Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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Saks Fifth Avenue, Levi's, Niketown, and high-end brands like Louis Vuitton and Tiffany
& Co. Fan out a little and you'll find the Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, H&M, Zara,
and myriad designer boutiques on Post Street and Maiden Lane, which is off the S tock-
ton Street side of Union Square. If your interest lies in home products or art, you'll enjoy
shopping at Williams-Sonoma's flagship store on the square, a Crate & Barrel nearby, and
numerous galleries on P ost and G eary streets. Nearly all the kid-oriented stor es in this
part of town are only for attire.
SoMa
Shopping in S oMa is essentially just an extension of the U nion Square scene.
The Westfield San Francisco Centre, reportedly the largest urban mall in the U.S., is on
the south side of Market Street, so is technically in SoMa. One of the mall's anchor stores
is
Bloomingdale's,
second in size only to the original stor e in Manhattan, which carries
foolishly priced couture brands for kids. Also on M arket Street you'll find the large and
difficult to navigate
Jeffrey's Toys
store. If you want to appease the kids, you're better off
checking out the tech-oriented stor es of the
Sony Metreon
or a museum shop near the
Yerba Buena center, such as SFMOMA's terrific
Museum Store
or the
Zeum
gift shop.
Chinatown
The stores on Grant Street are clearly geared toward tourists, and you'll see
plenty of cheesy plastic cable cars and “I
♥
SF” T-shirts here. But odds ar e you'll also
come across interesting trinkets that make fun gifts for friends back home. Lacquer ed
chopsticks, sake glasses, satin slippers, and silk robes are just a few of the pan-Asian goods
you can find. With shops like the
Chinatown Kite Shop
and a plethora of knickknacks
in a dizzying array of colors, this is likely to be y our kids' favorite shopping ground. For
more traditional Chinese goods, such as herbal medicines, ex otic foods, or cer emonial
funerary papers, head to Stockton Street.
Fisherman's Wharf
Most shops here are strictly tourist bait, some mor e tasteful than
others. One exception is the
Barnes & N oble
bookstore, which has a gr eat children's
section that makes a good rainy day escape. Also, stor es in
The Cannery
or
Ghirardelli
Square,
such as
Lola of North Beach,
are mostly o wned by locals and ar e worth your
while. Artists sometimes display their wares on the pavement in front of Victorian Park.
The Powell-Hyde cable car drops you off right next to these places; the F-M arket street-
car is another possibility.
North Beach
Much North Beach shopping is food-related. Delis are packed with Ital-
ian imports—sausages, cheeses, pastas, wine, and so on—at r easonable prices. A couple
of stores specialize in Italian pottery, with
Biordi Art Imports
the king of hand-painted
Tuscan plates and bo wls. You'll also find antiques dealers and the occasional bookstor e,
including the historic
City Lights Bookstore.
Grant Avenue
between Green and Green-
wich streets will appeal to fashion-conscious teens. The stores along this row are inspired,
and the entir e neighborhood is filled with cafes for when y ou need to r echarge. From
Union Square, it's an enjoyable walk through Chinatown to get here, or you could take
the Powell-Mason cable car line.
The Embarcadero
Most retailers in this neighborhood are on the first two levels of the
four buildings that make up the E mbarcadero Center. This office/entertainment/retail
complex between Clay, Sacramento, Battery, and Market streets is like an open-air mall
with name-brand chains and a G iants baseball stor e. The other shopping spot in these
parts is inside the
Ferry Building,
located on the E mbarcadero at the end of M arket
Street. There you'll find an assortment of gourmet food shops, including those dedicated
to chocolate, sweets, and ice cream. Outside the Ferry Building, the
Farmer's Market
is
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