SoHo Shopping

Shopping: The SoHo Retail Universe

SoHo is, today, one of the premier shopping districts in the world. Its retail offer spans the full range from global luxury brands to independent designers to vintage and thrift. Understanding its geography helps navigate what can otherwise be an overwhelming experience.

Broadway: Mass Luxury and Flagship Retail

The Broadway corridor houses the largest and most commercially intense flagships:

Zara (580 Broadway) — the Spanish fast-fashion giant occupies a full cast-iron building with multiple floors and one of the highest traffic counts in the neighborhood.

Uniqlo (546 Broadway) — the Japanese basics brand's SoHo store is a three-floor operation in a beautifully preserved cast-iron loft, one of the most pleasurable retail environments in the neighborhood.

Prada (575 Broadway) — the Rem Koolhaas–designed flagship described above; worth visiting as an architectural experience regardless of shopping intent.

Levi's, H&M, Nike, Adidas, and dozens of other global brands maintain flagship or major retail presences on or near Broadway.

Prince Street and Spring Street: Designer and Independent Retail

Aesop — the Australian cult apothecary, which has made the careful design of its retail spaces a global signature, operates one of its most beautiful New York locations at 231 Elizabeth Street, just steps from SoHo's edge.

Glossier — the beauty brand that was born largely as a social media phenomenon — operates a flagship in the neighborhood whose design (pink, minimal, accessible) is as carefully considered as any luxury brand's.

The Store at MoMA at 81 Spring Street carries museum-quality design objects, art books, and editions that represent one of the finest selections of design-oriented retail in the country.

Wooster Street and West Broadway: Gallery-Adjacent Shopping

Shinola — the Detroit-based maker of watches, leather goods, and lifestyle products — operates a beautifully appointed store that exemplifies the craft-oriented, American-made retail that has found a natural home in SoHo.

Madewell — for denim and American basics.

Broome Street General Store — a beloved independent that has survived the retail transformation of the neighborhood by offering an expertly curated selection of clothing, housewares, and accessories.

Vintage and Specialty

Screaming Mimi's — technically just north of SoHo in NoHo — is one of New York's great vintage clothing stores, with a stock spanning the 1950s through the 1990s organized by decade.

Housing Works — the thrift chain that funds HIV/AIDS services — maintains a well-stocked SoHo location at 130 Crosby Street with better finds than most of its other branches, given the quality of what SoHo residents donate.

McNally Jackson Books (134 Prince Street) is one of the best independent bookstores in Manhattan — a true neighborhood institution with a superb selection, a cafe, and a printing press for short-run books and publications. For first-time visitors with any interest in books, it is essential.

Design and Home

Restoration Hardware / RH — the American home furnishings brand — has transformed a massive corner building near the neighborhood's edge into a multi-floor showroom with a rooftop restaurant and a selection that ranges from genuine design to aspirational fantasy.

Jonathan Adler — the whimsical American potter and designer — has his flagship in SoHo, a playful counter-statement to the neighborhood's tendency toward minimalist chic.

Design Within Reach (DWR) on West Broadway offers authentic modern furniture classics from the Herman Miller, Knoll, and Vitra catalogs.