Las Vegas Shops

For the classic, glitzy Vegas shopping experience, don’t waste valuable time and energy wandering through every mall: head straight for the Shops at Crystals (located in the Aria). The mall has all of the classic big-name designers, but in a space designed by Daniel Libeskind: For whatever reason, perhaps because it's not attached to a casino, it's always nicely quiet, too.

This off-the-beaten-path shop is home to tons of vintage homewares and a solid collection of mid-century antiques. It’s the kind of collection that feels like a labor of love, with furniture and art pieces that have been sourced from antique auctions to local garage sales.

Bauman is one of the biggest rare bookshops in the world, and this location is the only outpost that’s not on the East Coast. Their staff is wonderfully helpful if you’re looking for something specific, and their finds always make the most thoughtful gifts.

This open-air shopping center, built entirely from stacked shipping containers, was the first major step towards the revitalization of the downtown neighborhood. There’s a playground for kiddos in the center (careful with young ones—the slide is really long) and most of the stores are focused on local wares, like art and jewelry. The food options run the gamut from sit-down restaurants to frozen yogurt and hot dogs.

All of the best chefs in Vegas go to Brett Ottolenghi to source hard-to-find luxury ingredients like truffles, foie gras, and caviar, which he sells out if his cozy gourmet food shop, Artisanal Foods. This fall, he teamed up with long-time Vegas chef Johnny Church to set up a tiny six-seat restaurant that serves a tasting menu during lunch five days a week. It's an incredibly intimate, special experience, and the combination of Church's experimental style and Ottolenghi's penchant for sourcing exotic ingredients makes each meal more unusual and innovative than the next. If you don't have time for a full meal, it's still worth stopping in to taste the rare cheeses and cured meats. Needless to say, it's a mainstay if you're doing any cooking during your stay.

This quirky cactus nursery is situated along the road as you drive into town, and it’s a great place to pick up succulents on the way home. They have a particularly huge selection of Joshua trees.