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Introduction
This guide hopes to aid MFAers visiting NYC for a few days. By no means exhaustive, you should certainly take it upon yourself to look around and find what interests you; this listing will help give a basic idea of local shops and a personal review of a few that I absolutely recommend checking out.
SoHo, in the strictest/classical sense, literally means “South of Houston” and is the neighborhood
bordered by Houston to the north, Lafayette to the east, Canal to the south, and Avenue of the
Americas to the west. For our purposes we’ll make several detours across the easter
n border into Nolita; try to ignore
this small discrepancy and pretend it’s all cohesive.
The guide will be broken down as follows.
First I’ll introduce the
Google map and provide an
explanation/key for the various markings. I’ll follow up with
a simple listing of the stores with addresses and cross streets in a semi-organized order from northeast to southwest. Links will be included so you can get a general i
dea of each location’s stock; for chains/designers, I’ll simply link to the
main website. Links to the particular locations with Google reviews are included on the map itself.
Next I’ll list the stores under various style headings. Keep in mind I’m quite t
he plebe, so if I categorize something as
“streetwear” and you vehemently disagree, I hope this apology suffices. Then we’ll get to the real foundation of this guide; a simple route suggestion I unimaginatively call “An Introductory Path for Shopping SoHo”
. This will feature a street by street walkthrough with in-depth reviews on the stores included on the route
touching upon service, general stock, accessibility, and aesthetic. Finally we’ll end
with some closing thoughts and various tidbits that might make your time more enjoyable. Ready?
Without further ado, let’s jump into it.
The Google Map
Hopefully no one finds this map too overwhelming, but I thought visualizing the space would make things easier for everybody. The pink icons represent stores in SoHo that are worth a look. The
green line marks the “Introductory Path to Shopping SoHo”. The dark gold icons are must
-see stores along the path, while light yellow icons are shops
I’ll include in my in
-
depth reviews but aren’t
screaming for an immediate visit. The light blue line/icons represent
what I’ll call “Fast Fashion Lane”, a section of
Broadway featuring several mall-brand stores or other easily accessible locations that I still recommend
checking out for reasons I’ll include later.
Finally, dark blue icons mark stores well outside the SoHo area worthy of inclusion due to their prominence on the subreddit. These will be covered more in-depth in
their respective neighborhood’s guide, but they’re
noted here in case those posts never materialize. [The Google Map](https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zKvT-JKeaIJY.kz1cJJqwg3Yw)
Brand Listing
[Billy Reid]( http://www.billyreid.com/), 54 Bond St, corner of Bond and Bowery. See Below.
[APC](http://usonline.apc.fr/), Bond St (Google maps does not recognize it
, but I promise it’s there,
across from Billy Reid). See Below.
[Rag & Bone] (http://www.rag-bone.com/), 73 E. Houston. Another location for Rag & Bone will be
included and it’s not part of the essential tour as many of the multi
-label boutiques carry it. This particular store keeps the best stock of outerwear/knitwear and is my personal favorite of the bunch.
[Steven Alan Men’s Shop](
http://www.stevenalan.com/), 229 Elizabeth, between Prince and Houston.
The real store is located in TriBeCa; this is a closet sized offshoot. However they always have a nice stock
of Gitman Vintage, Filson bags, and the Steven Alan brand shirting. Worth a quick stop. Women’s is
directly across street on the east side. [REI](http://www.rei.com/) , 303 Lafayette St, corner of Lafayette and Houston. Included because they keep a nice stock of the
Levi’s Commuter line upstairs, and Patagonia/Arc’teryx/North Face downstairs.
[American Apparael]( http://store.americanapparel.net/), 285 Lafayette. Between Houston and Prince.
[Scotch & Soda](www.scotch-soda.com), 273 Lafayette, between Houston and Prince. See Below.
[Creatures of Comfort](www.creaturesofcomfort.us), 205 Mulberry St, between Prince and Kenmare.
See Below. [Odin](www.odinnewyork.com) , 199 Lafayette St, between Broome and Spring. See Below. [Supreme](www.supremenewyork.com), 274 Lafayette St, between Houston and Prince.
[Carhartt Work In Progress](www.carhartt-wip.com), 119 Crosby St, between Jersey and Prince. See
Below. [Bonobos](www.bonobos.com), 35 Crosby St, between Broome and Grand. Technically a guide shop,
I’ve never had an issue walking in and asking to look around. Make an appointment if unsure though.
[Saturdays Surf NYC](http://www.saturdaysnyc.com/), 31 Crosby St, between Broome and Grand. Will
mention briefly in walkthrough; great stop for coffee and clothes browsing, especially for the surfers amongst us. Also has a nice selection of floral button downs and stocks most of their outerwear. [American Eagle Outfitters](www.ae.com), 599 Broadway, corner of Houston and Broadway. Major mall
brand retailer, but this location carries a nice stock of button downs and might be worth stopping in, especially if you long ago gave up on AEO due to over-branding. [Converse](www.converse.com), 560 Broadway, between Prince and Spring. See Below.
[Uniqlo](www.Uniqlo.com), 546 Broadway, between Prince and Spring. See Below.
[Gap 1969](www.gap.com), 513 Broadway, between Spring and Broome. See Below.
[Bloomingdales](www.Bloomingdales.com), 504 Broadway, between Spring and Broome. See Below.
[The Levi’s Store](us.levi.com), 495 Broadway, between Spring and Broome. See Below.
[J. Crew Men’s Shop](
www.jcrew.com), 484 Broadway, between Broome and Grand. See Below. [Topshop](www.topshop.com), 478 Broadway, between Broome and Grand. See Below.
[AETHERnyc](www.aetherapparel.com), 13 Crosby St, between Grand and Howard. See Below.
[Jil Sander](www.jilsander.com), 30 Howard St, corner of Howard and Crosby. See Below.
[Opening Ceremony](www.openingceremony.us), 35 Howard St. See Below.
[APC](http://usonline.apc.fr/), 131 Mercer St, between Prince and Spring. Google Maps does recognize
this location, though I don’t frequent it as I prefer the storefront on Bond St.
[3.1 Philip Lim](www.31philiplim.com), 115 Mercer St, between Prince and Spring. The easiest of the
designer stores to simply walk in and look around without intentions of buying. Sales people don’t
hound you, and the style is simplistic. I prefer looking at this line within the confines of this storefront, as opposed to the larger department chains for the aforementioned reasons. [John Varvatos](www.johnvarvatos.com), 122 Spring St.
[Suitsupply](www.suitsupply.com), 453 Broome St. Specialists at this location are incredibly
accommodating. Offers the blue line specialist service as well as in store tailoring. Alterations took pretty much no time at all when I had them done, and were good quality. Can get decently crowded, so I prefer later hours around closing, generally visiting around seven o
’
clock. [Alexander Wang](www.alexanderwang.com), 103 Grand St. See Below.
[Surface to Air](www.surfacetoair.com), 27 Mercer St, between Grand and Canal. See Below.
[3x1](www.3x1.us), 15 Mercer St, between Grand and Canal. A really, really cool spot to stop in and
watch the raw denim process in action. Included within the store is the 3x1 denim factory, all behind see-through glass so you can observe the work being done. Cool denim available for purchase, though I
don’t add this to the “necessary” section because it’s so close to Blue in Green.
[Blue in Green](http://blueingreensoho.com/), 8 Greene St, between Grand and Canal. See Below. [Ralph Lauren](http://www.ralphlauren.com/home/index.jsp?ab=Geo_iUS_rUS_dUS), 109 Prince St, between Houston and Prince.
This store has a much larger men’s than women’s selection. However I’m
not a big buyer from Ralph, and prefer the RRL store mentioned later. [J. Lindeberg](www.jlindeberg.com), 126 Spring St. Great collection of suits and blazers for a menswear
look. [Acne Studios](www.acnestudios.com), 33 Greene St, between Grand and Broome. See Below.
[Adidas Originals](www.adidas.com), 136 Wooster between Houston and Prince. There are two or three
huge A
didas retail stores in this area that you’d have to be blind to miss. I’m not a big fan of Adidas
shoes, but the selection at the Originals location lends itself more to casual streetwear, and so I included it. Adidas Original collabs are also available at Opening Ceremony. [Barbour](www.barbour.com), 123 Wooster St, between Prince and Spring. Has a nice collection of the
classic Barbour waxed jackets (plenty of Bedale, Beaufort, Sapper, etc in various colors). Also keeps a nice stock of flannels and scarves, though they lack in knitwear options. Purchases include an in-store rewaxing service. Not advertised but they do a student discount as well. [IceBreaker SoHo](www.icebreaker.com), 102 Wooster St, between Prince and Spring. Contrast the
vibrant colors and stock of this store to the dark and minimalist aesthetic of Aether. Still a great spot for purchasing technically minded clothing, and the staff is friendly and incredibly knowledgeable (they
won’t steer you wrong on appropriate whether resistance, for example).
[Patagonia](www.patagonia.com), 101 Wooster St, between Prince and Spring.
[Dr. Marten’s Store](
), 148 Spring St. Nice selection of Marten’s boots, including
the made in England vintage stuff and the cheaper foreign options. I honestly only ever buy black/brown, so their color selection is not my area of expertise. [Ralph Lauren](www.ralphlauren.com), 381 W. Broadway, between Broome and Spring. This RRL
location is probably my favorite in the city; awesome selection and a very cool layout, definitely worth giving a look. [Stussy](www.stussy.com), 176 Spring St. Cheaper (generally) streetwear option that I included because
I enjoy their collabs. If you drop by, check out their Goretex outerwear or Penfield collaboration products.
The Outliers (not actually in SoHo per se, but worth checking out if in the area)