Shops and the City

In a whirlwind weekend of browsing and buying, our valiant correspondent gets the goods on three New York neighborhoods.

The glut of stores that make New York a shopping Eden also means it can be intimidating to navigate. How, in one long weekend, could I find hip fashion, cool accessories for my house and maybe a few bargains without losing my mind? And was there any way to avoid those chain stores and flagships that seem to be eating the Big Apple?

Last month, I took a divide-and-conquer strategy. I devoted one day each to neighborhoods known for specific things -- NoLita for fashion, Brooklyn for home decor and the Lower East Side for quirky bargains. Along the way, I sought help from retail know-it-alls such as a stylish girlfriend who renovated a Brooklyn Victorian and a fashionista who leads shopping tours of NoLita.

Saturday: Brooklyn

When "Sex and the City's" Miranda migrated to Brooklyn, she joined a stampede of Manhattanites moving into brownstones and lofts across the East River. My friend Ingrid became one of these urban pioneers a few years back, buying and rehabbing a three-unit apartment building. Her second-floor flat looks like a groovy pad from "Friends." Since Ingrid bought most of her interesting furniture and accessories nearby, she seemed like the ideal person to show me around the decor shops of Park Slope and DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass).

On a recent chilly Saturday, Ingrid and I take the subway to Park Slope. Known as the Gold Coast during Victorian times and now a housewares hotbed, the neighborhood claims multiple shops along Fifth and Seventh avenues near Prospect Park. "Brooklyn is hot," says Jihan Kim, owner of the Park Slope store Nest (396A Seventh Ave.). "There's been a huge influx of people, and they are paying attention to modern design."

Before we start off, I peer into a real estate office on Seventh, where fliers hawk 19th-century "Cosby Show"-esque townhouses in the million-dollar-plus range. Luckily, shops on this strip prove more affordable. "Seventh Avenue has always been the retail center of Park Slope," says Nest's Kim as we parse through his mod shop's cardboard stools ($20), kimono-fabric pillows and space age-y steel bookcases.

Heading north on Seventh, we dodge fleece-wearing locals walking dogs and venture into stores between 13th and First streets. We turn up blown-glass lamps with striped shades at Ecco Home Design (232 Seventh Ave.), copper wire baskets at Living on Seventh (219 Seventh Ave.) and kitchen gadgets stacked floor to ceiling at Tarzian West (194 Seventh Ave.). But our favorite? Exotic Artesana Home (170 Seventh Ave.), where sari curtains hang from the ceiling and busts of Buddha gaze down from Indonesian armoires.

After lunch at the Italian cafe Sotte Voce (225 Seventh Ave.), we cab it to Fifth Avenue, where decidedly 21st-century merchants occupy 19th- and early-20th-century buildings. Like Matter (227 Fifth Ave.), a minimalist, studio apartment-size space that deals in chalkboard-topped kids' tables and groovy plywood mirrors. Worldly bazaars on the strip include Patrias (167 Fifth Ave.), for sequined Haitian voodoo flags and Peruvian pots, and Umkarna (69 Fifth Ave.), a Zen den with Tibetan, Afghan and Moroccan textiles, painted furniture and gem-colored pillows. At the latter, I score an antique wooden Tibetan scroll box ($110) festooned with deer -- just the thing for storing keys and pizza coupons back home.

Power shopping requires carbs and caffeine, so we break for coffee and vegan chocolate cupcakes at Blue Sky Bakery (53 Fifth Ave.), where vintage CorningWare on display is also for sale. Then, Ingrid insists I can't leave Brooklyn without seeing DUMBO. "It has new stores, and they're big," she says. After taxiing to this trendy-yet-off-the-beaten-path zone near the Hudson River, we walk between towering warehouses, getting surreal angles of the Brooklyn Bridge.

DUMBO's galleries and artists' lofts send out a hipster vibe, which might explain why the neighborhood attracted the first brick-and-mortar outpost of cheap-chic cataloguer West Elm (75 Front St., at Main Street). With concrete floors, loungey platform beds and steel tables, West Elm looks like a with-it boutique hotel. We even spot a well-dressed, twentysomething couple smooching on a sofa. Nearby on Jay Street, Indonesian imports warehouse From the Source (65 Jay St.) stocks Asian goods, such as a teak dining table and a lamp with a bundled bamboo base.

Exhausted, we make a final stop at DUMBO's new ABC Carpet & Home (20 Jay St.). The slightly smaller, less-pricey sister of the Union Square emporium overflows with crochet-trimmed towels, Chinese armoires and enough silk pillows to outfit a sultan's lair. Although prices still aren't cheap, I snap up a cushion emblazoned with a peony marked down from $125 to $75. I can't afford a Park Slope brownstone, but at least I have a DUMBO pillow.

Sunday: Lower East Side

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Lower East Side bustled with immigrants. Today the neighborhood is also known as a bargain district for leather, luggage and Old World foodstuffs. "There's a tremendous variety in this area, from fabric stores to lingerie shops," says Andrew Flamm, executive director of the Lower East Side Business Improvement District. "Rents are still low, so prices are cheaper too."