The Shopping is Hopping

Boutiques and Antiques:
The Shopping is Hopping in Buffalo

The region's premier shopping destination is the Walden Galleria in suburban Cheektowaga (I-90, Exit 52). Featuring more than 200 stores, the Galleria hosts more than 18 million visitors annually from throughout Western New York and Southern Ontario. Other area shopping centers include Fashion Outlets of Niagara (1900 Military Road), with 150 name brand manufacturers in Niagara Falls, N.Y., and the Boulevard Mall (Niagara Falls Boulevard at Maple, left) in nearby Amherst.

The best of city shopping can be found along the length of Elmwood Avenue, a funky but chic strip of shops, boutiques, restaurants and bars. Just a short ride or walk from downtown, the Elmwood Village is a charming slice of city life, featuring everything from art galleries to jewelry stores, dress shops, record stores, book stores, gift shops and a variety of other merchants and retailers.

Or sample the shops in the quaint village of East Aurora, home of the National Historic Landmark Roycroft Campus. Here you'll find antique dealers, art galleries, an old-fashioned five and dime, an ice cream shop, a toy store and much more along a charming Main Street that recalls an era of simple pleasures and genteel pastimes.

If treasure hunting interests you, peruse the antique stores and furniture galleries of the city's Allentown neighborhood, along Hertel Avenue in the city's North Park neighborhood, in East Aurora and on Main Street in nearby Clarence (right) .

And for an authentic taste of Old World charm and ethnic cuisine, check out the Broadway Market (999 Broadway), one of the oldest continuously operated public markets in the country, on the city's East Side. Order pierogi, a Polish stuffed dumpling, for lunch and treat yourself to the powdered pastry known as chrusicki for dessert.