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When it comes to the delightful pastime of buying essentials, gifts and souvenirs (or simply window shopping), San Francisco is a gold mine for the chic and the unique. Serious shoppers and leisurely browsers will find incredible selections of merchandise at top retailers.
If your time is limited, head for Union Square. This well-manicured landmark park is mere blocks from the Suites. The square boasts the most sophisticated department stores (the largest Macy’s on the West Coast; Neiman-Marcus; Saks Fifth Avenue) and serves as the hub of San Francisco’s shopping district. In the immediate vicinity of Sutter, Post, Geary and Stockton Streets (and Grant Avenue) you will find some of the most exclusive specialty stores and boutiques in the world. Among these fine boutiques are Chanel, Celine, Giorgio Armani, Frette, Shreve & Company, Prada, Betsy Johnson, Gump’s, Jil Sander, Cartier, Polo-Ralph Lauren, Tiffany & Company, Williams-Sonoma, Sur La Table, Wilkes Bashford, Britex Fabrics, Hermés of Paris and Louis Vuitton.
Walking along Powell toward Market Street, you will dead-end at the San Francisco Shopping Center, the nine-story shopping Mecca that made local retail history with both its daring “Store-in-the-sky” (Nordstrom) on the top four floors and its six spiral escalators. Over 90 popular boutiques featuring specialty items and gifts flank the 150-foot high atrium.
Be sure to stroll along Maiden Lane, a charming tree-lined alley between Stockton and Kearny Streets, home of wonderful little shops, galleries and salons (and a marvelous Frank Lloyd Wright-designed building!). Also visit the Crocker Galleria, an elegant three-level arcade with over 50 fashionable shops; the two entrances for the Galleria (on either Post or Sutter Streets at Kearny) are only blocks from the Suites.
If you have time to explore the City’s shopping possibilities in more depth, you will want to visit some of the outlying neighborhoods. Here are a few suggestions:
- Chinatown, bordered by Bush, Kearny, Powell and Vallejo Streets, is packed with traditional herb pharmacies, Chinese bakeries, jewelry boutiques, fortune cookie and garment factories, fresh produce markets, fish and poultry shops and delicious, family-owned restaurants.
- The Embarcadero Center on Battery between Clay and Sacramento Streets is a contemporary architectural showplace of five high-rise office buildings with over 175 shops, galleries and restaurants on the three lower levels.
- Ghirardelli Square at Beach and Polk Streets is an historic 19th Century chocolate factory with a stunning view of the bay. It now houses over 70 specialty shops and restaurants.
- Pier 39 is an extension of our #1 attraction Fisherman’s Wharf. It features over 100 shops, restaurants and live entertainment, and is a must-see especially to watch the Sea Lions!
- Sacramento Street between Lyon and Spruce Streets (in the elegant residential area called Laurel Heights) is a chic shopping haven where you will find specialty shops, antique stores (some open by appointment only), art galleries and more children’s stores than any other street in San Francisco.
- Union Street, between Octavia and Fillmore Streets is in the district known as Cow Hollow, where refurbished Victorian houses have been converted into a variety of high-quality shops, art galleries and boutiques.
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