Best Atlanta Shopping

AOL PICK from our Editors

Whether you're after one-of-a-kind gifts for friends and family back home or a new wardrobe for yourself, Atlanta has a dizzying selection of shopping. Atlanta shopping ranges from the pricey high-end to the quirky boutiques and open air markets - with everything else in between. On the high end, the malls and boutiques of Buckhead make it the premier Atlanta shopping neighborhood of the Southeast, with outlets for such major names as Jeffrey, Gucci and Max Mara, as well as boutiques featuring excellent local designers. Home design and antiques aficionados will also dig Buckhead's Miami Circle cul-de-sac lined with decor merchants. For more offbeat offerings, head to Little Five Points and Virginia-Highland where you'll find the super-trendy clothing of Wish, the "alternative superstore" Junkman's Daughter, the used book wonderland of Atlanta Book Exchange and make-it-yourself earthenware at Wired and Fired Pottery Playhouse.

Emily Saunders Furtsch

Young Blood Gallery and Boutique

Neighborhood: Poncey-Highland

Young Blood started in 1997 as an in-home art show held by proprietors Maggie White and Kelly Teasley. Later it moved into its own space, then expanded to include a shop. In 2008 YBGB relocated to an even larger space, and it's now Atlanta's premier showplace for emerging local artists and crafters. What that means for you is a wonderfully original and reasonably priced selection of handmade products, including (but far from limited to) jewelry, clothing, soaps and children's toys. Young Blood Gallery offers some of the best shopping in Atlanta for thoughtful gifts from your trip that don't have "souvenir" stamped all over them... and maybe to pick up a little something precious for yourself. While you're here, check out the art gallery, stocked with works by some of the city's hottest young creatives.

Emily Saunders Furtsch

Little Five Points

Neighborhood: Little Five Points

A culturally diverse neighborhood on Atlanta's east side, Little Five Points marches to its own beat, its five little fingers ever on the pulse of what's happening now. If you're looking for trendy, quirky and one-of-a-kind Atlanta shopping this is the place. Shops offer everything from the New Age (Crystal Blue) to the ultra-trendy (clothing emporium Wish. Do not miss Junkman’s Daughter (464 Moreland Avenue, 404-577-3188), Atlanta's self-proclaimed "alternative superstore," a 10,000-sq.-ft. hodgepodge of offbeat fashions, accessories, house wares, books, toys and collectibles.

Emily Saunders Furtsch

Lenox Square

Neighborhood: Buckhead

This Buckhead shopping institution is still going strong after more than half a century with more than 250 shops including an Apple Store, an Urban Outfitters, and upscale outlets such as Nieman Marcus, Louis Vuitton and Kate Spade. Lenox Square offers some of the best, albeit standard, mall shopping in Atlanta. Aside from the obligatory (and just average) food court, there's also fine dining at Prime, which serves up steak, sushi and seafood. Parking and crowds can be borderline (or even well past borderline) awful on weekends, but there's a reason for that: Atlantans come here to shop, despite their love/hate relationship with the place. Make like an out-of-towner with time to spare and come on the weekdays—you’ll thank yourself for it.

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Lenox Square

Emily Saunders Furtsch

Phipps Plaza

Neighborhood: Buckhead

Just across from Lenox Square (with a free shuttle in between), Phipps offers even higher-end shopping than at its bigger neighbor. Here you’ll find Tiffany, Jimmy Choo, Barneys CO-OP, and Jeffrey Atlanta (sister of Manhattan's ultra-hip Jeffrey New York), plus over 100 others. It's taken a bit of a recessional hit with some shops jumping ship recently, but Phipps still packs a lot of pricey product. If you're looking for a more up-scale venue with world famous designers, Phipps offers travelers and residents more luxurious Atlanta shopping. Crowds are refreshingly smaller here than at Lenox Square and the wood and marble decor makes for an elegant shopping experience.

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Phipps Plaza

Emily Saunders Furtsch

Dekalb Farmers Market

Neighborhood: Decatur

Affectionately known to locals as YDFM (Your Dekalb Farmers Market), this fresh market about eight miles east of Downtown Atlanta is the area's best, offering 140,000 square feet of international food shopping wonder. More than 100,000 people pass through here every week, lured by the dizzying array of local organic produce, meat and seafood and even packaged goods from Africa, Asia, and South America. There's hot food, too, making it a great lunch stop for foodies on the move. The samosas are an awesome mid-afternoon snack. YDFM's sights, smells, and tastes are incredible, and you're sure to rub elbows with plenty of Atlantans.

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Dekalb Farmers Market