Boston Shopping Guide

Shopping in Back Bay

Let's say you have only one day - or maybe just a couple of hours - for a shopping spree in Boston. 

If so, you'll want to come to Back Bay.  You'll find a concentration of the most fashionable Boston shopping options lining streets filled with Victorian architecture:

• Newbury Street shopping - Top designer shops
• Copley Place - European fashion and jewelry boutiques
• Prudential Center - Upscale boutiques and eclectic shops, plus Ann Taylor and other favorites
• 1-stop holiday shopping in Boston
• 30+ Newbury Street art galleries
• And just twice a year, Running of the Brides

Shopping in Quincy Market / Faneuil Hall Marketplace

With 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.  Hungry?  Several top local restaurants, plus 40+ stalls in the Quincy Market Colonnade Food Hall serve up seafood, ethnic, and other specialties.  And right around the corner is Haymarket, Boston's historic open air market.

Shopping in Beacon Hill

18th century architecture, gas-lit street lights, and brick and cobblestone sidewalks make Beacon Hill the most charming of all Boston shopping areas.  Almost all of the stores line 6 compact blocks along Charles Street, 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 (no chain stores other than Starbucks) cater to a wide range of styles and budgets, and provide excellent Boston shopping opportunities.

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.  This compact area is one of my recommended areas for 1-stop holiday shopping. 

Not just for designers only

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.

Shopping in Downtown Boston

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 daily on their way to work, eat, and shop.

In addition to Chinatown's large food palaces and tiny eateries, you'll discover interesting shops with gorgeous ceramics, decorative items, toys, traditional Chinese clothing (try Silky Way on Kneeland Street for silk articles, or go upstairs for martial arts gear).  In the groceries, look for special Chinese teas and boba 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?

Indulge in the time-honored Boston shopping favorite here: food.  Coffee, tea, spices, Italian candies, gourmet salami, bakeries. . . and if you love to cook or make your own liquors, you can find a shop that carries over 50 extracts for those purposes.  Wine . . . look for wonderful Italian labels, unavailable elsewhere in the city.  Grappa lovers take note: award-winning V. Cirace on North Street offers the largest grappa selection in the U.S.

Shopping in Boston's South End

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!

Shopping in Cambridge

Across the Charles River from Boston is Cambridge, home to several 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.  Do your Halloween costume shopping at Garment District, source of used and vintage clothing.

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

Go yet another half mile down Mass Ave to Porter Square and look for the Art Deco Porter Exchange (next to the subway station with a towering can't-miss Calder-like mobile) where you'll find small Japanese eateries, a jewelry store, and Tokai - shop for fabulous vintage kimonos, art pottery, hand-painted paper - my favorite place to buy rice paper wallets.

Boston Shopping Malls

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 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

Shopping for Books in Boston

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. 

On West Street in 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, general interest and specialized books occupy the first two floors, and Harvard student textbooks line the third floor. 

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

Running of the Brides - Shopping for discount wedding dresses in Boston

Running of the Brides happens only 2 days each year - once in February and once in August - but generations of Boston brides-to-be have braved the crowds at Filene's Basement to snag gorgeous designer wedding gowns at cheap, steep-discount prices. 

To give you a sense of what it's like, here are Running of the Brides photos - as well as some terrific advice about wedding gowns given by Queer Eye for a Straight Guy's Carson Kressley at Running of the Brides in August 2010.

Once just a local event, visitors now come from all over the world to try their luck.  With plenty of dresses to go around and bargains galore, this is Boston shopping at its finest! 

Shopping for Art in Boston

Art schools, museums, and the large Boston artist community make 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.

Gourmet Food to Go

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.

Best of the Big Boxes

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.