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For slightly older trendinistas, the huge Diesel “planet”—the fourth in that denim megastar’s galaxy, after Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Milan—boasts 700 styles of denim, plus watches, bags, accessories, and the like (Fifth at 54th; # 212-755-3555; www.diesel.com). The three-figure-sneaker set will glory in the multistory Niketown, on 57th east of Fifth (# 212-891-6453; www.nike.com), and the NBA store, on Fifth at 52nd (# 212-515-6221; www.nba.com/nycstore).
Though several Original Levi’s Stores can be found around the city, the showcase branch is on Broadway, in Times Square at 44th Street (# 212-944-8555; www.levisstore.com). But that’s nothing compared with the four-story Toys“R”Us store across Broadway (# 646-366-8800 or 800-869-7787; www.toysrus.com/timessquare), with its 60-foot- high Ferris wheel and Lego versions of the Empire State and Chrysler buildings. The ESPN Zone, on Broadway at 42nd Street, is like a living page of box scores with a built-in menu and playground (# 212-921- 3776; www.espnzone.com/newyork). The NBC Experience Store in Rockefeller Center is stocked with T-shirts, mugs, and caps from The Tonight Show, Saturday Night Live, and other entertainments.
The newest versions of catalog stores are electronics boutiques, most notably the Sony Style Store, on Madison Avenue at 56th Street (# 212-833-8800; www.sonystyle.com); the Porsche Design Store, on Madison near 59th Street, which includes not only autos but also such über-lifestyle accoutrements as Ferragamo luggage (# 212-308- 1786; www.porsche-design.com); and the stunning glass cube on Fifth Avenue between 58th and 59th streets that marks the site of the first 24-7 Apple Store (# 212-336-1440; www.apple.com/retail).
And because more and more restaurants have their own in-house merchandise stores, check out the (Sixth Avenue and 57th; # 212-541-9505; www.jekyllandhydeclub.com), Planet Hollywood (Broadway and 45th; # 212-333-7827; www.planethollywood
.com), and the Hard Rock Cafe (1501 Broadway between 43rd and 44th; # 212-343-3355; www.hardrock.com).
Of course, if your particular brand loyalty lies with a famous designer, you’re headed uptown, so see the following sections on Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue.
GREAT NEIGHBORHOODS for SHOPPING
W I N D O W S O N T H E W O R L D : F I F T H A V E N U E
A V E RY F E W S T R E E T S have stores and window displays so famous that they don’t even need city names attached. Rodeo Drive. The Champs-Élysées. Via Veneto. And Fifth Avenue.
Fifth Avenue was nicknamed “Millionaires’ Row” at the turn of 
the century, when the Vanderbilts, Astors, and Goulds all built
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palaces for themselves along the road, and it’s never quite given up that expensive spirit. A few of the 19th-century mansions are still standing, and the churches of the area give you an idea of the luxury such tycoons expected even in their houses of worship. (Remember that Fifth Avenue is the east–west dividing line, and don’t let addresses on the numbered streets confuse you. Cartier, on Fifth at East 52nd Street, faces Juicy Couture, at West 52nd.)
To get a sense of both the retail and historical beauties of Midtown, start 49th Street and head north on Fifth Avenue toward Central Park. On your left sits Rockefeller Center, which fills the blocks between Fifth and Sixth avenues and West 48th and 51st streets and incorporates Radio City Music Hall and the NBC Studios.
Notice the gilded gods of industry on the facades.
Across the street is Saks Fifth Avenue, and in the next block is St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which was designed by James Renwick Jr. and completed in 1878. Above that, you’ll see Armani A/X, Jimmy Choo, H.Stern, Versace, and the elaborate facade of the famous jeweler Cartier at the corner of East 52nd, one of the few turn-of-the-20th- century mansions still intact. (Legend has it that the original owner traded the house to Pierre Cartier for a string of pearls.) Walk on past
Rolex, St. John, Brooks Brothers, Ermenegildo Zegna, and Ferragamo.
The French Gothic St. Thomas Church, at the corner of Fifth and 53rd, was completed in 1913; the University Club, at 54th, was built in 1899 by Charles McKim (a partner of Stanford White’s) in imitation of Italian palazzi. McKim also designed what is now the Banco de Napoli across the street. The Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, built in 1875, was where the Roosevelts, Auchinclosses, and Wolcotts worshipped, helping give it the reputation of having the city’s most influential congregation.
Now the credit-card boutiques begin to thicken: Fendi, Zara, Takashimaya, and Gucci around East 54th; Pucci, Hugo Boss, Henri Bendel, and Prada. The huge, new all-glass Giorgio Armani flagship store at 56th is four floors and 43,000 square feet, enough to hold all of his various lines plus a bar and restaurant.
This is one of the major bling junctions in the country. De Beers,
the first name in diamonds (it invented the phrase “A diamond is forever”), has opened an American flagship store at Fifth and 55th (# 212-906-0001; www.debeers.com); one of its neighbors is
Wempe, the biggest name in authorized Rolex sales. Harry Winston, diamond designer to the rich and famous, is on Fifth at West 56th, and the other three famous “Four Carat” neighbors, Tiffany, Van Cleef & Arpels, and Bulgari, are all at the intersection of 57th, along with Mikimoto and Piaget. And while Omega may not be Rolex, its new boutique at 56th has a museum collection, including JFK’s 1960 18K timepiece, that makes it worth a stop.
Above 57th, look for Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Chanel, and Fendi. Norma Kamali is just around the corner on 56th.
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Bergdorf Goodman and Bergdorf Goodman Men fill the blocks from West 57th to 58th. And as you get near the bottom of Central Park, where Fifth meets 58th Street, look over to your right and you’ll see FAO Schwarz, one of the most famous toy stores in the world, the flagship and the outdoor “set” of the CBS Early Show.
C L O T H I N G O N T H E H I G H S I D E : T H E E A S T S I D E
I F YO U L OV E T H AT C O U T U R E L O O K but don’t have time to fly to
Paris or Rome, relax. These days, the signs along Madison Avenue from the 60s to the 90s read like satellite transmissions from Europe’s runway centers, with just enough American and international designer boutiques to keep you grounded.
Start walking east along 57th Street from Fifth unofficial T I P Avenue, and you will see the signs for Louis Vuit-
ton, Christian Dior, Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Montblanc, Burberry, Coach, and another Prada.
Turn left at the corner onto Madison and you’ll see Tourneau, one of a handful of Manhattan branches of that high-end watch temple, and Sermoneta, where you can get gloves fancy enough to frame that expensive timepiece.
Here’s a sampling of what you’ll see in the next ten blocks of Madison Avenue: Emporio Armani, DKNY, Lara Marks, Anne Klein, the
Calvin Klein flagship at East 60th, custom shirtmaker Borrelli and Italian shoemaker Tod’s, Hermès, Raymond Weil, Luca Luca, Ivanka Trump,
Anne Fontaine, Lalique and Haviland, Thos. Moser, Shanghai Tang, David Yurman, Jimmy Choo, Krizia, Valentino, BCBG Max Azaria, Paul & Shark (the nautically minded Italian sportswear company), Porsche,
Baccarat, Fratelli, Jil Sander, Bulgari, Oscar de la Renta, Fred Leighton, Nicole Miller (who is to ties as the New Yorker is to cartoons), the nearly as popular Robert Talbott, Emanuel Ungaro, Kenzo, Moschino, Davide Cenci, Issey Miyake, and Frette, producer of the finest Martha- and-then-some Italian linens.
The fur starts to fly around here: Dennis Basso may not be a household name, but if you’re a diva the likes of Liza or Janet or Diana, you might be buying his over-the-top fur creations (Madison between 65th and 66th; # 212-794-4500; www.dennisbasso.com). Just below 64th, J. Mendel (# 212-832-5830; www.jmendel.com) has taken up the challenge of draping Beyoncé and J.Lo in luxury.
Some of these shops are almost sightseeing destinations. At the northwest corner of West 65th and Madison, the Giorgio Armani boutique is a stunning white four-story showplace that resembles the National Gallery’s East Building. Isaac Mizrahi has a new store at the corner of 67th Street that houses all of his various lines together. Dolce & Gabbana, at Madison and 69th, is 7,000 square feet of recently renovated, retro-rococo chic. And Ralph Lauren has four floors of Polo clothing, accessories, and home luxuries in a massive 1890s French
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Renaissance Revival mansion on the west side of Madison between 71st and 72nd streets, along with a whole second building full of baby and kids’ Polo, plus his weathered-look RRL line.
Feel like window-shopping for another ten blocks? Above 68th Street are the complete ready-to-wear collections of Alessandro
Dell’Acqua, Cartier, Oilily, Calypso Christiane Celle, Max Mara, Malo
(the European cashmere king), Donna Karan, Chloé, and yet another Prada boutique. If you’re crazy for natural fibers or custom-woven linens, it’s dueling designer labels: the Italian Pratesi versus the French D. Porthault. Next in succession, on Madison between 70th and 71st streets, are the marquees of ex–Gucci head designer
tian Dior, Jimmy Choo, Morgane le Fay, Vera Wang, Eileen Fisher, Sonia Rykiel, and Santoni, of handmade-Italian-footwear fame. Keep going past Carolina Herrera, Michael Kors, Larry Gargosian, and Missoni. Nor is that nearly the end of the strip—in fact, the stores will hold out longer than your feet are likely to.
Not surprisingly the Upper East Side has also spawned a cluster of “pre-owned fashion” boutiques: see the section on consignment and vintage clothing in “Specialty Shopping,” page 384. Also see the sections on shopping on the Lower East Side and NoLita.
CLOTHING ON THE HIP SIDE: SOHO AND LITTLE ITALY
FA S H I O N - A N D / O R B A RG A I N - C O N S C I O U S V I S I TO R S have a great
reason to explore the SoHo area, even aside from the street theater.
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surroundings are big boutique territory, so |
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Eddie Bauer, Club Monaco, and, yes, J.Crew) |
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ing SoHo can be fun, but you can stay relatively well oriented by picking a few streets to concentrate on, at least to stat.
For example: along and just off Mercer from Grand Street north to West Houston, you see such familiar names as
Vivienne Tam, Hugo Boss, Kate Spade, Marc Jacobs, Ted Baker London, and milliner Kelly Christy. Down near Grand, Pearl River stocks decorating imports of the sort the original Pier 1s used to: Asian scrolls, oversized birdcages, parasols, and lantern lights.
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Jack Spade, the men’s store founded by Kate’s husband (whose name is actually Andy), is on Greene Street, along with the likes of
Anna Sui, Louis Vuitton, Jill Stuart, Moss, Nicole Miller, Kirna Zabête (a smart and eclectic collection of independent designers), and custom shirtmakers Seize sur Vingt. Greene Street also houses one of two SoHo shoe stores that footsore tourists might want to look into: Glory Chen (# 212-677-2938; www.joychen.com), between Prince and Houston streets, showcases footwear that is both striking and comfortable from designer Joy Chen and others.
West Broadway offers plenty of familiar uptown names, including Emporio Armani, Oska, Max Azria, Oilily, Dolce & Gabbana, Elie
Tahari, DKNY, Missoni, Links of London, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Eileen Fisher, Sportmax (the upscale-casual line from Max Mara), and Coach. This is where you’ll find the other intriguing shoe store: Onesole, between Prince and Spring (# 212-219-8595; www.onesole
.com), which offers comfortable wedge sandals with interchangeable snap-on tops, so that one pair of shoes becomes a wardrobe.
One of SoHo’s big draws always was the size of the former warehouses, and it still is—only not so much for artists anymore. However depressing it might be to some residents as evidence of SoHo’s transformation from counterculture to couture counter, the huge Prada flagship at Broadway and Prince Street (# 212-334-8888; www.prada.com) is another of those near-destination buildings: a $40 million, 23,000-square-foot loft with computers in the racks, stadium seating in the shoe department, and handbags in the elevators. (And after all, before it was the Guggenheim, the six-story, 160,000-square-foot loft served John Jacob Astor II as a garment-manufacturing and retailing complex.)
Even that’s not the standard for space: the global flagship store of Uniqlo, a half-block down Broadway between Prince and Spring streets (# 917-237-8811; www.uniqlo.com), is the Japanese version of the Gap, only bigger—36,000 square feet—and much, much cooler. Even cooler than that, literally, is the 4,600-square-foot Burton boutique, which specializes in high-tech, brand-name ski equipment, accessories, clothing, and knickknacks—and even has a “cold room” where you can test the chill factor (Spring and Mercer streets; # 212- 966-8070; www.burton.com).
If you have a craving for something more individual, here are some other SoHo shops we like: Carrol Boyes (186 Prince Street, between Wooster and Greene streets; # 212-334-3556; www.carrolboyes online.com) designs metal housewares and utensils of unusual wit and competence. Morgane Le Fay is Liliana Ordas’s splendidly mysterious cave of dresses and capes (67 Wooster Street, between Spring and Broome; # 212-219-7672; www.morganelefay.com). Tokidoki
(176 Spring Street, between Thompson Street and West Broadway;
# 212-334-6021; www.tokidoki.it) stocks bold anime-graphic skateboards and bags. Evolution delves into the animal kingdom (look under “Bones” in “Specialty Shopping,” page 385). And
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(154 Prince, between West Broadway and Thompson; # 212-566- 8977; www.marisaperry.com) makes exquisite jewelry, including custom wedding rings, that are worth the close-up.
And although the home-decor shops are being squeezed by the clothing boutiques (and you aren’t likely to be looking for an Italian Modern sofa, unless you’re about to move to the city), there’s plenty of free style education to be had via showroom windows. (Check out the latest in Japanese toilets at the TOTO Gallery at 25 Mercer.)
With Broadway below Houston becoming such a big retail draw— besides Prada, Uniqlo, and Puma there’s Bloomingdale’s, Old Navy, Adidas,
Ann Taylor, Guess, H&M, Dean & DeLuca, Victoria’s Secret, Swarovski, etc., etc.—it’s not surprising that the not-so-franchise-famous boutique designers are starting to look for space on the other side of the avenue in NoLita and Little Italy (and even the Lower East Side; see next section). In fact, the expansion has led to the strip between Broadway and Lafayette, which used to be considered Little Italy, being “annexed” into SoHo, while Little Italy—which is shrinking as Chinatown swells—has been split into the old section and NoLita above Kenmare.
The main commercial streets in NoLita are Mott and Elizabeth streets, but boutiques here change hands and names pretty quickly, so this is the sort of area you need to be willing to hunt through. However, there are a couple of names savvy fashionistas may want to visit. Even if you confine yourself to the one square block bounded by Prince, Mott, Elizabeth, and Houston, you’ll see plenty of them.
Sigerson Morrison (Kari Sigerson and Miranda Morrison) is a must for Carrie Bradshaw wannabes—unless you already have kid-leather pumps the color of a swashbuckler’s wine and velvet loafers for your dinner jacket. The bigger store is at 28 Prince Street between Elizabeth and Mott (# 212-219-3893; www.sigersonmorrison.com), while the original location at 242 Mott just above Prince is now the home of the secondary collection, Belle by Sigerson Morrison (# 212-941-5404; www
.bellenyc.com).
Project Runway also-ran Emmett McCarthy’s retro-chic dress-and- coat sets are the stars of EMc2 on Elizabeth (he’s generous enough to stock his former rivals’ best as well). Also on
unofficial T I P |
Elizabeth are Me&Ro, for funky one-of-a-kind |
Speaking of Carrie Brad- |
jewelry, sportswear icon Tory Burch, and the |
shaw: Sex and the City |
top-to-bottom (bed linens to blouses) designs |
wardrobe stylist Patricia |
of Erica Tanov. On Prince is INA, a prime source |
Field’s own oversized |
for designer consignments and sell-offs; and on |
“closet” is at 302 Bow- |
Mott check out Lugo shirts, Jaalber jewelers, |
ery, just above Houston |
INA Men, and the ethnic-print, modern-look |
(# 212-966-4066; |
Calypso Christiane Celle. |
NoLita has also become a treasure trove of high-end designer consignment stores and vintage boutiques. Also on Mott, check out Use Your Head, which not
only offers consignments from Dior, Valentino, Christian Lacroix,
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Gianfranco Ferré, and others, but also donates the proceeds to organizations that help the homeless. Almost shoulder to shoulder with Use Your Head are the ultra-modern VeKa and Blue bridal salons, and the celeb-conscious Second Time Around couture consignment store— all just above Prince on Mott Street.
If you can’t find what you’re looking for there, then check out Resurrection, one of New York’s most famous vintage-clothing stores, at Mott just below Prince; its clients tend to be the first-name variety (Paris and Nicole, Lisa Marie, Posh). Also flip through the eponymous fare at Frock on Elizabeth south of Spring Street. There’s more vintage to be seen the Lower East Side; read on.
C L O T H I N G O N T H E B A R G A I N S I D E :
T H E L O W E R E A S T S I D E
T H E L OW E R E A S T S I D E WA S FA M O U S F O R Y E A R S as the place bargains
were best; serious shoppers flew in to gawk along Orchard Street, where previous-season department-store and even designer wear could be had
for, well, if not a song, then no more than that plus
an extra chorus or two. These days, with sales so unofficial T I P much more common and outlet malls thriving, the
trek is a little lower on some visitors’ itineraries, but the merchants of the neighborhood, now being more aggressively promoted as the Historic Orchard Street Bargain District, have banded together to raise their profile again. (The new Lower East Side slogan: LES Is More.) So if you do have that bargain bug—and, after all, how many of your office mates can tell last year’s classics from this year’s?—head east from SoHo into this evocative old section. (If you pick up the group’s “Go East!” guide and punch out the ID card, you’re eligible for even deeper discounts or
extra items from many of the retailers.) To avoid getting disoriented in all this retail abundance, stop by the offices of the
Office, at 70 Orchard Street between Grand and Hester streets (# 866-224- 0206; www.lowereastsideny.com).
Hundreds of businesses in this neighborhood are still family owned, and with just a little imagination (and maybe a stop at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum or other historic landmark), you’ll be able to see it as it was when the pushcart and peddler era was melding into the wholesale world—especially if you go on a Sunday, when a lot of the area streets are blocked off for pedestrian traffic and turned into open-air vendor markets. And you’ll definitely still hear the rhythms of the Yiddish that millions of Eastern European Jews stamped on the bargaining patter of the vendors, even though the community’s ethnicity now ranges from South American to Southeast Asian. (Stand too long staring into one store’s windows, and a rival shopkeeper from across the street is likely to chase you down.)
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unofficial T I P |
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served generations of women—and leather |
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outlets. Probably the biggest shopping draws for out-of-towners, however, are the stores boasting classic labels.
Among the places for women to see a lot in a little time is Giselle Sportswear (143 Orchard Street, near Rivington; # 212-673-1900; www.giselleny.com), four floors of discounted European labels such as Valentino and Escada. For men, it’s the three floors of big-name men’s fashions (including Burberry, Brioni, Versace, and Ferré) at (Grand Street at Orchard; # 212-219- 1039; www.jodamointernational.com) and the almost-as-extensive collection at the 50-year-old Global International (62 Orchard; # 212- 219-1039), which offers free alterations. For men who prefer the Japanese designers, First Among Equals, at 177 Orchard, is the hot spot (# 212-253-2202; www.firstamongequalsnyc.com). And for tuxedos for men or women, try Ted’s Formal Wear (155 Orchard; # 212-966- 2029; www.tedsrocktshirts.com).
Exotic-leather-shoe freaks, hit Cellini Uomo (59 Orchard; # 212-219- 8657; www.celliniuomousa.com), Cougar Italian Fashion (96 Orchard;
# 212-475-0692), or (118 Orchard; # 212-388-1095; www.moshoes.com).
For luggage, try Altman (135 Orchard; # 212-254-7275; www
.altmanluggage.com). For fur, shearling, and leather coats, look into Arivel at 150 Orchard (# 212-673-8992) or VIP at 194 (# 212-477- 1083; www.vipleathergallery.com). Actually, you can’t escape the leather shops on Orchard Street, but in spite of their plenitude, keep an eye for quality; walk around before you buy, or at least try to bargain a little.
On the other hand, there’s just one place for umbrellas, Salwen’s (45 Orchard Street; # 212-226-1693), because if you don’t hear Irving Salwen play Yiddish folk songs on the guitar, you haven’t really gotten the Lower East Side experience.
That SoHo chic-boutique wave is headed east, so keep your eyes peeled for iconoclastic designers setting up temporary shop. Good examples of incipient sticker shock are international playground at 186 Orchard (www.internationalplayground.com), a pop-up designer gallery, showroom, and occasional party venue, and Kaight (83 Orchard), which stocks only eco-friendly and green designers from the U.S. and U.K. (# 212-680-5630; www.kaightnyc.com).
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former main building, at 535 West 22nd Street, now houses the galleries of Yancey Richardson, CRG, Friedrich Petzel, and Julie Saul, among others.
And on West 24th are the fourth Matthew Marks marquee, Fredericks & Freiser, Mary Boone, Marianne Boesky, Mary Reed Kelley, Zach Feuer, Bruce Silverstein, and more; on 26th are Sara Meltzer, James
Cohan, Mitchell-Innes & Nash, Barry Friedman, Lombard-Freid, George Adams, Galerie Lelong, Stephen Haller, and Tony Shafrazi.
just for starters.
C O O K W A R E & C H A N D E L I E R S : T H E B O W E R Y
T H E B OW E RY I N N O L I TA has long been known as the restaurant-supply district, but in recent years, with the craze for Food Network–worthy home-cooking displays and professional-grade gadgets, many of the old resale centers are now going blade-to-bowl with boutiquelike stores stocked top to bottom with stainless-steel freezers
and glass-front butcher’s refrigerators, enameled unofficial T I P casseroles and eight-burner gas stoves, espresso
machines, and supersized Cuisinarts.
Just walk along Bowery between Houston and Kenmare, and you see everything from trendy giant whisks to five-foot-tall commercial mixers. (The decor of celeb chef Daniel Boulud’s at 299 Bowery [# 212-933- 5300; www.danielnyc.com] is a sort of tribute
to this overstocked realm of classic culinary equipment.) Some stores also deal in such other restaurant paraphernalia as bar stools, shakers, and countertops.
Keep walking down Bowery past Kenmare to
about Grand, and you’ll see the whole history of high-fashion lighting hanging from shop windows: huge crystal chandeliers, sconces, standing lamps, and high-tech track lighting . . . some pieces with shades like acrobats and others looking like stars going nova. There are fixtures made of chrome, gilt, carved wood, and wrought iron; lamps in pastels or Mondrian squares, neon-trimmed, or with multipsychedelic brilliants. You’ll see painted animals, Asian obi shades, Baroque bar lamps, fake and real Tiffany, and just plain oddities. It’s a hoot.
Not only is the name of Daniel Boulud’s DBGB, on Bowery just
above Houston, partly a pun on the seminal punk-scene CBGB club, but the John Varvatos store at 315 Bowery is actually in the old CBGB space. The shop (# 212-358-0315; www.johnvarvatos
.com) offers not only clothing but also vintage records, punk posters, even free live music—sometimes from CBGB vets.