City: Boulder, CO

Category: Shopping

Description: Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall, also known as the Downtown Mall, was the city’s original retail area and is still the heart and soul of the city. This photogenic, 4-block, open-air walkway is for pedestrians only—no dogs, no bikes, no skateboards, just leisurely strollers. It is lined with historic buildings that house numerous shops, galleries, microbreweries, offices, and sidewalk cafes, as well as newer buildings of a style and scale that harmonize with the old. During the warm months, street entertainers abound, including a rubber-jointed Rastafarian who obligingly packages himself into a plastic cube several times a day, jugglers, professional musicians, and kids with their first violin trying to pick up a few bucks. A pickup band of drummers gathers periodically in the bus shelter to pound out a beat, and a didgeridoo player periodically fills the night air with mournful tones.The quality of entertainment generally is quite high. In addition to the buskers who play for what’s dropped in the hat, an “out-to-lunch” weekly summer performance series brings formal live entertainment to the mall. Find a seat on one of the mall’s benches and enjoy one of the most entertaining free shows to be found anywhere.Don’t let all the distractions make you forget to shop while you’re downtown. Some of Boulder’s most popular shoe and clothing shops, cafes, galleries, bookstores, and card and gift shops occupy prime spots along the mall and on adjacent blocks. A stroll along the mall will take you past everything from chain stores like American Apparel and Urban Outfitters to only-in-Boulder shops like Peppercorn, which stocks elegant kitchen, bath and bed items; El Loro, offering crystals and clogs; and Paper Doll, a gift shop that has wonderfully, interesting window displays for every holiday. Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory seduces with rich whiffs through the open doors, and down the street you work it off on a rented bicycle built for two from University Bikes.Since the mall was completed in 1977, Pearl Street, both east and west of the mall, has become an increasingly eclectic mix of service and retail businesses plus offices and restaurants. New buildings are going up all around the downtown, new businesses open almost daily, and sadly, some old favorites have closed down. To the east, look for The Envelope Please; the traditional Swiss Chalet for quality watches; and Willow, a shop that specializes in unique, handmade gifts. There’s a fun mix of used bookstores, used clothing shops, and an interesting cluster of craft and gift stores.The west end is a bibliophile’s paradise, from the classy Boulder Bookstore at the end of the mall to the Trident coffeehouse and bookstore. The original Dot’s Diner, a friendly, ’50s-style restaurant in a former gas station, has been replaced by a new complex of housing, parking, and upscale shops that include the West End Gardener, West End Wine Shop, Spruce Confections, and Bedell and Co. Fine Antiques.You can try your luck at finding on-street parking, but your best bet is one of the parking structures just off the mall at 14th and Walnut, 11th and Spruce, and 10th, 11th, 14th, and Walnut Streets, or one of the two new structures north and south of Pearl on 15th Street. Parking in the public garages is free on the weekends, and on Sundays the parking meters are free. Or, like a conscientious Boulderite, you can bike, walk, or take a bus or shuttle and not have to worry about where to store your car. (See Getting Here, Getting Around.)The Mall itself is city property, managed by the Downtown Management Commission (303-441-4000). Downtown Boulder, Inc. (303-449-3774) acts as a sort of specialized chamber of commerce for businesses in the area.