Close your eyes and picture your typical holiday shopping routine. Seeing miles of traffic (and not one parking space) around the local mall? Picked-over shelves full of gifts nobody in their right mind wants to receive? Welcome to yet another holiday season where you—like the vast majority of normal people throughout the world—did NOT manage to purchase all of your holiday presents sometime in August.
Now close your eyes and picture a different kind of shopping experience. Maybe you're taking a leisurely stroll along a shop-lined boardwalk along the ocean, or bargaining for goods in an open-air, Mexican marketplace. Imagine yourself finding the perfect gift for everyone on your list. Now open your eyes. We've compiled a list of the most enjoyable holiday shopping excursions you can imagine. Happy Holidays!
Anaheim, California. Home to
Disneyland, Anaheim boasts a lot more than warm weather. It's close enough to Mexico to barter at the Tijuana marketplace for unique gifts.
New Orleans, Louisiana. You'll find the Riverwalk Marketplace along the Mississippi River, just outside of the French Quarter. Know anyone that would enjoy a Cajun Food & Spice Basket from Butterfields, Etc., a pashmina scarf from Jazzy Stuff, or a personalized children's book from Especially For You, Create a Book?
Toronto, Ontario. Sophisticated Toronto makes shopping a pleasure. Stroll through Mirvish Village's rehabbed Victorian houses (all cheerfully painted in pastels) and you'll find more than 200 artists, sculptors, potters, shopkeepers, and gallery owners selling their wares.
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. A shopper's paradise any time of the year, you'll find stores and restaurants at Broadway on the Beach, plus more than 100 shops and restaurants and over a dozen factory outlet stores at Barefoot Landing.
Boston, Massachusetts. Just outside the city is the New England style village of Wrentham Village Outlets. Over 170 designer outlets give you the opportunity to save between 25 to 65%.
San Antonio, Texas. As the saying goes, everything's bigger in Texas! And that includes the shopping. You'll find handcrafted pottery, jewelry, leather goods and a whole lot more at the Mercado, the largest Mexican marketplace outside of Mexico.
