1. Westfield Shoppingtown Plaza
City: Carlsbad, CA
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (760) 729-7927
Address: 2525 El Camino Real
Description: Plaza Camino Real is an enclosed regional mall that boasts more than 140 specialty stores, including those where you’ll find upscale women’s clothing, shoes, toys, and kitchen gadgets. The anchor stores are Sears, JCPenney, and Macy’s.There are Waldenbooks and Boot World as well as more than 21 eateries where you can select everything from pizza to pretzels and a few Mrs. Fields cookies to ward off the shopping hungries. There are places to sit and people watch, clothing stores, and accessory boutiques.
City: Carlsbad, CA
Category: Shopping
Address: 5620 Paseo del Norte
3. Paperback Book Exchange
City: Carlsbad, CA
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (760) 729-4100
Address: 578 Carlsbad Village Drive
Description: If you love to read and are looking for bargains, you must stop in at the Paperback Book Exchange, which has been doing business in Carlsbad for 20 years. This store is just 1⁄2 block east of the antiques, cafe, and coffeehouse shopping district of downtown Carlsbad and about 2 blocks south of the Coaster station. Most of the books have been pre-read (i.e., they’re used), and the prices are right. If you’re hooked on an author of paperback fiction, call the store to see which titles are in stock, since inventory turns over quickly. They specialize in no particular genre, purveying everything from science fiction and horror to contemporary fiction, historical romance, westerns, and war. Closed Sunday.
4. Vinge Antiques
City: Carlsbad, CA
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (760) 729-7081
Address: 3087 State Street
Description: Discover their china (lovely teapots were everywhere during our last visit), Depression glass, and glassware that some of us used in the ’60s and ’70s (which is selling for collectible prices now), along with paintings, too.
City: Carlsbad, CA
Category: Shopping
Address: 2805 Roosevelt Street