Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Shopping in San Francisco

So, I just got back from a vacation in San Francisco, which is why I haven't posted in a while.

Going to San Francisco, I knew one thing that I would have to check out would be the shopping. Day One in SF, I got off the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) and set about looking for my hostel. I was pointed in the direction by a someone and started walking up Powell Street. There, I noticed how great a choice I had made in accommodations. The street was lined with some of my favorite stores like DSW, Urban Outfitters & H&M. I made a mental note to come back down the street later on.

I usually make it a personal rule not to go places when on vacation that I could go when I'm home (or wouldn't have to travel far to get to), but I made an exception for San Francisco, especially when I saw the perfect skirt in the Urban Outfitters window. Most stores were pretty much the same as you would see anywhere else. H&M, Zara and Aldo all were exactly the same as other locations that I've visited. I would even say that I've been to better stores.

Urban Outfitters, DSW and Forever 21, however, were all so much more magnificent. Forever 21 was actually navigable. Normally, the store looks like the website threw up in a building, but here, the clothes were actually organized by style, pattern and color, which made it much easier to browse. DSW and Urban Outfitters both just had more. The Bloomington Urban Outfitters is poorly stocked, truth be told, but the SF location had so much in the store. They even had things separated by the sub-brands, something I'd never seen before. The DSW was two full floors (as well as a middle sub-floor), PLUS a basement full of clearance items.

I also devoted a day to heading out to Haight-Ashbury, the noted "hippie" area of San Francisco. Though, I will say, it's currently more hipster than hippie. But that suited me just fine, I was able to find several stores that fit my style and did so at a great price. Some of my favorites were Wasteland, Buffalo Exchange and Xgeneration.

In the end, I came away with a bit more than I was initially planning to buy, but I really did get some great pieces like a peach tulle skirt and scalloped shorts. If for nothing else, San Francisco is definitely one of those places I would visit again just for the shopping.

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