76 Best Shopping in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Serious shoppers will want to make a trip to King of Prussia Mall, the largest retail shopping complex on the East Coast. The Plaza, Court, and Pavilion at King of Prussia provide elegant places to stroll and shop. There are nearly 400 specialty shops and six department stores, including Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale's, and Crate & Barrel. The mall is about 20 miles from downtown; SEPTA Bus 124 or 125 from 17th Street and John F. Kennedy Boulevard runs to the mall.

Shop-'til-you-droppers make a beeline for Rittenhouse Row, the area between Broad and 21st streets and Spruce and Market streets. Lately the chains have been taking over Walnut Street between Rittenhouse Square and Broad Street, but this is still the greatest concentration of swanky stores and tony boutiques, art galleries, and jewelers you'll find in the city.

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 is the flagship store of a highly respected chain that stocks the world's largest selection of 16th- to 19th-century prints and maps, specializing in botanicals, birds, and the American West.

This flagship store for a brand launched in 2008 by a local ad man set the stage for an idiosyncratic mix of wares made using pre–Industrial Age methods. On sale are handcrafted blanket rolls, bar tools and accessories, hand-dyed T-shirts, and bottles of spirits inspired by the original recipes for gingersnaps and root beer.

Cross the street if you don't want to get lured inside by the enticing aromas of fresh-baked artisanal breads and pastries at this small bakery at the base of Chestnut Hill. There's also a small selection of sandwiches and pizzas if you need to refuel before trekking up Germantown Avenue.

Stunningly simple earrings, bracelets, and necklaces are designed and handcrafted locally at this store-workshop by two women (Anna Bario and Page Neal) who create environmentally friendly jewelry. All materials are reclaimed, ethically sourced, or retrieved using low-impact practices. Even the packaging—reclaimed glass bottles with cork stoppers—is green.

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

Across the street from the Liberty Bell is the Bourse, an elegantly restored 1895 commodities exchange building. The six-story skylighted atrium contains a few fun shops catering to tourists, such as Destination Philadelphia, as well as a festive international food court.

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 charming, worn-in feel of this store lined with wooden shelves befits the merchandise for sale: the focus is on rare, small-press used and new books, although it's not unheard-of to find a $4 Hardy Boys paperback next to a first-edition Edward Gorey. The store also acts as a venue for fringe musicians from near and far.

Owned by a British expat, this shop sells fashion-forward, cutting-edge shoes by European labels like Fluevog, Coclico, United Nude and Fly London that are hard to find on this side of the pond.

French Art Deco, Modernist, and post-war furniture and objects from the 1940s and '50s tempt discerning collectors at this fine establishment, which has moved to a large, open space in northeast Philadelphia from its original Rittehouse Square townhouse.

You'll find elegant and distinctive jewelry in gold and platinum at this well-known shop. They also have a curated collection of crafts in wood, glass, pottery, and silver.

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.

American and European paintings, drawings, and watercolors from the 16th to the 20th century are on display.

There are three locations to tempt the palate—the original one in the Italian Market and the hipper ones in Rittenhouse Square and Washington West. Di Bruno's is a mecca for cheese lovers—the store carries more than 300 different varieties from around the world, as well as some house-made kinds. You can also find barrels of olives, imported olive oils, Abbruzze sausage, and balsamic vinegar that's been aged for 75 years. The staff is very knowledgeable and will provide friendly advice on storage, preparation, and serving ideas. Ask for recipes and samples.

This is the original location of the famed cheese shop; the other, larger stores are in Rittenhouse Square and Washington Square West. The major difference among them really is size. Its uptown siblings are enormous and can be overwhelming. This shop is tiny—long, narrow, and cave-like, with salamis hanging from the ceiling like stalactites. Still, it's jam-packed with all the specialties you expect from the Di Brunos—cheeses, olive oils, prepared foods—plus a sandwich counter and the usual über-knowledgeable staffers.

The two co-owners for whom this shop is named make most of the colorful wedges of soap and the organic scrubs, shampoos, and other skin- and hair-care products locally and infuse them with scents like ginger and mojito. The shop recently expanded to offer a full-service hair salon and a yoga studio on-site.

Modern, exciting furniture that will make you want to redecorate your pad into the coolest, most comfortable apartment in town. A must, even if you're not planning to buy.

This low-key, stripped-down boutique set in a beautiful town house specializes in fine jewelry by contemporary designers like Jonathan Wahl and Maria Beaulieu, who craft refined, restrained pieces that highlight the materials and the wearer.

The three floors of this unique store feel like a folk-art museum with Peruvian alpaca sweaters, Day of the Dead art, and instruments, jewelry, and decorative items from all over Mexico and South America for sale. From basement to skylight, the store's interior is filled with mosaics by famed local artist Isaiah Zagar, who owns the shop with his wife.

In the early 1900s, 4th Street, today's Fabric Row, was teeming with pushcarts selling calico, notions, and trimming, and was known as "der Ferder" or "the Fourth" in Yiddish. Today several century-old fabric stores still stand, like stalwarts Maxie's Daughter and Fleishman Fabrics and Supplies, but many of the storefronts are home to locals selling wares from European-label shoes to fair-trade coffee. There's also a resurgent restaurant scene.

A nonprofit arts organization runs this center and store dedicated to creating new work in fabric and other materials, working with emerging and nationally and internationally recognized artists.

One of the nation's oldest gourmet supply stores has the largest selection of coffeemakers and cooking equipment in the United States. Family owned since 1906, Fante's is famous for oddball kitchen gadgets such as truffle shavers and pineapple peelers; restaurants and bakeries all over the country and overseas order from the store. It's in the Italian Market, so you can combine a visit here with other food shopping.

For more than 30 years, Fat Jack's has been a mecca for local comic devotees with fresh-off-the-presses copies from major and independent publishers, including Japanese mangas plus 3-D posters, action figures, and the obligatory Dungeons & Dragons supplies.

You can find fine works by 20th-century self-taught American artists here, such as Martin Ramirez, Joan Nelson, and Joseph Yoakum.

This is the original New Age bookstore that hails from the days when hippies arrived on South Street in 1972 and turned it into an arts enclave. Follow the smell of incense and step inside to find books on astrology, tarot, shamanism, and world religions and cultures, plus a large selection of jewelry, crystals, and candles.

Noted local goldsmith Gary Mann creates elegant custom jewelry. The store is also known for its estate jewelry, carved jade and emerald pieces, stack rings, and Judaica.