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With its grand department stores and funky secondhand boutiques, San Francisco summons a full range of shopping experiences. From the anarchist bookstore to the mouthwatering specialty-food purveyors at the gleaming Ferry Building, the local shopping opportunities reflect the city's various personalities. Visitors with limited time often focus their energies on the high-density Union Square area, where several major department stores tower over big-name boutiques. But if you're keen to find unique local shops, consider moving beyond the square's radius.
Each neighborhood has its own distinctive finds, whether it's 1960s housewares, cheeky stationery, or vintage Levi's. If shopping in San Francisco has a downside, it's that real bargains can be few and far between. Sure, neighborhoods such as the Lower Haight and the Mission have thrift shops and other inexpensive stores, but you won't find many discount outlets in the city, where rents are sky-high and space is at a premium.
Seasonal sales, usually in late January and late July or August, are good opportunities for finding deep discounts on clothing. The San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner advertise sales. For smaller shops, check the free SF Weekly, which can be found on street corners every Wednesday. Sample sales are usually held by individual manufacturers, so check your favorite company's website before visiting.
Fantastic organic-milk cheeses—such as the mellow, triple-cream Mt. Tam and bocconcini (small balls of fresh mozzarella)—are produced at a creamery an hour's drive north of the city. These and other carefully chosen artisanal cheeses and dairy products, including a luscious, freshly made crème fraîche, round out the selection at the in-town store.
The partylike Saturday edition of the city's most upscale and expensive farmers' market places baked goods, gourmet cheeses, smoked fish, and fancy pots of jam alongside organic basil, specialty mushrooms, heirloom tomatoes, and juicy-ripe locally grown fruit. Smaller markets also take place on Tuesday and Thursday year-round, rain or shine—and the many passionate San Francisco home cooks who frequent them will come even in a rainstorm.
Windows at this modest-size bookstore frame close-up views of the docks and San Francisco Bay. Commuters snap up magazines by the front door as they rush off to their ferries, and kids browse the Kids' Corner while Ferry Building visitors thumb through the thorough selection of cooking and travel titles. Author events take place several times a month.
The educational gadgets sold here are so clever and engaging that kids won't know they're learning while playing. Space- and dinosaur-related games are popular, as are science videos and optical illusion gifts.
This is the only retail outpost of this Sonoma County ranch, a producer of outstanding organic, extra-virgin olive oil. If you stop by in fall or winter, don't miss the Olio Nuovo, the days-old green oil produced during the harvest.
Michael and Jacky Recchiuti began making otherworldly chocolates in San Francisco in 1997, using traditional European techniques. Now considered among the best confectioners in the world, they stock their store here with their full chocolate line, including several unique items like dark chocolate truffles made with Napa Valley sparkling wine and a box of burnt caramel truffles decorated with images of San Francisco's iconic places.
Artful, functional home and garden accessories are the lure here, from woven baskets and teak salad bowls to beautifully illustrated books. Although there's only a small selection of actual gardening items, such as seeds, bulbs, and tools, there are plenty of bath and body items with which to pamper yourself after a day in the yard.
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