Best Shopping District

You don’t go to LITTLE FIVE POINTS to shop as much as you go to escape. L5P remains the epicenter of quirkiness in a city increasingly swallowed by suburbanization. After 40 years, we tend to take it for granted. But nowhere else in Atlanta replicates its mix of independently owned shops and street culture. The range of retail is almost otherworldly — from bougie women’s boutiques (The Pink Zebra, Envy) and dashiki-and-shea-butter shops (Earthtone, Cultural Accents) to second-hand/vintage clothing (Rag-o-Rama, The Clothing Warehouse, Psycho Sisters) and metaphysical/head shops (42 Degrees South, World Piece, Crystal Blue). Three of the city’s top record store institutions call L5P home (Criminal Records, Moods Music, Wax N’ Facts), as does one of the city’s top sneaker boutiques (Wish). Cyclists and skaters are both covered (Outback, Stratosphere). Plus, Junkman’s Daughter has served as weirdo central for so long it’s normal now. Like it or not, the real attraction is located on the sidewalks, where artisans sell their handmade wares, musicians busk for change, homeless hippies solicit, and the man with the headphones and CDs for sale asks everyone who passes by: “Do you like hip-hop?” The day Little Five Points becomes passé, you can stick a fork in this town. www.littlefivepoints.net. less...

Let’s face it, when it comes to shopping, Buckhead’s a little too bougie and Little Five Points can get a little too trendy. But the Westside strikes just the right balance between the two. There’s Sid Mashburn’s classic haberdashery, the Southern dandy stylings of CFDA Award - winning designer Billy Reid, the handcrafted quality at newly opened men’s lifestyle store Tweeds near Octane Coffee, as well as popular women’s boutiques such as the vintage-inspired Anthropologie and Free People. Westside Provisions District has an abundance of home decor shops with a modern bent, including Room & Board, Environment, Jonathan Adler, and more. And newcomer Atlanta MADE specializes in home accessories, jewelry and the like designed and crafted by Atlanta artisans. www.westsidepd.com. less...

After more than a year of touch-and-go negotiations, City Hall East was finally sold to a developer this summer and its new owner wasted no time in renaming the 2-million-square-foot building Ponce City Market. In the middle of a ruptured economy, Cobb County-based Jamestown Properties plans to spend $180 million over the next three years in hopes of creating a world-class food hall, a regional shopping destination, and sought-after office and loft space. Why are we so optimistic? Because it’s done it before, with Chelsea Market, a 99-year-old former Nabisco factory in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District that now houses dozens of restaurants, boutiques and top-tier food shops, as well as the Food Network studios where “Iron Chef” is filmed. The company has since floated a few similarly ambitious ideas for PCM, including an organic garden on the roof, an indoor farmers market and even amusement park rides that would enable riders to look 200 feet down onto Ponce de Leon Avenue at night. Sounds good to us. 675 Ponce de Leon Ave. poncecitymarket.com. less...

Roswell’s Alpharetta Highway is like the Rodeo Drive of stores that deal in other people’s discarded belongings. No, no, that’s a good thing! Lined up one after another are Value Village, Park Avenue Thrift, Just Stuff Thrift Store, Bargain City Thrift, Atlanta Union Mission Thrift and Goodwill. This Value Village is by far the best, especially for its selection of outerwear and housewares. Atlanta Union Mission blares contemporary Christian music, but you still might find an old 69 Boyz CD in the dollar bin. Park Avenue Thrift, 1207 Alpharetta St., Suite A, Roswell; Value Village, 1023 Alpharetta St., Roswell, 770-840-7283. valuevillageatlanta.com; Just Stuff Thrift Store, 1113 Alpharetta St., Roswell. 678-281-0696; Bargain City Thrift, 1207-B Alpharetta St., Roswell. 770-993-0251. bargaincitythrift.com; Goodwill, 10885 Alpharetta Highway, Roswell. 770-649-1994. ging.org; Atlanta Union Mission Thrift, 10800 Alpharetta Highway, Roswell. 404-367-3940. atlantaunionmission.org. less...

It’s more than 2,000 miles away from Haight-Ashbury, but on a good weekend, Finley Square is a gathering ground full of free spirits — some filled with the alcoholic variety — and an intoxicating variety of stores and vendors. “Go your own way” is the only direction in LITTLE FIVE POINTS, and that retro vibe shows up in a swirl of ways. L5P’s decades-long history reflects a consistent independent streak — one that’s now evident in the hottie wear of Cherry Bomb, the glam kitsch of Junkman’s Daughter, and the vintage digs at Psycho Sisters, Stefan’s, Rag-O-Rama and Tease. It’s a jumble of rebellious heart, “be yourself” attitude and sometimes freakish packaging that accepts both gawkers and neighborhood regulars. What could be more classic? less...

It’s part of every guidebook to Atlanta. It’s heralded as the premiere shopping destination of the South. Gucci, Jimmy Choo and Versace all reside here. Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom are nothing to balk at, either. And let us not forget Jeffrey Kalinsky, who in 1994 introduced Atlanta to high-end fashion by opening Jeffrey alongside his already successful shoe boutique Bob Ellis (now part of Jeffrey). Walking through PHIPPS PLAZA, one can imagine what life must be like for the rich and fabulous. With the addition of such boutiques as New York staple Barney’s Co-op, trendy chain Intermix and classic line Theory, we paupers are still breaking the bank — and perhaps considering a second mortgage. less...