8 Best Shopping in The Bay Area, California

A huge selection of new music for every taste has been drawing crowds to this independent brand since 1971. Only in a town that also contained Amoeba Music could Rasputin's stock of used CDs, DVDs, collectibles, and vinyl be surpassed.

Founded in Berkeley in 1970, this local chain uses premium-quality ingredients to create face, body, hair-care, and aromatherapy products. Essential oils and perfume oils can be combined to create personal fragrances. Tiare, gardenia, and China Rain are a few favorite scents.

Wandering bibliophiles collect armfuls of the latest fiction and nonfiction at this revered shop. The loftlike space, with its high ceilings and spare design, encourages contemplation, and on chilly days a fire burns in the hearth. Past participants in the excellent authors' events have included Ian Rankin, Annie Leibovitz, and Michael Moore.

Take the stairs up from the Vine Street entrance to Walnut Square's top floor to find this cupcakery showcasing scrumptious made-from-scratch confections.

Eccentric and fun, this shop is a great place to buy trendy T-shirts, Disney-themed glassware, and vintage clocks, not to mention solar-powered bobbleheads, outrageous erasers, and very small (porcelain) happy cats.

Where Bridgeway intersects Princess Street and curves toward the dock, this contemporary jewelry and craft gallery carries trinkets and gifts, from unique watches to dragon pendants.

This store is every child's (and many adults') dream come true, with rows of fresh homemade fudge, barrels of rainbow-colored jelly beans, and neat ribboned boxes of truffles. A train in the window drives figure eights through convincing faux-chocolate mountains and around M&M houses.

Daily free tastings of organic and small-production wines take place at this neighborhood wine shop, which specializes in both local and domestic vintages and is situated in a beautifully restored water pumping station.