New Orleans, Louisiana City Guide
For over 20 years, Pamela Lanier's New Orleans, Louisiana Travel Guide has been your connection to New Orleans's tourism community with invaluable details on local attractions, restaurants, shopping, museums, history, outdoor recreation and more.
Shopping
 Like most things in this most unusual of cities, shopping in New Orleans is an indulging experience. New Orleans believes in the old-world marketplace tradition. Historic districts and luxury centers dedicated to the art of shopping gather remarkable concentrations of specialty shops, designer boutiques, galleries, cafés and restaurants. Downtown or Uptown, the convenience of walking store to store is topped only by the enjoyment of exploring charming neighborhoods, and discovering one-of-a-kind treasures.
Downtown, you can make shopping history at the French Market, America’s oldest operating public market. In the French Quarter, Royal Street is famous for its elegant antique furniture, décor and jewelry, while the Warehouse/Arts District, the “SoHo of the South” with its hip lofts and upscale contemporary galleries. Enjoy the Riverwalk Marketplace’s casual fun, giant food court, and up-close river views. The Shops at Canal Place, located adjacent to the French Quarter, is home to exclusive designer boutiques and exclusive shops. Magazine Street, known locally as the “Street of Dreams”, shoppers’ dreams - six miles of eclectic shops, hip boutiques, art studios, galleries, spas, restaurants and cafés that run the gamut from upscale to offbeat, and sophisticated to shabby chic, all tucked into charming row houses, Victorian cottages and renovated warehouses, the street’s business and residential mix runs all the way from Canal Street to Audubon Park.
In neighboring Jefferson Parish, two great shopping destinations offer visitors well over 100 stores under one roof. Lakeside Shopping Center is located in the heart of Metairie. The Esplanade Mall, in nearby Kenner, is located close to the Louis B. Armstrong International Airport. Both offer tax free shopping for international visitors.
The most famous section of Royal street is the portion in the upper French Quarter, known for its scores of opulent antique shops and art galleries, located only one block south of the party atmosphere of Bourbon Street. Many of the shops on the street are so high priced, it has earned a spot on the list of most expensive shopping streets in the world; the finer antique shops display not simply items that are old, but such rare items as pieces of fine art furniture owned by royalty of past centuries. Although such pieces are out of the budget of all but a few visitors, window shopping along Royal Street is a popular pastime. |
