Panorama’s guide to Hub holiday shopping
by Josh B. Wardrop
photography by Timothy Renzi
With Christmas and Hanukkah mere weeks away, the traditional holiday shopping season is in full swing. If you’re still making your list and checking it twice and need to know where to find all those perfect presents for your loved ones, read on—what follows is Panorama’s rundown of the best spots in the city for unleashing your inner Santa Claus.
Charles Street
Ritzy Beacon Hill’s main
commercial drag is a beacon for shoppers who
like the finer things in life—be it
top-notch cosmetics (The Beauty Mark,
33 Charles St., 617-720-1555), fine art (Caswell
Company Ltd., 31 Charles St.,
617-523-9868; Tesorino Gallery, 70
Charles St., 617-742-0061) or even decadent
chocolates (Beacon Hill Chocolates,
92B Pinckney St., 617-725-1900), there’s
bound to be something perfect here for your
most blue-blooded relatives.
Deck the Malls
Folks can moan about
fighting the often ungodly crowds at the
mall all they want, but there’s still no
denying that having multiple shops all
housed under one roof is terrifically
convenient (and, in snowy weather, a godsend
for numb and freezing extremities). This
holiday season, take advantage of one-stop
shopping at glamorous high-end Back Bay
shopping malls Copley Place and the
Shops at Prudential Center, visit
longtime Downtown Crossing staple The
Corner Mall, or enjoy three levels of
well-known chain stores like Old Navy and
The Gap across the river at CambridgeSide
Galleria. Refer to
mall listings.
Harvard Square
As you’d expect from its
proximity to America’s most renowned
institution of higher learning, Harvard
Square offers great shopping options for the
bookworms and young hipsters on your
shopping list. The Square is home to the
area’s finest vintage bookstores—including
the Globe Corner Bookstore (90 Mt.
Auburn St., 617-497-6277), The Grolier
Poetry Book Shop (6 Plympton St.,
617-547-4648) and Schoenhof’s Foreign
Books (76A Mt. Auburn St.,
617-547-8855)—as well as edgy clothing
stores like Urban Outfitters (11 JFK
St., 617-864-0070) and Hootenanny (36
JFK St., 617-864-6623).
Newbury Street
It’s been described as
Boston’s own Rodeo Drive, and if you’ve got
anyone on your list that’s into designer
clothes and jewelry there’s no place you’ll
find more of it than the Back Bay’s Newbury
Street. From Armani to Ralph
Lauren to Burberry and Marc
Jacobs, all the fashion industry’s top
names can be found, alongside boutiques
featuring talented local designers. Shoe
fiends can get their kicks at Rick
Walker’s (306 Newbury St.,
617-482-7426), John Fluevog (302
Newbury St., 617-266-1079) or Niketown
(200 Newbury St., 617-267-3400), while fans
of the bling can be dazzled by legendary
Boston designer John Lewis (97 Newbury St.,
617-266-6665), the venerable Shreve,
Crump & Low (corner of nearby Boylston
and Berkeley streets, 617-267-9100) and the
first name in jewelry, Cartier (40
Newbury St., 617-262-3300).
North End
With its mouth-watering
Italian bakeries, the North End is a good
spot to pick up goodies to leave by the tree
for Santa. It also boasts stylish boutiques
for the woman in your life, from denim
emporium In-jean-ius (441 Hanover
St., 617-523-JEAN) to contemporary clothier
Casa di Stile (371 Hanover St.,
857-233-4885), to accessory hotspots like
High Gear Jewelry (204 Hanover St.,
617-523-5804) and Shake the Tree Gallery
(67 Salem St., 617-742-0484).
South End
For the artsy urbanite on
your list, Boston’s South End is the best
place to find modern fashions and housewares
to delight them this holiday season. Tremont
Street is the prime shopping drag, boasting
spots like jeweler Laura Preshong’s
eponymous gallery (558 Tremont St.,
617-236-7660); stylish housewares boutique
Vessel (652 Tremont St.,
617-425-5292); and upscale shoe emporium
Leokadia (667 Tremont St.,
617-247-7463).
