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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, 700-800 North Howard Street, and 200-300 West Read Street, has 40 antique shops and 70 dealers. Shops are usually open Monday-Saturday 1100-1600. A little to the east of this, on Charles Street, are some small, individual shops, cafés and restaurants. Fells Point centres around Broadway Market, Broadway Street and Fleet Street. 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, to the west of Broadway Market, has a similar but 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, 400 West Lexington Street, just south of the Mount Vernon district (see Further Distractions). Other markets include Belair Market (on Gay Street and Fayette Street, just above the Inner Harbor), Cross Street Market (on Charles Street and Cross Street, Federal Hill), Hollins Market (on Hollins Street and Arlington Street, SoWeBo), Lafayette Market (on Pennsylvania Street and Laurens Street), the newest Northeast Market (on Monument Street and Chester Street) and the Downtown Farmer’s Market (under the Jones Falls Expressway, at Holiday Street and Saratoga Street). The markets play an important part in 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, which is closed on Monday. Baltimore Public Markets (tel: (410) 276 9498) provides further information. Baltimore also has much to offer for individual shopping. Two good bookshops 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 – among 40 other 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 Road and Joppa Road. Shoppers in search of a city speciality should get hold of some Old Bay Spice (a local seasoning), seeing as Baltimore’s main treat, crab cakes, might prove difficult to export. There is a range of Old Bay souvenirs too. General shopping hours are 0830-1800, although many malls and large stores are open into the evening. Visiting shoppers should always retain receipts, as customs may ask to see that the 5% VAT has already been paid locally. Individual shops can provide tax and duty-free forms, allowing tax back on items upon departure from the USA. |
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