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The Village's poets and artists have long been replaced by New York University buildings and apartments with sky-high rent. Still, if you know where to look, there are charmingly offbeat stores worth exploring here that retain the flavor of the glory days.
When you walk into this revered shop, the pungent, funky aromas will immediately announce to your olfactory glands that you've entered a cheese shop. Since 1962, Murray's has been making Bleecker Street the cheesiest spot in the city, stocking various cheddars, Bries, chèvres, Goudas, Gruyères, Manchegos, and stinky varieties. They also peddle artisanal cured meats, sausages, crackers, nuts, jams, and condiments. You can even take home a Murray's T-shirt or tote bag with "BIG CHEESE" scrawled across it.
Founded in 1838, this is the oldest apothecary-pharmacy in the United States; Mark Twain used to fill prescriptions here. They still fill prescriptions, but the real reason to come is for the hard-to-find brands like Klorane shampoo and Elgydium toothpaste. Bigelow also has its own line of products, including green-tea lip balm and quince hand lotion.
Indie record shops were once a big part of the American indie-pop culture landscape. At this shop, you can pretend it's the '80s or '90s again by shopping for CDs and vinyl. While Generation Records stocks many genres of music, its forte is punk and metal, so if you're looking for Celtic Frost or the Dead Kennedys on vinyl, this is the place.
Specializing in vintage clothing from the 1940s to the '90s, this colorful and fun shop is loaded with racks of retro duds that dazzle. Maybe you didn't realize you needed a bright-orange sweater vest from the '70s or a black leather jacket with sleeve fringes from the '80s, but you never know.
Everything at this lingerie boutique is unabashedly sexy, and the helpful staff can find the perfect fit. The store's own line of corsets, camisoles, and other underpinnings comes in a range of colors.
Bring home a truly local souvenir by heading to this diminutive space where owner Caroline Weaver has curated hundreds of fun, high-quality products made within 100 miles of NYC. All your favorite buzzwords are here: small batch, sustainable, organic, artisanal, etc. Pick up sunscreen made in Rockaway Beach, Queens; fettuccine from the Bronx's "Little Italy"; candles from Brooklyn; and even eat-on-the-spot pickles from the city's oldest pickle purveyor.
After doing a series of pop-ups, as the name suggests, this unique, colorful food market has decided not to pop-down. Thank goodness for that. After all, this is no ordinary market. The concept here is to stock the shelves with unique treats and snacks—things you might not find at your grocery store back home, but instead, might see at a small corner market while traveling somewhere in the world. You may not recognize any of the names, but you're certain to be dazzled by a new brand of coffee, candy, chips, or soda.
You might not have realized it but you may have already eaten the pasta made in this diminutive food shop: Raffetto's quietly supplies dozens of Italian restaurants in the city with pasta and related food items. Since 1906, the Raffetto family has been making dried and fresh pasta and stocking their shelves with homemade Italian food products—back when this part of the Village was a "Little Italy" of sorts.
