Best gift shops: Soho
Fri Nov 9 2012
Pylones
Anthropologie
- Price band: 2/4
Decidedly more refined and upscale than its sibling shop, Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie specializes in bohemian and vintage-inspired clothing and home decor, as indicated by their eternally-inspiring, always-changing store design schemes. While they offer a slew of in-house clothing lines, they've started turning out designer capsule collections with harder-to-find labels like Twinkle by Wenlan and Maria Bonita Extra, which means that there are a plethora of well-cut patterned dresses, oversize knit sweaters and adorable, wear-everywhere tops. The home goods are particularly strong and range from the big (huge armchairs recovered in Scandinavian textiles) to the eensy (door pulls fashioned out of chunks of graphite).
- 375 West Broadway between Broome and Spring Sts
CB2
- Price band: 2/4
Home-design aficionados and budget-conscious shoppers flock to the hipper, more wallet-friendly spin-off of domestic-goods behemoth Crate & Barrel. The 7,500-square-foot space is packed with modern furnishings that are scaled down for apartment dwellers, along with sleek tableware and chic accents.
- 451 Broadway between Grand and Howard Sts
Global Table
- Price band: 2/4
Following in the footsteps of its long-standing Soho shop, this home-accessories boutique known for its worldly wares opened a second location uptown. For those who can’t afford to globe-trot but crave a touch of international flair in their homes, Global Table offers modern, handcrafted housewares and home goods sourced from around the world. Minimalist furnishings coupled with bright green-and-yellow walls set the backdrop for an array of unusual finds, including vibrant Senegalese woven baskets ($56–$175), horn bowls from India ($42 each), and Kosoy and Bouchard embossed-porcelain tableware ($40–$100) made in Canada.
- 471 Amsterdam Ave, (between 82nd and 83rd Sts)
In God We Trust
- Price band: 2/4
Designer Shana Tabor’s cozy stores cater to that ever-appealing Brooklynesque retro-bookish aesthetic, offering locally crafted collections for men and women. Taxidermy and antiques dot the friendly stores' interiors, available for purchase if you're a sucker for stuffed animals and odd objects. Tabor's jewelry line is also uncommonly alluring.
- 265 Lafayette St between Prince and Spring Sts
Jonathan Adler
- Price band: 4/4
In addition to browbeating fledgling interior decorators on the reality show Top Design, the housewares juggernaut has multiple NYC boutiques, where fans can find button-back couches, antique brass cocktail tables and all manner of happy, happy home items. Cure friends suffering from the bleak-studio-apartment blues with Adler’s manifesto My Prescription for Anti-Depressive Living.
- 47 Greene St between Broome and Grand Sts
Kiosk
- Price band: 1/4
- Critics choice
Don’t be put off by the unprepossessing, graffiti-covered stairway that leads up to this gem of a shop. Alisa Grifo has collected an array of inexpensive items—mostly simple and functional but with a strong design aesthetic —from around the world, such as hairpins in a cool retro box from Mexico, Finnish licorice, colorful net bags from Germany and a butterfly can-opener from Japan.
- 95 Spring St, (between Broadway and Mercer St, second floor)
Kisan Concept Store
- Price band: 2/4
- Critics choice
You don’t have to travel the globe to own worldly wares: This Icelandic boutique’s first stateside shop carries a melting pot of high-design goods from both established brands and emerging designers. The 1,300-square-foot Soho space stocks exclusive pieces, colorful clothing, handmade trinkets and eclectic accessories from a unique medley of designers, including Sonia Rykiel, John Derian and Isabel Marant.
- 125 Greene St between Prince and W Houston Sts
Matter
- Price band: 2/4
The Soho spin-off of the Brooklyn design store offers an international selection of furniture, homewares and jewelry, including architect Zaha Hadid’s interlocking Nekton stools and hot duo FredriksonStallard’s provocative cross-shaped clothes brushes. There are great New York-centric gifts too: Look out for metal manhole-cover coasters by Curios and Tel Aviv-based Johnathan Hopp’s miniature porcelain buildings.
- 405 Broome St between Centre and Lafayette Sts
Pearl River Mart
- Price band: 1/4
- Critics choice
You could spend hours wandering around this three-floor hodgepodge warehouse of home goods, clothing and random trinkets you desperately want but probably don’t need. There’s a wide selection of decorated ceramic dishware, such as tea sets of four ($57), owl-shaped salt and pepper shakers ($11), and vases of every color and shape ($57). Other highlights include a unique lighting department, where you can choose from takeout-container-shaped lamps ($19), square rice-paper lanterns ($36) and strings of rattan-wire party lights ($23). Be sure to stock up on quirky items like NYC souvenir totes ($8), colorful coin purses ($4) and bottle openers shaped like whales ($13) to keep on hand as gifts.
- 477 Broadway between Broome and Grand Sts
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