the adjoining streets, more than 400
stores and boutiques offer designer fashions and famous-maker merchandise
at large discounts. On Sunday, bargain hunters descend in a retail
frenzy to paw through the discount merchandise — an only-in-New
York experience.
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