If you’ve got the urge to shop, there’s no place finer than 5th Avenue. While the famous thoroughfare is home to everything from the Empire State Building to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it’s most notable as the location of New York’s most prestigious clothing and jewelry stores. Don’t forget your pocketbook—5th Avenue is currently second only to Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay for most expensive retail street in the world! Here’s a where-to-buy list of everything between 49th and 60th Streets, the prime shopping territory:
Michael Kors starts out the shopping Mecca’s south side, at the corner of 5th and 49th. Here you can buy the famous designer’s full range of fashions: men’s and women’s apparel, jewelry, watches, shoes, slippers, shoulder bags, wallets and fragrance. Saks Fifth Avenue, across the street, is one of the street’s upscale department stores, selling a wide range of fashions and accessories by over two dozen designers. Their metallic heels and eye-catching satchels are among the most popular products, but the store has everything from sunglasses to swimwear. The French fashion house Louis Vuitton is famous worldwide for their “LV” logo and their handmade leather bags. The store on 5th Avenue is the largest in the United States, with enormous window displays and almost every Louis Vuitton product available. Cole Haan fashions can be found at Macy’s or Lord & Taylors, but the brand’s flagship store features not only a wider selection but also the stunning bronze Industries of the British Commonwealth by Carl Paul Jennewein over its front door. Inside you can purchase all types of men’s and women’s shoes, accessories, and a small selection of outerwear. Boticelli Shoes is found in the same building, with everything from ballerinas to boots, loafers to lace-ups, as well as line of jackets.
The next block has fewer places to shop but more to see: on one side of the street is St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and on the other is Lee Lawrie’s massive statue of Atlas. On the south side of the Titan you can find Banana Republic, offering the middlebrow alternative to 5th Avenue’s high fashion with a wide range of quality apparel. On the statue’s other side is Façonnable, an upscale tailor with French riviera-inspired garments.
H&M, the planet’s second-largest clothing retailer, has a large outlet on the next block up, simultaneously offering fast fashion and a heart-pumping soundtrack. On the other end of the block is Juicy Couture‘s flagship, with stylish fashions for teens and twenty-somethings. Across the street is H. Stern, the Brazilian jeweler, and GANT, with their high-fashion leisurewear. Nearly two decades after the passing of Gianni Versace, the glamorous brand established by the Italian designer carries on the tradition. The Versace boutique on 5th Avenue offers world-class fashions at equally world-class prices—if you can afford it, this is the place to shop.
Between 52nd and 53rd streets you can find an even more diverse shopping selection. First there’s ZARA, the innovative Spanish retailer with a no-advertising policy and a plaid-heavy line of clothing. Right next to it is Hollister, with So-Cal threads for teenagers at affordable prices. Across the street the fashions are exclusively high, starting off with Salvatore Ferragamo, with footwear ranging from the staid to the chimerical. Next comes Ermenegildo Zegna, with luxury men’s styles from Italy, and Rolex, with the world’s finest (or at least, most expensive) watches. On the corner is a tiny St. John boutique, featuring not only their trademark knits, but a range of classic women’s styles for all ages.
Half of one side of the next block is dominated by St. Patrick Church, and the other half by GAP. But of course you can shop there in any city, so look across the street: here you’ll find Blanc de Chine, with its sleek line of orientalist styles; FENDI, with striking Italian fashions and distinctive “baguette” handbags for women, shoes and leather accessories for men; Tommy Hilfiger, with casual clothing for the whole family, plus bedding and luggage; Diesel, with denim-heavy fashions for young men and women.
Next is the University Club followed by a diverse array of tiny shops: Lindt chocolate, Swarovski crystal, Wempe jewelry and watches. On the other side there’s even more, starting with Massimo Dutti, the Spanish garment company, with dressy-casual men and women’s clothing. Bottega Venata, with leather goods of all types—handbags to shoes— comes next, known for their woven patterns and personalization. Though the leather comes first, they also have a line of fashions. Buccellati, on the corner, is a small jewelry designer, known for their nature-inspired necklaces and ornate silver.
Two famous stores sit beside the 5th Avenue Presbyterian Church on the next block: Henri Bendel, with a colorful array of women’s accessories and cosmetics, and Harry Winston, the luxury jewelers (whose eponymous founder once owned the Hope diamond). Across the street the shops are equally prestigious. Breguet, makers of fine Swiss watches with the distinctive blue pomme hands, followed by another Swiss watchmaker: Omega. The differing aesthetics of the two companies can be seen in their historical customers—Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI wore Breguet, while NASA and John F. Kennedy preferred Omega. Unrivaled, however, is Armani, with the final boutique on this block and the finest in bags and leather accessories.
Between 56th and 57th we’ve got Abercrombie and Fitch with casual college-aged styles, followed by Prada, with anything but casual in their luxury handbags, leather, and fragrances. From here to the end it’s all jewelry, with Mikimoto, Piaget and Bulgari each offering their own angle on gems in the historic Crown Building. On the other side it’s the Trump Tower, home to the Gucci flagship store and their formal styles, fine leather and wide array of handbags. The rest of the block is Tiffany & Co., with all that that entails: jewelry, perfume, watches, cufflinks, and everything blue.
Van Cleef & Arpels, with a gentle selection of diamonds, can be found on the next corner, dominated by the huge Bergdorf Goodman luxury department store that takes up the rest of the block, selling everything from shoes to jewelry to beauty products. The opposite side of the street is all reruns for the south-to-north shopper—here there’s another large Louis Vuitton outlet in case you didn’t get the bags you wanted on 49th, and another Bergdorf Goodman, with this side focusing on men’s shoes and clothing.
In these final blocks before Central Park the topography changes and the spaces open up. To the left (if you’re traveling in the same order as this article) you’ll find the two-block-long Grand Army Plaza, with the Pulitzer Fountain and plenty of space to rest after a busy day shopping. But there’s still more to see! To the right is the famed Apple Store, a futuristic glass cube over a spiral staircase that takes you down into a bunker of technological delight. The store is open 24 hours a day, allowing you to experience the latest in technology whenever you like. Directly behind it is FAO Schwarz, with plenty of entertainment for the other-than-digitally inclined. The massive toy store includes some massive toys, including a larger-than-life piano and stuffed animals of every conceivable size.
If you’re not quite done with luxury, though, step to the next block, between 59th and 60th streets. At the north end of the Grand Army Plaza you’ll find General Sherman covered in gold, and on the right three final high-end boutiques to conclude the shopping district—A La Vieille Russie, with antique jewelry, Russian art, and the works of Carl Fabergé; Ghurka, with men’s leather bags of all descriptions; and Domenico Vacca, the Italian designer.
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