11 Best Shopping in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The flagship shop of the locally based national chain takes up three floors of an elegant Rittenhouse Square building (once someone's mansion, of course). The sales floors that encircle the grand stone staircase are brimming with lush colors, floral patterns, and vintage and ethnic-inspired styles that offer a departure from the ordinary. Pretty jewelry, stylish shoes and handbags, and other accessories add an enchanting femininity to fashion. Head downstairs for an array of home decor, including glassware, pottery, pillows, and mirrors. Be sure to check out the lower level for racks of bargain-priced sale items, and don't forget to look up at the towering first-floor ceiling of the onetime front parlor.

This shop is filled with unique clothing and toys for haute tots. Specialties include handmade goods, imported fashions, and styles not available elsewhere.

Beneath the royal-blue canopy and white-marble entrance, you can find the largest single-store men's clothier in the country, with nine shops that present the traditional English look, avant-garde Italian imports, and dozens of other styles and designers, from Armani to Zegna. The store has departments for extra tall, large, and short men; formal wear; and shoes; and there's free valet parking, and 60 tailors on the premises. Women can find a small selection of high-quality designer clothes, too.

The store carries a look between conservative and classic in infant to preteen clothes and shoes. You can buy complete wardrobes, specialty gifts, and handmade items. An extensive toy department carries the latest in kiddie crazes.

This funky, luxe boutique on the corner of a residential street stocks unusual garments that stand out for their unexpected twists—a wide-leg pant in black velvet, a white oxford embroidered with flowers—as well as outright showstoppers like Asian tunics with mandarin collars and shimmering silk taffeta skirts. The owner designed the store interior herself, down to the hand-carved vines in the woodwork and the draped-fabric ceiling.

Only the adventurous dare enter this shop where a blue-haired saleswoman will fit you for your very own luxurious handcrafted corset. The work on these custom steel-boned pieces is beautiful and unique. The high-end wares sold here are the real deal as compared to the many of its neighbors on South Street that specialize in fishnets and Sexy Nurse costumes. You'll also find leather and bondage gear here.

In this shop that dates back to 1929, women's fashions from top American and European designers, such as Blumarine and Krizia, are presented in a salon setting, with experienced sales staff selecting the latest styles that are totally you.

Some know Sugarcube as a vintage boutique; others go for its stock of hard-to-find designers like A.P.C., Dunderdon, Lavender Brown, and Penumbra. The stylish, friendly owner is usually on hand to advise how to match your Williamsburg Garment Company jeans with your Rag and Bone shawl-collar cardi.

What started out as a storefront selling used jeans to students in West Philadelphia is now a trendsetting chain on campuses across the country. Three floors showcase an eclectic array of hip clothing, unusual books, and funky housewares that can go from the dorm room to the family room.

The two designing women/co-owners of Vagabond pioneered a formula—selling vintage wares alongside new, edgy labels and featuring under-the-radar brands like their own (Stellapop and City of Brotherly Love). It's been imitated plenty ever since, but this boutique still does it best.