Visitors to New Orleans plan to come here with an empty stomach, the better to enjoy the world-renowned cuisine. Only the initiated know to bring along empty bags as well, the better to fill them with wonderful surprises waiting in unique stores throughout the city's charming and accessible neighborhoods.
When it comes to shopping, few American cities offer the unusual blend of originality, charm, and convenience that characterize the New Orleans retail experience.
Not to say there is any lack of major national department stores such as Saks or Macy's (all the big brand names are here, too). But it is the one-of-a-kind specialty shops tucked away on French Quarter streets, or on the six-mile long Magazine Street; in the Arts/Warehouse district conveniently located near the convention center and hotels; and increasingly, in the Bywater/Marigny area just below the French Quarter that comprise an incomparable shopper's paradise.
How to get it all in without missing the jazz clubs, museums and restaurants on your short list? It's easy: plan your shopping around the cultural tour of your choice. The real secret to New Orleans shopping is that it doesn't take long to get anywhere-much less from one shop to another, or from your favorite restaurant to your new favorite shop. Traffic tends to be lighter here than in most American cities, and the public transit system is excellent and well utilized. (Caveat: in the last weeks of carnival season, a carnival parade can shut down a street. Deal with this serendipitous event by leaving your car in what has just become a parking lot in the street, go to the corner and enjoy the parade.)
What can you get here that you can't elsewhere? Try plantation furniture gems; 19th century jewelry that graced the throats of Creole beauties; huge sets of elegant china, crystal and silver from Uptown mansions, country hideaways and French Quarter townhouses; contemporary, folk and early American art; original contemporary jewelry, apparel and objects made by regional designers and artisans who prefer the special charms of New Orleans to the rigors of big city art scenes.
Antiques come in from the country, off containers from England and Europe, or out of homes that prefer designs from bygone eras to today's high-tech or over-decorated interiors. Designers can be as stylish as Mignon Faget, New Orleans' own Elsa Peretti, or as flamboyant as Yvonne La Fleur. Her hats are just the thing for over-the-top Easter parades of carriages through the Quarter, or your next girls-only lunch at Galatoire's or Antoine's.
Stationery designer Alexa Pulitzer's note cards, invitations and pads feature palmetto plants and elegant little crowns, a testimony to the sub-tropical landscape and the pervasiveness of carnival's royal tinge. Glass makers, potters, metal designers, furniture makers fill weekend art fairs with their work. Vintage shops offer endless carnival costumes along with the city's once ubiquitous linen suits and great old straw hats.
Want to know where to shop for what? Here are some clues:
Looking for high-end European antiques? Head for the French Quarter or Magazine Street. Elegant old china sets, classic 19th century crystal, elaborate silver can be found at M. S. Rau Antiques on Royal Street, New Orleans Silversmiths on Chartres and As You Like It Silver Shop on Magazine.
For estate jewelry, try Joan Good Antiques and Dixon and Harris of Royal, both on Royal Street. Scouring the city for vintage clothes and accessories, handmade, one-of-a-kind tops, skirts, dresses and long coats from old kimonos, gowns and other fabrics? Head to Royal Street in the French Quarter. Turncoats, Funky Monkey, Buffalo Exchange and Miss Claudia are also favorite vintage clothing shops on Magazine Street.
For leftover Mardi Gras costumes from previous revelers, from Kings to clowns, just right for your one day of masking in the quarter, or whatever wild party ahead in your life, try almost any antiques shop on Decatur Street in the French Quarter.
Looking for established apparel designers? Try The Shops at Canal Place, which includes designer boutiques such as Gucci and Coach, or New Orleans Centre. Check boutiques on Magazine Street for the hippest, trendiest clothes in almost any size. Shoes for fashionistas: Victoria's, uptown or in the Quarter; ele, Feet First, Shoefty, Shoe-Nami, and Pied-Nu on Magazine Street; or Saks Fifth Avenue in Canal Place. Funky, handmade, reconstructed, gothic and vintage apparel: Lower Magazine Street, French Quarter, or Marigny.
Need Contemporary jewelry from silver seashells to six strand button pearl chokers? Try Mignon Faget on Magazine Street or Canal Place. Alligator, lizard bags, belts and boots can be found at Wehmeier's in the French Quarter
Want something new for your established contemporary art collection? You'll find Gallery Bienvenu, as well as over a dozen upscale galleries, nearby on Julia Street in the Warehouse and Arts District. Magazine Street, particularly the higher number blocks, also has a number of notable ones. In the French Quarter, visit Hanson|King Gallery, Michalopoulos Gallery, Rodrigue Studio or Frederick Guess Studio. To find art by the latest sensation in town or from other key national art centers, go to the Contemporary Art Center, where sculptures, paintings, photographs and more are exhibited and can be purchased.
Are you an "emerging" art collector looking for the newer and less expensive works of art? D'Alley, Inc. will have something for you in the French Quarter, or try RHINO Contemporary Craft Company in Canal Place.
Is your home more traditional, and a nice landscape or still life just right? A Gallery for Fine Photography on Chartres, or Alexander & Victor Fine Art, Martin Lawrence Galleries, and Bryant Galleries, all on Royal Street, may have something for you. Some of the galleries or antiques and gift shops on Magazine Street may also have just what you need.
Looking for exceptional examples of Southern art? Try the Center for Southern Craft and Design at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, right across the street from the Contemporary Art Center, or Southern Expressions Art in the French Quarter. What about folk art from the region? Head for the Louisiana State Museum gift shop on Jackson Square. And how about exotic African, Caribbean, Haitian and New Orleans original art? Try Street Scene Galleries on Decatur.
Weekend art fairs in Mid-City and Bywater-Marigny feature a range of artwork and crafts, but with plenty of New Orleans originals such as old post-card tiles and coasters.
You can find New Orleans coffees such as Community, French Quarter or Union at any supermarket. Pralines in endless special flavors, pecan clusters, and taffy still made fresh: Aunt Sally's Creole Pralines on Royal Street, Pralines by Jean on St. Charles, Praline Connection on South Peters, or Evans Candy Company and Southern Candymakers, both on Decatur.
For pecans picked this month, (from November - January) look at the French Market in the French Quarter, or most supermarkets. Satsumas, a slightly tarter, yet mild tangerine/orange-like fruit can be found on vegetable wagons at City Park, on Carrollton Avenue, or in most supermarkets.
Find Creole mustards… a gritty, piquant version of French poupon-like mustard such as Zatarain's at any supermarket.
There are endless selections of hot sauces from Tabasco to dozens of others at any supermarket. Turbinado raw sugar from Louisiana sugar cane fields is neither white nor brown, but kind of Creole and available at most supermarkets and the French Market.
While in the French Market, don’t forget to look for sugar canes – about 10' tall – to put on top of your SUV like skis. Go down Decatur to Central Grocery for muffulettas, a kind of round hero with lots of antipasto on top of layers of salami and cheese.
For fresh crawfish, shrimp, oysters, crabs, catfish, pompano, tuna, sea trout, redfish, packed in ice to go, head to the nearest seafood store.
This material may be reproduced for editorial purposes of promoting New Orleans. Please attribute stories to New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau.
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