Expert guide to New York
The New York City shopping scene is a garden of earthly consumerist delights. Anything can be bought or sold here at any time of the day (or night). You just have to know where to look. Nearly every national chain is anchored somewhere in the five boroughs (and in many cases in multiple locations), but even better are the independent and boutique shops, the chainlettes, the hard-to-classify shops that you can only find in New York City.
Sure, Midtown is crammed with big boxy departments stores – Macy's is on W. 34th St. and Bloomingdale's is on the corner of E. 59th Street and Lexington Avenue. But also take a stroll down a Lower East Side or East Village side street and you may discover something you'd never find back home, from out-of-print cookbooks in quintessential bookstores, and child-sized retro chairs at nostalgic toy shops, to epicurean feasts at buzzing food markets. New York destination expert David Farley shares his pick of the best.
Lower East Side
Russ & Daughters
Any food-obsessed denizen of, or visitor to, New York City needs to make a pilgrimage to this Lower East Side deli, a culinary institution. It all began in 1914 when Joel Russ, who had been selling herring from a wooden cart for a decade and a half, opened the tiny shop. He quickly discovered that business picked up when his three beautiful daughters worked behind the counter, so he made them partners. Today one of his grandsons runs the business, sourcing whitefish, herring, sturgeon and more from all over the world. Order the classic bagel with fish roe.
Contact: 00 1 212 475 4880; russanddaughters.com
Opening times: Mon-Fri, 8am-8pm; Sat 8am-7pm; Sun, 8am-5.30pm
Nearest metro: F to Second Ave
Payment type: Credit cards accepted
SoHo
Alessi
Home utensils might not be on your list of stuff to pick up in New York, but you maybe tempted after visiting this SoHo store? Oh, you never thought you needed a designer toothbrush or an oddly shaped tea kettle – just wait until you see them. Alessi also sells objects – such as vases or coffee pots – designed by famous designers and architects such as Toyo Ito, Zaha Hadid, Greg Lynn, and Jean Nouvel. You know you've always wanted Philippe Starck's three-legged citrus squeezer.
Contact: 00 1 212 941 7300; alessi.com
Opening times: Mon-Sat, 11am-7pm; Sun 11am-6pm
Nearest metro: B, D, F, M to Broadway-Lafayette St.
Payment type: Credit cards accepted
Roman & Williams Guild
This stunner of a store has actually been in the works for years. After the designers helped design the Standard High Line, the restaurant Le Coucou, and Gwyneth Paltrow’s lower Manhattan pad, they finally opened their first brick-and-mortar shop in southern SoHo. There's a good chance you might not be able to afford many of the insanely pricey but super cool household items in the high-ceilinged shop. But you can at least gawk. And then sit down at the stylish café that exists inside the store and pretend everything is too cheap for your tastes.
Contact: 00 1 212 852 9099; rwguild.com
Opening times: Daily, 10am-7pm
Nearest metro: 4, 6, J, N, Q, R Z to Canal St.
Payment types: Credit cards accepted
East Village
Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks
A longtime denizen of the West Village, Bonnie Slotnick and her wonderful shop full of antique and out-of-print cookbooks has thrived in the East Village. Perhaps you're in need of a first pressing of The Joy of Cooking or a first edition of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking? You might find what you're looking for here. If anything, browsing will certainly make you hungry. And you may even bump into one of the city's top chefs, as the toques of the New York's best restaurants regularly stop in looking for an old recipe to revive.
Contact: 00 1 212 989 8962; bonnieslotnickcookbooks.com
Opening times: Daily, 1pm-7pm
Nearest metro: F to First Ave.
Payment types: Credit cards accepted
Dinosaur Hill
This East Village toy store isn't the place to get the latest high-tech gadget. Instead, Dinosaur Hill traffics in the simple and the wonderful: wooden blocks with letters in different alphabets, brightly coloured rattles, onesies scrawled with peace signs or the name of your favourite New York neighbourhood, child-sized retro chairs, and funky hand puppets. This is a store full of children's toys that even adults can appreciate, and makes a good souvenir stop for the more nostalgic traveller.
Contact:00 1 212 473 5850; dinasaurhill.com
Opening times: Daily, 11am-7pm
Nearest metro: 6 to Astor Pl.
Payment types: Credit cards accepted
Obscura Antiques & Oddities
An antique store for the eccentric in you (or in your family). This diminutive gem of an East Village shop is crammed with, well, oddities. You may have never known you wanted an antique wooden leg or a taxidermied squirrel standing on two legs until you lay your eyes (or hands) on it here. But if 19th-century prostheses aren’t your style, there are plenty of other gawkable keepsakes: creepy ventriloquist dummies, Free-Mason-themed lamps, ancient dentures, or child-sized polio braces.
Contact: 00 1 212 505 9251; obscuraantiques.com
Opening times: Daily, 12pm-8pm
Nearest metro: L to First Ave.
Payment types: Credit cards accepted
Greenwich Village
Doggystyle NYC
For the posh pooch on quiet but upscale University Place which straddles the border of the East and West Villages. The cashmere sweaters aren't cheap, but they sure look cute. Upscale clothes for dogs aren't the only thing this cool Village shop peddles in, however. There are also ergonomically designed feeding bowls, dog tags, comfy beds, colourful leashes, collars, and a huge selection of carrying bags (some of which are perfect for concealing the bow-wow from the watchful eyes of onlookers).
Contact:00 1 212 228 5824; doggystylenyc.com
Opening times: Mon-Wed, 10am-7pm; Thu-Sat, 10am-8pm; Sun, 11am-6pm
Nearest metro: N, R to 8th St.; 6 to Astor Pl.
Payment types: Credit cards accepted
West Village
Flight 001
This Cessna-sized shop in the West Village is a reminder of a glorious time when air travel was cool, when the airline attendants dressed fashionably, when a passenger could sip a martini on the flight, and when it was stylish to fly. Flight 001 sells designer baggage, sleek (airport security-approved) containers for beauty products, guidebooks, portable pillows, and tiny travel gadgetry. Everything and anything to make you feel prepared and keep you occupied before your trip, during the flight, and even afterwards.
Contact: 00 1 212 989 0001; flight001.com
Opening times: Mon-Sat, 11am-7pm; Sun, 12pm-6pm
Nearest metro: A, C, E, L to 14th St./Eighth Ave.
Payment types: Credit cards accepted
Idlewild Books
This Village bookstore has quickly become a favourite of the city's literati because owner (and former United Nations press officer) David del Vecchio has designed the store with the traveller in mind. All books – guidebooks, travelogues, memoirs, and novels – are categorised by country. So, let's say you're going to Vietnam, and want to read a novel by a Vietnamese writer; such a thing might be impossible to find in the fiction section of a normal bookstore, but at Idlewild, one need only browse by country. There are also over-sized maps and globes for sale.
Contact: 00 1 212 414 8888; idlewildbooks.com
Opening times: 12pm-8pm, Mon-Thu; 12pm-6pm, Fri-Sun
Nearest metro: 1 to Christopher St.; 2, 3, to 14th St.
Payment types: Credit cards accepted
Three Lives & Co.
Okay, so you can buy books online any time of day. And you can buy books at a chain bookstore in your local shopping mall. But somehow buying that same book in this legendary West Village bookshop just feels right. The shop, which has been open since 1968, is named after a Gertrude Stein book. Creaky hardwood floors, old oak bookshelves and an extremely well-read staff who know their Hemmingways from their Huxleys make this one of the best places to buy a book in New York. A Three Lives & Co. t-shirt or cloth book bag are great souvenirs.
Contact: 00 1 212 741 2069; threelives.com
Opening times: Mon-Sat, 10am-8:30pm; Sun, 12pm-7pm
Nearest metro: 1 to Christopher St.; A, C, E, B, D, F, M, to W. 4th St.
Payment types: Credit cards accepted
Chelsea
Chelsea Market
This beloved food-centric hall bears one winding, somewhat cavernous, journey through all that is delicious in the area. Here you'll get the best hummus in New York at Dizengoff, the best taco al pastor north of the border at Los Tacos No. 1, a big ragu-sized selection of Italian foodstuffs at Buon Italia, and a killer wine selection at Corkbuzz Wine Studio. Plus bakeries, lobster rolls, currywurst, even picnic baskets. This is a great first stop to forage a small feast to take up to the nearby High Line Park or the banks of the Hudson for a picnic.
Contact: 00 1 212 243 6005; chelseamarket.com
Opening times: Mon-Sat, 7am-9pm; Sun, 8am-8pm
Nearest metro: A, C, E to 14th St/Eighth Ave.
Payment type: Credit cards accepted
Union Square
Greenmarket at Union Square
Since 1970, four times per week, some 140 regional farmers, fishermen and bakers descend on the city from Long Island, New Jersey and upstate New York to sell everything from specialty meats (elk, venison etc), artisanal baked breads, pies and pastries, and handmade products such as soaps and candles. Seasonal fruit and vegetable items vary, but take note of the rare specialty products like duck eggs, goats cheese, cured meats and superb fresh scallops and fish from Long Island and Connecticut. Avoid the Saturday crowds by stopping in on a weekday.
Contact: 001 212 788 7476; cenyc.org
Opening times: Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat, 8am-6pm
Payment type: credit cards accepted
Nearest metro: 4, 5, 6, L, N, Q, R to 14th St-Union Sq
Upper East Side
Blue Tree
Take a nicely designed space, mix in a well-edited collection of clothes from small designers, gift ideas for men and women, and general knick-knacks, then add a dash of celebrity flair, and you've got Blue Tree. This small shop is an injection of cool to the stodgy Upper East Side. The owner, actress Phoebe Cates, selects the items personally from some of her favourite under-the-radar designers, and sometimes you'll even find her working there or see her husband, actor Kevin Kline, pop in. If you're looking for that one-of-a-kind… thing, this is the place to start.
Contact:00 1 212 369 2583; bluetreeny.com
Opening times: Mon-Sat., 11am-6pm
Payment type: credit cards accepted
Nearest metro: 4, 5, 6 to 86th St./Lexington Ave.
Brooklyn, Williamsburg
Bird
Owned by Jen Mankins, who got her start as a buyer for Barneys, this Brooklyn men's and women's clothes shop is one of the city's must-sees for shoppers. The Williamsburg outlet of Bird (there are three other Birds in Brooklyn) is innovative on multiple levels: it was designed by Ole Sondresen and was the first LEED-certified retail store in New York City, which means it's green all the way. The space, which often doubles as an art gallery, sells great items by fashion designers, including Alexander Wang and Band of Outsiders.
Contact: 00 1 718 366 1655; shopbird.com
Opening times: Mon-Fri, noon-8pm; Sat-Sun, 11am-7pm
Payment type: Credit cards accepted
Nearest metro: L to Bedford Ave.
Sunset Park
Brooklyn Flea
Want to bring back a 1950s coffee table, or a set of vintage polk-a-dot plates? With 150 vendors selling everything from antiques and second-hand clothing, to pop culture paraphernalia like records and posters, this is New York's biggest flea market. It all began in 1998 when a local blogger decided the borough needed a version of the popular outdoor Chelsea Market in Manhattan. The market happens every Saturday and Sunday in Industrial City, an up-and-coming (and off-the-beaten-path) centre for arts and culture in Brooklyn's Sunset Park.
Contact: brooklynflea.com
Opening times: Sat-Sun, 10am-5pm
Payment type: Credit cards accepted
Nearest metro: D, N, R to 36th St.