Seattle

Shopping

With its mix of major department stores and smaller retailers, Seattle provides abundant shopping opportunities. Seattle's premier shopping attraction is the Pike Place Market, which features dozens of stalls selling every kind of locally available produce and food item, as well as a wing devoted mostly to crafts by local artisans and a lower-level area featuring an eclectic variety of small specialty shops. The market neighborhood is also a center for household furnishings and furniture retailers.

Seattle is the home of the nationwide Nordstrom chain, and Nordstrom's flagship store at Pine Street and Fifth Avenue is one of two department stores that anchor the downtown shopping area—the other is Bon Marche. There is also a Nordstrom outlet for close-outs and returned merchandise called Nordstrom Rack. Also found in the downtown area is the main store of another Seattle-based retailer that has gone national—Eddie Bauer.

Pioneer Square is home to a variety of small art galleries and independent shops, including antique stores, Oriental rug dealers, and the region's premier bookstore, Elliott Bay Book Company.