Shopping in NYC

This past weekend we made our yearly shopping excursion to the Big Apple where we had mixed results in our search for great clothes at bargain prices. Sample sales were a bust. While we did see some nice cashmere, the prices were still pretty high. Plan B is always to go to Macy's. Macy's in NYC is very different from the branch at the local mall. They carry more stock from the same designers and a few the local store never sees. Their 70% off racks still have some great clothes and I can always find things in my size. And with my additional 25% off coupons, we did quite well. Although I still haven't found a deal to beat the $118 designer jeans I bought a couple years ago for $6.28.

The Macy's on 34th street is not only the largest, I believe it's the first. Having never ventured past the 3rd floor, we decided to explore and took the escalator all the way up to 9. Once you get past the 5th floor you get to ride the original wooden escalator. A well-made product of another century and it still works!

We also managed to take in a couple of bead stores. Beads World on Broadway has a wall of chain by the foot. It's a great store if you're looking for a variety of shades of copper, gunmetal and brass. They have a great assortment of copper and brass findings as well.

And we loaded up on solid shampoos and moisturizers at Lush. If you've never tried their products you really should. They last a really long time so they're worth the price. And we got free tins and samples.

On Saturday we headed for the Garage Flea Market. After 3 trips there, I finally got to see the second floor. But I didn't find anything of interest and we ended up only buying things on the first floor anyway.

But as usual the best finds are those you don't look for. Not far from the Garage was another flea market in a side street parking lot. The man selling foreign coins noticed my steampunk necklace and beckoned me into his stall. There on the floor were the inner workings of a grandfather clock that he was dismantling. He had some really nice larger gears; the kind you can't really find easily and that are usually expensive. But the few I bought just made my day.

This year we made our first visit to Kalustyan's Market. This narrow store manages to cram more imported spices, teas and food into it's 3 stories than you can imagine. I bought a few spice blends and will experiment with them for my "Tuesday at Mom's" dinners. Hope everyone is ready for Tunisian, or maybe Yemeni food.