NEW YORK SHOPPING ADVENTURES

$ $ $ $ $ $ $

 

Now that the DOLLAR is at its lowest in your generation of shopping, the deals you can make in New York can almost pay for the cost of your ticket. If you have any way of proving that you work in whole-sale,
you should stroll around the whole-sale area between 5th Avenue and 9th Avenue, from 25th to 39th. I would not set my foot on 5th Avenue to shop, but for serious power shoppers with a platinum credit card,
this might be paradise. The below are places that either will give you a good shopping experience or potential for a serious bargain for stuff you never knew you needed. However, I also want to warn you about going through the customs once you are back (in for example Denmark), since if you have bought too many things, your government most likely wants you to pay 25% in taxes of any imported goods. If they pick you up while walking out of the terminal, you might get busted and not only do you pay the TAX fee, you pay twice as much of the TAX fee in penalty. Just so you know. I will not give you tips how to avoid it, just think about it...

Century 21

Best department store in the Manhattan, right next to Ground Zero.
Here you can get top designer brands cheaper than you expected. Really.
22 Courtland Street
http://www.c21stores.com

Apple Store SoHo & Uptown

The SOHO store is housed inside an old post office, and is good if you are in urgent need for an apple product when you are downtown. However, the uptown 5th Avenue location that is open 24 hours is worth
the visit just for the experience, even if you are not a apple user. The square glass box entrance that pops out of the street like a window into the underground technological future of mankind, reminds me of the pyramid at the Louvre Museum in Paris. But square. Get your latest I-gadget or pimp your mac product with the latest on the market, as it is here you will find it first. People stand in lines in the morning to be able to pay for the latest "I" this or that.

103 Prince St or 767 Fifth Ave.

B&H - Photo and Video

Entering the B&H empire is another experience worth trying out. The place is run by Orthodox Hasidic Jews living in south Williamsburg, in full old school gear, great hats, curly sideburns and long black coats.
It is really worth going onto the website and check for any of your needs, in both the new and second hand product catalogue. It is also an experience to chat with one of friendly the guys on the floor. Just ask them what you want, may it be the latest smallest and cheapest digital camera, or a video camera to make your next feature film. You will stand in lines and wonder why there is baskets floating above your head like some kind of Santa Claus workshop, but its good fun and when you walk out with a brand new toy, it is better than christmas.

420 9th Avenue
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/ 
read more about B&H on this blog, where the images are also from

FAO Schwarz

You are greeted by a jolly man in red uniform, and as you walk let the inner child in you pop out. If you are with a child, let them run wild and don't hold them back from exploring the whole places three story building.

 

The oversized piano featured in the Tom Hanks film "Big" is good fun, even if you are not a kid, but it might be painful if you are a piano teacher. There are strange live looking babies that are held out to you by young women in nurses outfits, incouraging young girls to take care of babies and if they are lucky, become nurses. There is story telling time in the basement for the smaller kids by a real princess and whole rooms dedicated to everything: Starwars, Princess, Barbie, dolls, cars and fluffy animals. For some extra time in a line, you can
get your present wrapped in FAO gift wrapping paper, so the one who recieving your gift can see where you actually got it. This is important stuff in New York. Also, it is more fun to call the place FAO Farts, if you ask a kid of the age of around 3- 5!
767 Fifth Avenue
www.fao.com

Strand Book Store

the above image of Strand by newyorkdailyphoto.blogspot.com


"18 Miles of Books!" for your book collecting pleasures. Back in the 70's many well known artists, writers and musicians worked and used the store as the main meeting spot in the daytime, such as Patti Smith
and Tom Verlaine. In the 1970s, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist George F. Will wrote, "the eight miles worth saving in this city are at the corner of Broadway and 12th Street. They are the crammed
shelves of the Strand Book Store." Ask one the staff for any of your book needs, and you will get a tour of the place that is organized in ways that can seem hard for most to grasp. Their used book selection is like going into a gold mine, the accessories, T-shits, book bags are must have items, and the prices are not bad
828 Broadway, at 12th St.
http://www.strandbooks.com
 

Mondo Kim's (UPDATE 2013 - NOW CLOSED)

The PUNK staff take pride in treating you for what you are; may it be an annoying eurotrashie with no REAL understanding of film, a phony looking adult, or wanna-be-New Yorker.



The wide selection of new and second hand vinyls, videos and dvd's are like entering heaven.
Most subgenres of film are neatly arranged, by what country they are from, directors or sexual orientation.



This is also the place to go and get underground mixtapes by local rappers. If you are all out of inspiration in your local ghetto, buy some tapes from the cutting edge of New York and bring it back to your hood claiming it yours. We'll its been done before, and a well used trick in the art world. They are so punk, they can't even be bothererd with a working website.
6 St. Marks P

Other Music

Greetings all music nerds. You ask for it; they got it, with a smile and no attitudes.
Check out their website for the latest stuff that might be cheaper to carry home with you, than ordering it online.
15 E 4th St.