Travelers’ Needs - San Francisco and Northern California - page 225

customers an outstanding
selection of goods and services.
The frequent sales can get quite
frantic as locals and visitors
jostle for bargains. All sorts of
extra services are available to
make shoppers feel pampered,
including cloakrooms where
you can leave your belongings,
assistants to guide you around
the store, free gift wrapping, and
beauty salons offering treatments.
Macy's department store
spans two city blocks. It stocks
an enormous range of goods, all
beautifully presented and sold
by an enthusiastic sales force.
It offers all sorts of extra
facilities, including a currency
exchange and an interpreting
service. The men's department
is particularly extensive.
Neiman Marcus is another
stylish emporium, housed in a
modern building that caused
a furor when it was opened in
1982, replacing a popular store
built in the 1890s. The huge
stained-glass dome in its
Rotunda Restaurant was part
of the original building, and is
well worth coming to see.
Nordstrom , good for fashion
and shoes, is known in the city
as the “store-in-the-sky” as it is
located on the top five floors
of the innovative Westfield
Shopping Centre.
Bloomingdales offers a
huge range of designer labels,

luxury handbags, accessories,
cosmetics, and shoes.
Another famous depart-
ment store in the Bay Area
is Kohl's , which carries
quality clothing, shoes,
accessories, and jewelry at
discounted prices.
Best Buys
Gourmet shoppers should
look for seafood, one of the
city's specialties. Wine from
California is another good buy,
particularly in the Napa Valley
(see pp194-5) . You will find blue
jeans at competitive prices,
also vintage clothing, ethnic
art, books, and records.

Flower stall on Union Square

are of architectural interest.
he Embarcadero Center (see
p112) has more than 125 shops,
in an area covering eight blocks.
Ghirardelli Square (see p83) was
a chocolate factory from 1893
until the early 1960s. It is now a
mall that is popular with visitors,
and houses over 70 restaurants
and shops, overlooking San
Francisco Bay.
The Westfield Shopping
Centre (see p119) has 9 levels
and contains more than 65
shops. PIER 39 (see p82) is a
market place on the waterfront,
with restaurants, a double-
decker Venetian merry-go-
round, a marina, and many
specialty shops. In the Cannery
(see p83), located at Fisherman's
Wharf, you will find a variety of
charming small shops, while the
Crocker Galleria (see p118) is one
of the city's most spectacular
malls, with three floors under a
high glass dome built around a
central plaza.
The Japan Center (see p130) ,
complete with pagoda, offers
exotic foods, goods, and art
from the East, as well as a
Japanese-style hotel and
traditional baths. The Rincon
Center (see p115), with a 90-ft
(27-m) water column at its
center, is an Art Deco haven
for shopping and eating.

Addresses
Bloomingdales
865 Market St. Map 5 C5.
Te l 856-5300.
Kohl's
1200 El Camino Real, Colma,
CA 94014. Te l [phone].
Macy's
Stockton and O'Farrell Sts.
Map 5 C5. Te l 954-6271.
Neiman Marcus
150 Stockton St. Map 5 C5.
Te l 362-3900.
Nordstrom
Westfield Shopping Centre,
865 Market St. Map 5 C5.
Te l 243-8500.

Department Stores
Most of San Francisco's major
department stores are in or near
Union Square. They are huge
emporia that offer their Display of goods inside Gump's department store (see p237)