Top Neighborhoods To Go On A Shopping Spree In Denver
(credit: CBS)If there is money burning a hole in your pocket, there are plenty of places in Denver with hip four letters names like SoBo, RiNo and LoHi where you can spend it. In neighborhoods across the metro area, these shorthand names mark major shopping areas where merchants peddle wares found nowhere else in the city. From a pair of gold flats winking from a storefront on South Broadway to a Straight Out Of Denver T-shirt at a Colorado creative collective, shoppers have miles of shelves to search for the perfect buy at the dozens of boutiques, galleries and specialties shops in these top neighborhoods for a shopping spree in Denver.
Running straight through the Baker neighborhood in Denver is South Broadway, a street turned reinvigorated shopping area now called SoBo. The assorted mix of stores in SoBo draws urbanites, hipsters and antique hunters alike. Buffalo Exchange is a hip second-hand clothing store where you can buy or sell your clothes, which is located just across the street from True Love, a boutique shoe store catering to the sassy city girl who likes shoes that make a statement. Fancy Tiger is a must-stop for the crafty shopper in SoBo, and for the community-minded shopper there's Hope Tank, a store where profits from every item sold support a charitable cause. If you continue south on Broadway out of the Baker Neighborhood you'll hit the Overland Neighborhood where antique shops take over, and Antique Row continues all the way down to Englewood.
A tree-lined street in a quaint neighborhood near the University of Denver is the setting for another top spot for a shopping spree in Denver. From Buchtel to Jewel, the Pearl Street shopping district in the Platt Park Neighborhood has a cornucopia of indie, eclectic and locally-owned shops. One-of-a-kind shops on South Pearl include Murder By The Book, an independent bookstore, and The Ruffly Rose, a frilly celebration of blossoms that can make everything from formal bridal bouquets to bunches for your kitchen counter. In addition to the stores on South Pearl, there are also seasonal shopping events like farmers markets from May through November, First Friday art walks and an annual sidewalk sale in June that give customers extra opportunities and incentives to shop here.
In the River North neighborhood north of downtown Denver is the Rino Art District, where shopping is decidedly artisanal. Here you'll find art galleries outnumbering most everything else, vintage furniture merchants with warehouses of mod-fabulous goods and craft businesses flourishing in Denver niche shopping markets. In a day of shopping, you could easily hit several of the twenty plus art galleries in RiNo starting with the Miller & Rossi Gallery, which showcases international and regional contemporary art, or the Colorado Photographic Arts Center, a gallery, school and non-profit art organization rolled into one location on Chestnut Place. Next, make your way to the Mid-Mod Mall and its huge, 9,000-square-foot showroom of vintage modern furniture and contemporary art before heading to Giuliana Direct Olive Oil, where shopping for a bottle of olive oil is like shopping for a bottle of fine wine. Finish off by supporting local craftsmen at MegaFauna, a Colorado creative collective that's a great place to find clothing with homespun, pro-Colorado designs like the Straight Out Of Colorado T-shirt, as well as Colorado made Denver Broncos merchandise.
The REI flagship store is by far the most famous store in the Highland neighborhood, selling everything outdoorsy to Denverites from in its iconic brick building at the corner of Platte and 15th Street. However, it's not the only place to drop some cash in the area, and a whole afternoon can be spent shopping in the boutiques and specialty shops on the hilly district west of Denver. Lulu's Furniture & Decor has a great location next to Linger and Little Man Ice Cream, two popular Highland eateries, and it serves up its own kind of delicious style. Pug pillows, vintage bar sets and brass hands giving the peace sign are just some of the offhand treasures you'll find in this overstuffed store. Around the corner from Lulu's is Sol Shine Eco Boutique, a combination eco-boutique, yoga studio and art gallery. The boutique is all about conscientious consumerism with clothing lines made from sustainable, organic or recycled materials, but which are still young and colorful with modern silhouettes. The trendy vibe gets local roots in the art gallery, where rotating collections from Colorado artists are introduced on the third Saturday of every month with an opening night celebration complete with cocktails, live art and music. Three blocks north of Lulu's and Sol Shine is Whorl, Its styles are for the chic city dweller with lines from both national and local designers.
The Cherry Creek neighborhood is a shopping mecca in Denver with one of the largest malls in the city -- Cherry Creek Shopping Center. Along with department stores Nordstroms, Macy's and Neiman Marcus, it also has national chains Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie and one of only three H&M stores in the Denver metro area. Just north of the mall is Cherry Creek North, which is a shopping destination unto itself. You'll find posh boutiques, art stores and plenty to eat. Not to miss though, Ten Thousand Villages, a 100-percent non-profit store that works to empower artisans in developing countries so that they can support themselves through the international sale of their craft. Most products in the store are presented alongside a small picture and story about who made the product, and it's clear how each purchase at Ten Thousand Villages is a direct contribution to fair trade practices; morally and materialistically satisfying shopping.
