Boston Shopping Guide

Let's say you have only one day - or maybe just a couple of hours - for a Boston shopping spree. Back Bay is where you'll want to come because of its huge range of options. 

Newbury Street shopping offers designer shops and nearby discounters, Copley Place combines chic European fashion and jewelry boutiques with more affordable stores, and upscale Prudential Center features a wide range of eclectic shops plus favorites like Ann Taylor.  With so many convenient Back Bay stores, you can even do 1-stop holiday shopping in Boston here.

In the market for art?  Browse in Newbury Street's 30+ art galleries and perhaps buy an irresistible creation that will be your favorite Boston shopping "find."

More than 100 stores, unique artisan pushcarts, and four restored historic buildings, Quincy Market (also called Faneuil Hall Marketplace) ranks high as a favorite Boston shopping destination. 

You'll find national brands plus unique local shops with interesting products.  Hungry?  You'll have your choice of top local restaurants including a Cheers replica - and the mouth-watering 40+ stalls in the Quincy Market Colonnade food hall.  And right around the corner is Haymarket, Boston's historic open air market.

Beacon Hill's magnificent 18th century architecture, gas-lit street lights, and brick and cobblestone sidewalks make it Boston's most charming shopping area. It's also the easiest place to shop - almost all of the neighborhood's stores line 6 compact blocks along Charles Street. 

This is where you'll find the city's highest concentration of antique shops as well as a smattering of art galleries.  Unique clothing, gift, and jewelry boutiques (you'll find no chain stores here) cater to a wide range of styles and budgets, and provide some of the best Boston shopping opportunities in the city.

Some of my favorites along Charles Street include an incredible fabric store, one of the best chocolate shops anywhere, and toy shops to delight children and grown-ups.  In fact, this compact area offers so much variety that it's a great spot for one-stop holiday shopping. 

Is Boston's enormous to-the-trade emporium of high-end luxury furniture, home decor item, antiques, and kitchen and bath products for designers and architects only?  No - but if you want to do more than just browse, you do need to make arrangements.  Here's how to shop - and buy - at the fabulous Boston Design Center in the South Boston Waterfront area.

Downtown Boston's two major shopping areas are the pedestrian-only Downtown Crossing and Chinatown. 

Although a large Macy's anchors Downtown Crossing, the area claims a total of over 500 retail businesses - everything from large chain bookstores and discount emporiums to tiny unique decades-old shops with local owners.  Although only about 6,500 people live in this small mostly-commercial area, almost a quarter of a million people pass through Downtown Crossing each day, mostly on their way to work, eat, and shop in this bustling spot. 

Everyone knows about Chinatown's wonderful restaurants.  But tucked between the large food palaces and tiny eateries, you'll discover many interesting shops with gorgeous ceramics, decorative items, toys, traditional Chinese clothing (try Silky Way on Kneeland Street for silk clothing, or go upstairs to shop for martial arts gear).  In the groceries, look for special Chinese teas.  If you're a bubble tea fan, stock up on boba (tapioca balls) and big straws.  Chinatown is one of my personal favorite Boston shopping destinations.

Shopping in Boston's North End

Trendy shops keep popping up in the North End, especially along Hanover and Salem Streets.  You'll find must-have vintage home accessories at Acquire, very hip clothing at Shake the Tree . . . is Boston's traditional old Italian neighborhood becoming the new South End?

Be sure to indulge in the time-honored Boston shopping favorite here: food.  Coffee, tea, spices, Italian candies, gourmet salamis, an amazing fish shop . . . and if you love to cook or make your own liquors, you can find a shop that carries over 50 extracts for those purposes.  Oh, and wine . . . you'll find wonderful Italian labels here that you won't find anywhere else in the city.  Grappa lovers take note: award-winning V. Cirace on North Street offers the largest grappa selection in the U.S.

The South End - Boston's hippest neighborhood - features trend-setting home furnishing and home accessory boutiques, plus cool clothing stores. You'll find many of them along Tremont Street, as well as Washington, Clarendon, and other main streets.

Gallery-hoppers take note:  go to the South End to discover emerging and established artists at South End Open Studios.  At SoWa Open Markets, you can buy top-notch items from some of the region's best artisans.

For special gourmet food items, shop at South End markets to take home as gifts - or eat yourself!

Across from Boston on the other side of the Charles River is Cambridge, which has a number of good shopping areas. 

In East Cambridge near MIT, the 3 floors of Cambridge mall CambridgeSide Galleria include Best Buy, Macy's, Borders Bookstore, and 120 other stores.  Not too far away is the Garment District, source of used and vintage clothing as well as a great place for Halloween costume shopping.

In Central Square, shopping possibilities include Gap, a couple of excellent art stores, and many smaller stores.  Proceed another half mile down Massachusetts Ave and you'll come to Harvard Square, filled with many unique clothing, gift, jewelry, and book stores.

Go yet another half mile down Mass Ave, and you'll be at Porter Square.  The star shopping attraction here is the Art Deco Porter Exchange building where the first floor is filled with small Japanese eateries, a jewelry store, and Tokai, where you can buy fabulous vintage Japanese kimonos, art pottery, hand-painted Japanese paper, and other not-to-be-missed items.

Boston has a lot of diverse shopping malls in the city - perfect for icy January, steaming July, and anytime when you don't want to brave the outdoor elements.

Find upscale city malls at Copley Place, Prudential Center, Quincy Market, and across the river at Cambridge mall CambridgeSide Galleria.  Discover even more shopping malls just outside the city - Chestnut Hill Mall, Atrium Mall in Chestnut Hill, Arsenal Mall in Watertown, and Burlington Mall. 

Further away, explore the Natick Collection mega-mall, Northshore Mall, South Shore Plaza, and shopping, entertainment, and sports offerings at Patriot Place. For discount shopping, try the Wrentham Village Premium Outlet Mall.

More about Boston Malls

If browsing through bookstores and buying books is your passion, you'll be in ecstasy in Boston and nearby Cambridge.  In addition to chain bookstores like Borders and Barnes and Nobles, you'll find dozens of independents. 

Downtown, for example, you'll find Brattle Bookstore, a Boston fixture since 1825.  On Newbury Street in Back Bay, you can shop for books and then have dinner in the Trident Bookstore. 

In Cambridge, go to the Coop in Harvard Square, where you'll find general interest and specialized books on the first two floors and Harvard student textbooks on the third floor.  And that's only a small sampling of the bookstores that you'll find here.

Need ideas for gifts (or yourself)? Check out my list of books about Boston and cookbooks by Boston chefs.

The presence of a large number of art schools, museums, and artists means that art is a major Boston shopping target.  You'll find many art galleries in Boston, with over 30 galleries on Newbury Street alone.

If you want to buy contemporary art from emerging and established artists, the South End Open Studios and the outdoors SoWa Open Market where artists and artisans sell their creations directly to buyers - you! - should be on your Boston shopping list.

Whether you're shopping for edible gifts, tasty souvenirs, or picnic fixings, you'll find plenty of options in Boston's gourmet groceries, bakeries, and carry-out from some of the city's top restaurants.

For the best, be sure to visit mouth-watering South End markets, North End Italian salumerias, and carry-out counters of local restaurants such as Legal Seafoods (several locations), Back Bay restaurant Davio's To Go, and Sel de la Terre on the Downtown Waterfront.

Now I abhor the clunky appearance of "big box" stores as much as the next "if it's not red brick in a traditional design it's a blight on the landscape" aesthetically-correct person. 

But whether you're a Boston visitor or living here longer term, you'll want to know the best places for cheap Boston shopping - at least for some of your purchases.

Cheap is good.  But you still want great design.

That's when you'll want to find the closest Ikea, Best Buy, Crate & Barrel, Target, Pier 1, Design Within Reach, and other affordable Boston shopping places.  And they're not even all big boxes.