10 Classic New York Hotels: From Luxury to Boutique
Whether you book a suite in one of New York’s fanciest hotels alongside Central Park, a quirky room in an offbeat boutique property,…
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It’s no secret that New York City is a global fashion capital, but when it comes to finding the best places to shop, it can feel like the city’s keeping a well-guarded secret.
But as a New York tour guide, I’m all for sharing our secrets to make your trip better. So read on. These are my top suggestions for the best possible shopping expeditions in New York City. Because in New York, shopping is just as much a cultural experience as hitting up a museum, seeing a show on Broadway, or visiting the Statue of Liberty.
Why shop in New York?
Shopping is one of the best ways to explore New York.
Below, I’ll give you a neighborhood breakdown where you can find both the classic stores as well as newer and lesser-known places to shop in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Hopefully, these tips will encourage you to explore these neighborhoods. If they do, I can guarantee you’ll have both a great time shopping and getting to know another part of our city.
New York’s stores and boutiques are always keeping up with the trends with hard-to-find options at every taste and price level. We’ve got department stores, secondhand and vintage shops, indie designer ateliers, markets with handmade accessories, and the flagships of global luxury fashion brands.
Did you forget to pack something? Did you score an unexpected fancy restaurant reservation, and you want to walk in looking like you own the room? Did you spot a New Yorker strutting around in something cool and need to track it down before you head home?
Don’t worry — I’ve got you covered on destinations for every item on your wishlist.
1. SoHo, Manhattan
What was once an artists’ haven has now morphed into the biggest and most eclectic collection of shops and boutiques in all five boroughs.
Fun fact: SoHo stands for “South of Houston Street” (pronounced “How-ston”).
Starting with the main drag on Broadway, you can find the classic New York department store Bloomingdale’s nestled in a historical landmark building right across the street from every teenager’s obsession, Brandy Melville.
Think of the stretch of Broadway from Houston Street to Canal Street as a great American mall filled with familiar, affordable stores like H&M, Zara, Uniqlo, and Sephora, as well as a few local, family-owned surprises like Pearl River Mart, which has been selling Chinatown-style clothing, souvenirs, housewares, snacks, and art since the 1970s. It also has an art gallery on-site.
To the west of Broadway, you’ll find Prince and Spring streets crossing with Mercer, Greene, Wooster, and West Broadway. In this area, each block is packed with cast-iron buildings originally meant for manufacturing but now light-filled, elegant homes to global luxury brands like Burberry, Louis Vuitton, Jaquemus, Ralph Lauren, Celine, and more.
The nicest surprise in this retail zone is a brick-and-mortar location of the beloved secondhand online store, The Real Real, which boasts a collection of designer pieces from across the greatest seasonal collections in history at prices that will make you scream. In a good way.
To the east of Broadway, you’ll want to head toward Lafayette and Spring streets and then aimlessly wander to the boutiques along Mulberry, Mott, and Elizabeth streets for more of a style over label shopping experience.
Some New York locals will tell you you’ve left SoHo and entered NoLita (North of Little Italy) but I say this is SoHo in shopping spirit and a must-visit zone! The stores over here are a mix of hyper-local designers like Min & Mon or ALD, aka Aime Leon Dore, the much-hyped local lifestyle brand that often has a line around the block to get in.
SoHo is truly the No. 1 go-to place for shopping, culture, and an inspiring walk in New York. Plan to spend a lot of time, steps, and dollars worshipping at the altar of retail here.
2. The Oculus, Financial District, Manhattan
New York’s transportation hub, The Oculus, isn’t just for commuters.
It’s also a standout collection of shops and eateries, featuring over 78,000 square feet of retail space in the central atrium alone. Some 12 subway lines, as well as the PATH train from New Jersey, converge here, allowing this to be either a destination or a stopover shopping experience.
Among its winding halls and pathways, guests will find an additional 290,000 square feet of coffee shops, beauty, and clothing stores. Its indoor location makes it a prime spot in the rain, heat, or snow.
If you’re looking to pick up something quick, like sunscreen or a phone charger, they’ve got a Walgreens and an Apple store. Worn out your shoes walking the streets of New York sooner than you expected? Here, you’ve got Cole Haan and Sam Edelman for new kicks. And you don’t need an excuse to stop into lovely places like M.A.C., John Varvatos, Kate Spade, or (my personal favorite) & Other Stories.
Part of several buildings that make up the new World Trade Center complex, the Oculus stands at the corner of the site and was designed to resemble a dove of peace, with white wings bursting from either side. Even without shopping, the building itself is worth a visit.
Local tip: The building’s orientation aligns with the sun’s angles on every September 11, from 8:46 a.m., when the first plane struck the first of the Twin Towers, until 10:28 a.m., when the second tower fell, making it a meaningful addition to the 9/11 footprint.
Brookfield Place
Still need more shopping? You can head over to Brookfield Place, another indoor shopping plaza on the Hudson River nearby. You will also find yourself very close to Trinity Church, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Staten Island Ferry, and the departure point for visiting the Statue of Liberty.
South Street Seaport
What — you’re still not done shopping in the Financial District? Then you need to visit South Street Seaport.
Reopened after the destruction of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the South Street Seaport is still renovating and expanding more than a decade later. Half the fun in visiting is to stroll along at a casual pace. Boasting the best scenery of anywhere on this list, South Street Seaport is magical on a sunny afternoon. While you’re there, be sure to stop by one of their many unique restaurants or the Fulton Stall Market (an outpost for local farmers and food vendors). As long as the weather is on your side, you’ll have a wonderful time.
3. The Lower East Side, Manhattan
On the east side of Lower Manhattan, opposite of SoHo and below Houston, is the Lower East Side. This neighborhood has been local New Yorkers’ destination retail hub since pushcarts filled the streets in the 1890s.
The main drag is Orchard Street (an actual former apple orchard owned by the Delancy Family in the 1700s) is the best place to begin your adventure. Here you can see both historic, family-owned institutions like Orchard Street Corset and Moscot Eyewear, and contemporary, trendy hidden gems like Big Bud Press.
From Orchard Street, you can walk around between Houston to Broome from North to South, and Allen Street to Clinton Street from West to East. Unlike SoHo, the shop names you see here probably won’t be as familiar. You’re more likely to find unique brands and tiny vintage boutiques.
This shopping strip of the Lower East Side features a good selection of shops for food and dining options, as well two (yes, two!) phenomenal, one-of-a-kind candy shops — Economy Candy and Bon-Bon.
Save some time to check out the Tenement Museum on Orchard Street, which reveals immigrant stories of early New York. It’s one of the best experiential museums in the city that, coincidentally, also has one of the best gift shops.
4. The Meatpacking District and Chelsea Market
It may sound odd to hear the words meatpacking and fashion together, but believe it or not, what was once the city’s industrial meat processing zone is now the home of high-end stores like Rag & Bone. (Get it?)
Today, the Meatpacking District is one of the trendiest places in all of NYC. This small corner of New York starts near the High Line around West 14th Street and 10th Avenue and winds down the unusually curved and cobblestoned streets of the West Village. You’ll find stores from designers like Diane Von Furstenburg and Alice + Olivia.
Be sure to make a stop at the Chelsea Market. This 1890s Nabisco Factory was turned into a shopping center and food market in the 1990s. The market is great for passionate foodies, but the building also houses beloved clothing store Anthropologie and an elegant Japanese Muji store.
I think the best reason to go is an area of the market near the 10th Avenue entrance that’s called “Artist and Fleas,” which rents tables to local independent artists and designers to sell their goods without needing a whole store. I got myself an NYC subway token necklace there a few years ago, so I can personally assure you that it’s great for unusual and stylish New York souvenirs.
Takeaway: If you’re looking for something truly original, affordable, and very New York — this may be one of the best places to shop.
While you’re in the area, you may also want to check out the stunning High Line and head all the way up to Hudson Yards, where there’s a whole mall full of stores to check out.
5. Fifth and Madison Avenues, East Side of Manhattan
If you’ve got the luxe taste of iconic New York ladies like Holly Golightly, Charlotte York, or Miranda Priestly, then the east side of Manhattan from Midtown up to the Upper East Side can be your fashion fantasy shopping spree come true.
You can also think of it as a “museum of fashion” where you can see some of the most expensive and beautiful clothing in person and even try some of it on.
Starting near Rockefeller Center at Fifth Avenue and 50th you’ll find one of New York’s oldest and most elegant department stores: Saks Fifth Avenue. Next, head uptown on Fifth, hitting all the most important and storied shops in the city — Tiffany & Co., Bergdorf Goodman, Louis Vuitton, and more.
As you continue past Central Park, you’ll eventually hit the 15-block strip from 57th Street to 72nd that boasts familiar designers such as Ralph Lauren, Mulberry, Calvin Klein, Kate Spade, Prada, Chanel, and Giorgio Armani. And there are also equally elegant brands that are less known like Veronica Beard, Paige, and Reformation.
My take? The window shopping opportunity alone is worth the trip. These are some of the highest price tags in the city, but on any nice day, and especially in December, these window displays are almost a museum of New York fashion.
This shopping district also happens to include The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which has a fantastic collection of fashion art and hosts the Vogue Magazine Met Gala — arguably the most important fashion event of the year.
6. Williamsburg, Brooklyn
While every other tourist is rushing to the Brooklyn Bridge and DUMBO, you can sneak off to Williamsburg, which is the trendiest and most eclectic shopping area in New York City.
Take the L Train out to Bedford and you’ll find yourself in a bustling retail zone with a Sephora and Apple store. But walk toward the water, pass the Madewell, the Levi’s, and Le Labo, and you’ll discover adorable Brooklyn boutiques like Catbird for jewelry, Lief for housewares, and the Seven Wonders Collective for clothing. This neighborhood also has brick-and-mortar locations of favorite DTC online brands like Brooklinen, Glossier, and Everlane.
Every store is as Instagrammable as the items you can buy, and this area has some of the hippest vintage stores and street fashion in the whole city. There’s a fantastic neighborhood Buffalo Exchange, as well as Regeneration, Vaux Vintage and Plus BKLYN, to name just a few. The people of Williamsburg also dress stylishly themselves, which you’ll notice as you walk around, and these are the very people selling their amazing clothes to these secondhand shops.
Local tip: Even if you don’t buy anything, take a coffee break in McCarren Park and people-watch for some outfit inspiration.
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