Shopping in Greenwich Village: The best stores and boutiques

The PPB's main focus is on couples looking to invigorate their sex lives with props, potions or costumes. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable, and the store carries a huge number of toys, starting with cheap bullet vibes and topping out with $100-plus extreme dildos. The company's been in business since 1972, which makes Pink Pussycat a trusted name for dommes and submissives alike.

Sweet tooth? A Cuter Cupcake makes high-end treats that are easy on the eye. Once the pipe dream of a design student, the company has now grown into the delivery company we see today.  The designs are, as you might expect, very cute, but sometimes surprisingly complex. There’s an overall cartoony style to the decorations, which appear to come in all sizes and colours – the original box, for example, is made up of four cupcakes with rounded animals that mimic children’s toys. Traditionally items come in boxes of four, however other box sizes (e.g. eight) are stocked, too. You can also request speciality boxes tailored to you or your event, and all boxes are hand-delivered. A Cuter Cupcake also notes that their cupcakes are baked daily for freshness and that their kitchen and products are nut-free.

You’ll be transported to Paris once you step inside this opulent bath-and-body shop. Rich burgundy carpets, gilded wallpaper, a gloriously huge chandelier and a mahogany desk that serves as the checkout area set the stage for the luxurious fragrances ($50–$300), candles ($20–$400), lotions, and soaps from brands like Diptyque and Annick Goutal. Curiosity cabinets house many of the store’s exclusives—the West Village outpost is the only location in the country to sell several items, including candles by Les Secrets Ladurée Paris.  

This stationery store—with exposed brick, cheerful floral wallpaper and a pink overhanging lamp—exudes West Village charm. It’s owned by sisters Amy Swanson and Beth Salvini, whose family has been in the printing biz for three generations, and nearly everything is designed in-house and produced on an old Gutenberg-style press. Aside from note cards and stationery, GLP also offers notebooks, rubber stamps, labels, gift tags and striking wrapping paper ($3–$5 a sheet).

Here’s where the magic happens: At Jacques Torres’s Hudson Street retail location, kids can peer through the glass wall to the chocolate factory’s floor, where cocoa and sugar are processed into chocolate. (Of course, you can buy it here, too.)

In operation since 1965, this friendly West Village institution sells all manner of fetish attire, as well as books, sex toys, magazines and plenty more.

Look for the deep blue awning on Bleecker Street and venture inside to scope out high-end paraphernalia from brand names like Sheldon Black, Medicali and JBD. The clerks are reputably knowledgeable and can service all your tricked-out pieces and one-of-a-kind accessory needs. Make sure to ask about Illadelph Glass products—they’re beautifully crafted and come in many different iterations.

Owner Carol Kaas offers up whimsical cottage decor at practical prices in her cozy shop, where you’ll find decoupage glass paperweights, plates and trays, all decorated with European marine and bird ephemera culled from 18th- and 19th-century prints. It’s all handmade by Kass’s small team of artisans at a nearby West Village studio.

There's a top-notch selection of stylish men's footwear at this luxury store, with collections such as Gaziano & Girling and Aubercy making their American debut. A 14-foot ash dining room table highlights a monopoly of footwear collections, and the black floral wallpaper and nickel chandelier pump up the elegance factor. Scoop up a pair of Cocteaus, or go all out for custom-made shoes. The sole reads “numquam jactate” (translation: never boast), but wearing bespoke kicks convey at least a little bit of bragging rights.

Head first to this West Village outpost to find a flirty spring dress on a budget, and it’ll likely be your last stop (we recommend scanning the racks for locally made frocks by Kisses by Darling and Raquelle ($128–$328). Fresh flowers displayed throughout match the sunny disposition of the staff. Tables and chairs bordered by ivy-covered walls make for the perfect rest stop for shopping buddies (even four-legged ones) when the backyard garden isn’t being used for vintage sales in the summer. Other dresses range from $98 to $398 and tops cost $50 to $225, with the average vintage necklace ringing in at $58.