If You Like Shopping

According to the cliché, there are 8 million stories in New York, roughly one per resident. Stroll the streets for a while, though, and you’ll likely arrive at much different conclusion: this city doesn’t just have 8 million stories; it has 8 million stores. One for every budget, one for every fetish, one for every kind of curtain, clutch, or cat you can imagine. If you like shopping, you’ll love New York City. Practically every block in the Village or on the Lower East Side has a boutique worth introducing to your credit card. And then there’s Brooklyn, chock full of browse-worthy destinations — both well-known favorites and some slightly less obvious alternatives.

^BOOKS
Long heralded as the king of the used book business, The Strand expanded a few years ago, from eight miles of books to eighteen. The staff got a renovation too: no longer so surly, the clerks are pierced, tatted, and ready to help you find that first edition of The Hedgehog, the Fox, and the Magister’s Pox.

If you miss the dirty, dusty old Strand, try Alabaster Bookshop, around the corner on Fourth Avenue in Union Square, so old-school it doesn’t have a website. Don’t think too much about why it needs so many cats roaming along the dusty shelves. And if you like the shiny, sunny new Strand, try 192 Books in Chelsea. Partially owned by Paula Cooper, of the eponymous gallery, it sells plenty of art books (and has rotating exhibitions on its walls), as well as new fiction, new nonfiction, and backlist titles in a bright, apartment-sized space. Across the street is Printed Matter, a 35-year-old nonprofit dedicated to disseminating artists’ books and publications. In keeping with the literary motif, you can read your purchases at Clement Clarke Moore Park, a shady enclave nearby named after the guy who wrote ’Twas the Night Before Christmas.

^{JEWELRY/DECORATIVE OBJECTS}
There are those who will settle for nothing less than the iconic blue box tied with a white ribbon. Then there are those who will be disappointed come Valentine’s Day. For everyone else, there’s Ted Muehling, Old Hollywood, and the Clay Pot. Between the three of them, you can find porcelain vases, glass figurines, and lovely objets to liven up a living room; conflict-free diamonds as well as more unusual engagement rings and wedding bands; and plenty of just plain pretty stuff.

From a sliver of a shop near Canal Street comes delicate, finely wrought metal jewelry, made by Muehling himself and others. If you simply can’t choose, take home Ted Muehling: A Portrait and own them all. If it’s eye-catching, statement pieces you want, stop reading this and head to Greenpoint, Brooklyn. In addition to cocktail rings shaped like beetles and necklaces with more feathers than a peacock, Old Hollywood sells a lifestyle, one full of possibility (and perfect stationery). Over in Park Slope, Brooklyn, the Clay Pot has been open since 1969. Walk past the stained glass-like night lights, ceramic bowls, and kaleidoscopic shawls to the back, where the friendly staff will patiently let you try on every ethically sourced, hand-fashioned wedding band in the display case. Yes, I do speak from experience.

^FOOD
Zabar’s proudly stocks its 20,000-square-foot Upper West Side emporium with such staples as rye bread, salami, coffee, and chopped liver. It’s worked for 80-something years, the store’s mantra goes, so why stop now? Indeed. If you’re into the family-run ethos, and you’re hungry for a bagel with a cream cheese schmear, try Russ and Daughters, on the Lower East Side. Designated a key component of the city’s “cultural heritage” by the Smithsonian Institute in 2000, this store is best known for its selection of caviar and smoked fish. Attention Seinfeld fans: they sell both cinnamon and chocolate babka.

If you like over-stuffed food stores, try Eataly, Mario Batali’s ginormous cathedral dedicated to all things Italian. You’re probably thinking cookbooks, colanders, spices, sauces, and bottle after bottle of red, and you’d be right. But there’s so much more, so very much more, including a vegetable butcher with a side job as a performance artist and cooking classes taught by Lidia Bastianich. Since opening in 2010, the store and its 12 (!!!) on-site restaurants have transformed the neighborhood into a must-visit for any self-respecting foodie. Get your gelato to go, cross Fifth Avenue, and watch the way the wind tunnels created by the Flatiron Building do funny things to people’s hair.

^{DEPARTMENT STORES/CO-OPS}
It’s no secret that Barney’s Co-Op has younger, cooler clothes than its flagship parent uptown. Alas, the Chelsea space has about as much personality as a headless mannequin showing off the latest v-neck with bubble skirt ensemble from Carven: sure, it gets the job done, but without much enthusiasm. OK, so The Market NYC, in Nolita, also operates out of a huge, featureless room, yet somehow the space oozes verve. Perhaps that’s because it’s full of designers selling their own creations, including jackets, jewelry, tees, and totes. Feel free to ask what made one decide to put the zipper on the left or another to use velvet rather than cotton. After all, you might be talking to the next Gareth Pugh.

If you like never knowing what you might find, you’ll love the motley vendors who comprise the Brooklyn Indie Market, held en plein air on weekends in Carroll Gardens. Closing down from January to March or so gives the rotating roster of participating artisans time to craft belts, coats, and sundries. If you can’t wait for the snow to thaw, head to Artists & Fleas, a weekly market in Williamsburg in which vintage collectors, jewelry makers, and artful folk sell their wares. Even if you don’t find anything to buy, you can dance to the in-house DJ.

^HATS
Ladies who lunch love them; ladies at church rock them. We’re talking hats, obviously, and lately everyone’s got at least one fedora kicking around the closet. If you like the J.J. Hat Center, known for its history (since 1911), customer service, and tremendous selection for men, try the Hat Shop. This Soho store sells its own in-house designs as well as the work of others, and unlike the stalwart J.J., the Hat Shop caters to both men and women.

If you’re looking to get lively with your millinery needs, try the Village Scandal. This East Village institution stays open until midnight, ideal for post-dinner browsing. In addition to its signature “scandal cloche,” you’ll find panamas, pork pies, and newsboys. Dressing up isn’t just allowed; it’s downright encouraged. Further south, Still Life custom-crafts each and every one of the unisex hats that walk out its doors. The shop is located on the Lower East Side; the factory in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Here, the brims are short and the bands are color-coordinated.

^SHOES
Thanks to the show that shall remain nameless, no guide to NYC shopping can be complete without a section on shoes. If you can stomach the name — and that’s a big if — then Shoegasm definitely provides a fine selection of kicks, heels, and boots, generally at half-off. If you like the affordability and choices at the various Shoegasm locations, try Shoe Market, in Williamsburg, which carries plenty of name brands (Vivienne Westwood, Jeffrey Campbell) and maybe-not-so-name brands (Manimal, Gram). Best of all, you won’t feel embarrassed carrying a bag from this store on the subway.

The Nolita location of UK-based Irregular Choice doesn’t sell rejects, despite the name. Instead it offers creative footwear like multicolored wedges topped with what looks like glitter, and leopard-print moon boots with pastel trim. If it’s whimsy and challenge you’re after, try Edon Manor. English eccentricity reigns in the Tribeca store’s displays of thigh-highs and booties, flats and pumps from familiar institutions like Maison Martin Margiela and Proenza Schouler. Great for sunglasses too. And should you choose to wear your purchase, no worries: taxis are pretty much always nearby, so you won’t have far to walk.

^{CLOTHING BOUTIQUES}
While its parade of chain stores can turn some discriminating shoppers off Soho, the neighborhood nevertheless has its gems, such as the vaunted Kirna Zabete. If you like that store’s curated selection of fresh-from-the-runway clothes, try Albertine, in the West Village. With a studied eye, owner Kyung Lee hand-picks the work of young designers, and she recently began including her own stuff in the mix) Next door, Albertine General offers newly minted jewelry, as well as new-to-you vintage pieces. Lucky visitors might get to meet Orson, the consulting French bulldog, who’ll likely wheeze once for buy and grunt twice for pass.

In God We Trust also features the work of up-and-comers. Four locations around lower Manhattan and Brooklyn makes buying one of their extremely popular R-rated necklaces, equally mischievous screen-printed tees, or dainty little shoes made by companies like the Brooklyn-based Marais USA a total snap. If you’d rather shop in-house brands, try Against Nature, which seeks to bring back a dapper Victorian mentality via its menswear, and Built by Wendy, which sells clothes made by industry veteran Wendy Mullin. Jill Anderson’s washable, wearable women’s pieces are all made “in the EV of A,” otherwise known as the East Village. Her signature “parachute dress,” with a smooth silhouette on top and ruffled bottom, can be customized to work for any body type.

^{HOUSEWARES/FURNITURE}

If you like ABC Home, then congratulations, you’ve got quite a lot of company. Few games are as fun as wandering its floors, imagining what you’d buy if you had unlimited funds: 1960s-era Italian sconces, a geometric rug woven in Nepal, or one-of-a-kind tableware. If you like unusual housewares from around the world, try Soho’s Pearl River Mart, generally considered to be the first Chinese-American department store. Browse its two floors to stock up on brocade, lanterns, tea sets, screens, rattan mats, even an almost–life sized statue of Buddha. Mxyplyzyk, in the West Village, sells thoughtfully designed clocks, toys, bath supplies, stools, and whimsical knickknacks. And, no, you don’t have to know how to pronounce the name in order to shop there.

If you’re in the market for furniture, stop in at John Derian Company. At this East Village shop, you can purchase a 9-foot-long field bench or a 5-foot-long scalloped loveseat made by a California-based company — a veritable plethora of sturdy sizes and shapes, in soothing colors. More portable are items from the so-called Decoupage collection, including trays and plates with slightly bewildered animals straight out of a Walton Ford painting. For a more minimalist effect, walk over to Matter, in Soho, and check out its lamps, bookcases, and coffee tables, some made in-house and some made elsewhere — you’re almost guaranteed to find something to take home.

If you’re going to New York to shop, our picks are the Crosby Street Hotel and The Greenwich Hotel downtown and Andaz 5th Ave and The Mark uptown.

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