SoHo Outdoor Activity / Shopping Area

SoHo, New York –

A dream come true for shopaholics, foodies, and art lovers alike, SoHo is a versatile downtown neighborhood offering an unending variety of shops, galleries, and restaurants.

On weekend afternoons, the area is usually swarming with young creative professionals and tourists who flood mainstream stores like Zara, Bloomingdale's, and J. Crew, as knowledgeable locals head for hidden gems like Asian superstore Pearl River Market to buy silk mandarin dresses, rice cookers, and tea.

Models, affluent bohemians, elegant career women, and wealthy young mothers stalk the floors at high-end boutiques like Prada, Anna Sui, and Dolce & Gabbana, while budget-minded groups of NYU students and trendy city girls raid the racks at Topshop for more affordable funky duds.

Those in need of refreshment can stop at any number of cafés, or wait for a Van Leeuwen artisan ice cream truck to roll by. Art lovers will have plenty of galleries and museums to peruse by day and wine-and-cheese openings to visit by night.

Once the shops close and customers stagger home with their purchases, fashionable couples, socialites, and corporate types descend on the neighborhood’s upscale restaurant scene to dine at culinary treasures like L’Ecole – the restaurant of the French Culinary Institute – and Mercer Kitchen, a Jean-Georges Vongerichten joint located in the luxurious Mercer Hotel.

Although SoHo may seem quiet late at night, the area boasts hundreds of hotspots, from the dungeon-like subMercer to the chic rooftop at the James Hotel, giving daytime shoppers the perfect excuse to buy that expensive designer look.