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Home - City Guide - Baltimore - Shopping | ||
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Shopping Shopping in Baltimore really brings to life the neighbourhood feel of the city. The most brazenly commercial and modern spot is the Inner Harbor, with its Gallery and Harborplace malls full of the latest designer and brand-name shops. Each of the districts surrounding the harbour area has its shopping centres and specialities. In Mount Vernon, the renowned Antique Row is at 700-800 North Howard Street and 200-300 West Read Street, with 40 antique shops and 70 dealers. Usual opening hours are Monday-Saturday 1100-1600. A little to the east of this on Charles Street are small, individual shops, cafÉs and restaurants. Fells Point centres around Broadway Market, on Broadway and Fleet Streets. This specialist food market with stalls and shops occupies the oldest existing building in the city, dating from 1785. Around it are curio shops, galleries and bakeries. Little Italy alongside to the west has a similar, more upmarket feel to it. Broadway Market is only one of several open food and produce markets. The oldest of them all is Lexington Market, just south of the Mount Vernon district (see the Further Distractions section). Others include: Belair Market (Gay and Fayette Streets, just above the Inner Harbor); Cross Street Market (Charles and Cross Streets, Federal Hill); Hollins Market (Hollins and Arlington Streets, SoWeBo); Lafayette Market (Pennsylvania and Laurens Streets); the newest market Northeast Market (Monument and Chester Streets); and the downtown Farmer's Market (under the Jones Falls Expressway at Holiday and Saratoga Streets). The markets are an important part of identifying the local colour and flavour of a district. Each market has its own character, characters and specialities. All markets are open Monday-Saturday except Hollins (closed Mondays). Baltimore Public Markets can provide more information (tel: (410) 276 9498). For individual shopping, again Baltimore has much to offer. Two good bookshops stores are: Bibelot, Woodholme Centre, 1819 Reistertown Road and Kelmscott Bookshop, 32-34 West 25th Street (tel: (410) 235 6810). Men's tailoring is a speciality of Jos A Banks Clothiers, 100 East Pratt Street. For women's clothing, there is the Village of Cross Keys, 5100 Falls Road, a shopping complex about ten kilometres (six miles) from downtown with, amongst 40 boutiques, specialists such as Ruth Shaw, Octavia and Jones and Jones. Also at the Cross Keys is Store Ltd, which sells a top-quality range of handcrafted jewellery, as well as special gift items, such as stationery, kitchen gadgets and coffee table books. Another good place for unusual gift items is Crafts Concepts, Greenspring Station, on Falls and Joppa Roads. General shopping hours are 0830-1800, although many malls and large stores are open into the evening. Always retain receipts as customs may ask to see that tax has already been paid locally. Individual shops can provide tax and duty-free forms, which means that items can have tax reclaimed on departure from the USA. |