Fabric Workshop and Museum
Center City East
A nonprofit arts organization runs this center and store dedicated to creating new work in fabric and other materials, working with emerging and nationally and internationally recognized artists.
8 Best Shopping in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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Shopaholics love the City of Brotherly Love for its style—funky artwork and highbrow housewares, fine jewels, and haute couture.
Indeed, Philadelphia has spawned some influential fashion retailers. The Urban Outfitters chain was born in a storefront in West Philadelphia. Its sophisticated sister, Anthropologie, also has its roots in Philadelphia. Lagos, the popular high-end jewelry line, was founded here, and all items are still produced locally. High-fashion boutiques Joan Shepp, Knit Wit, and Elle Lauri, all in the Rittenhouse Square area, are well regarded by locals for designer clothing and accessories.
Some of the most spirited shopping in town is also pleasing to the palate. The indoor Reading Terminal Market and the outdoor Italian Market are bustling with urban dwellers buying groceries and visitors searching for the perfect Philadelphia cheesesteak. Equally welcoming is the city's quaint, cobblestone Antiques Row, the three-block stretch of Pine Street crammed with shops selling everything from estate jewelry to stained glass and vintage furniture. Also worth a trip is the Third Street Corridor in Old City, home to scads of independent, funky boutiques. In Northern Liberties, the Piazza at Schmidt's is a giant mixed-use development inspired by Rome's Piazza Navona, which houses 100,000 square feet of retail space bursting with creative entrepreneurs.
Neighborhoods are presented clockwise starting from the Old City, a commercial waterfront turned arts enclave on the Delaware River, moving south to South Philadelphia, then west to Center City and Rittenhouse Square, across the Schuylkill River to University City around the University of Pennsylvania campus, and ending in the north with Northern Liberties.
Muse Gallery
Old City
Established in 1978 by the Muse Foundation for the Visual Arts, Muse Gallery is an artists' cooperative committed to increasing the visibility of local artwork and presenting experimental work in a variety of mediums.
Schwarz Gallery
Rittenhouse Square
American and European paintings of the 18th to 20th century are the focus, with an emphasis on Philadelphia artists.
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Show of Hands
Center City East
You'll find one-of-a-kind artisan crafts—exquisite jewelry, colorful vases, textiles, Murano glass, and unique lamps—in a wide range of price points here. The friendly owner is on hand to answer questions and encourages you to handle the fragile objects.
The Center for Art in Wood
Old City
This hub for the international wood-art community recently moved to a more visible new home and changed its name from the Wood Turning Center. Housed here is a store with gorgeous work—some by the accomplished artists whose work has been displayed in the adjacent gallery, including those who come every year as part of the organization's annual Windgate ITE International Residency program. There is also a free museum on the premises.
VIX Emporium
University City
Local artists and designers consign their works—from ceramics to handmade hats—in this former millinery with the original built-in cabinetry and beveled-glass windowpanes. The owners, a couple, both have a background in retail and are artisans themselves—she makes jewelry and he's a graphic designer. That's typical of the creative entrepreneurs popping up in West Philadelphia.
Wexler Gallery
Old City
This gallery is known for specializing in historic and contemporary glass, but it always has an interesting mix of 20th- and 21st-century handcrafted furnishings and art.
Works on Paper
Rittenhouse Square
The contemporary prints here by American masters like Chuck Close and Robert Rauschenberg and by artists represented by the gallery have won Works on Paper a reputation as one of the city's best.
