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New York's shops cater to every possible taste, in any combination and in many cases at any time of the day or night. As such, they're a great reason for visiting the city, even if the invasion of chains, like Barnes & Noble, Filene's Basement and even the world's largest K-Mart have caused some worry. Nevertheless, many of the oddest and oldest stores remain, and nothing beats discovering a quirky, independent shop that may specialize only in vintage cufflinks or rubber stamps.
Remember that an 8.25 percent sales tax will be added to your bill; this is bypassed sometimes when paying cash in a market or discount store. Finally, wherever you're shopping, be careful. Manhattan's crowded, frenzied stores are ripe territory for pickpockets and bag-snatchers.
Antiques
New York is the premier antique source in the country, excellent for browsing, with museum-quality pieces available (typically costing a fortune) as well as lots of interesting, fairly priced stuff at the junkier end of the market. Prime...
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Books
Book lovers bemoan the steady disappearance of New York's independent bookstores, and attribute their loss to the phenomenon of Barnes & Noble superstores, but there's still no shortage of places to find books , no matter how esoteric your...
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Clothes, fashion and accessories
If you are prepared to search the city with sufficient dedication you can find just about anything, but it's the designer clothes and the snob values that go with them that predominate. Secondhand clothes , of the...
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Department stores and malls
DEPARTMENT STORES Barney's 600 Madison Ave (at 61st St) tel 212/826-8900. Mon-Fri 10am-8pm, Sat 10am-7pm. Though a proper department store, Barney's actually concentrates on clothes, particularly men's, with the emphasis on...
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The Diamond District
The strip of 47th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues is known as the Diamond District . Crammed into this one block are more than 100 shops: combined they sell more jewelry than any other block in the world. The industry has traditionally...
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Food and drink
Food - the buying as much as the consuming of it - is a New York obsession. Though you can find a deli on pretty much any corner, it's in the gourmet markets and specialty shops - cheese, bread, smoked fish, what have you - that the city really...
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Music
While the top music megastores in New York are the British chain HMV, Tower Records and the Virgin Megastore, specialty pop music stores are clustered in the East and West villages. CHAINS HMV 2081 Broadway (at 72nd St) tel...
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Sporting goods
The sporting goods scene is dominated by chains such as Foot Locker, The Athlete's Foot, Sports Authority and Modell's, though there are a few other options - "theme park" sports clothes stores, as well as stores tightly focused on...
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