Shopping for a 13 year old girl

Does anyone have any tips as to where to take my 13 year old daughter shopping in NYC? It%26#39;ll be her first trip. We live in Chicago, so prefer not to go to places we have here, like H%26amp;M. Would be interested in any suggestions forum readers might have in the City, whether the stores are big or small, expensive or inexpensive (although we may only just browse the expensive stores). Thank you!

Shopping for a 13 year old girl

Bleecker Street has some cool places to see and shop. Cynthia Rowley is always fun, as are the quirky handbags at Lulu Guinness. There are also 3 Marc Jacobs boutiques including the lesser price ';Marc'; store, and his and hers Ralph Lauren boutiques. (Start at 8th ave and work your way towards 6th ave.)

Also lower 5th avenue has great shopping for a teenager. I%26#39;d say start at 14th and work your way up to 23rd. There is a large Esprit store, Lucky Brand Denim, Anthropologie, Otto Tootsi Plohound (shoes) and the trendy/pricey Intermix. It also has the usual suspects...Banana Republic, Armani Exchange, Kenneth Cole etc. In that same area there is also a fairly large Diesel store and American Eagle in Union Square. (one block east of 5th ave.)

Shopping for a 13 year old girl

Oh and can%26#39;t forget Soho, the stores there run the gamut from Old Navy to Chanel.

On that show ';What Not To Wear';, they took a teenager to the Anna Sui boutique on Greene St, and she was rather blown away at how unique %26amp; fun the store was. Basically it%26#39;s from Houston To Canal Streets b/n Broadway and 6th. (Emphasis on West Broadway, Prince, Spring, Greene and Wooster streets)

I would suggest 8th Street from West to East - the heart of Greenwich Village and playground of NYU.

You can start at Union Square (14th St and Broadway) and walk south on 4th AVe. or Broadway for interesting stores. Make a left (east) on 8th St.

Or you can start more west on 8th. Start at Sixth AVe and walk east until around Third Ave. Yes, there are some head shops and tattoo parlors, but the main focus of the street is the shoes!! She%26#39;ll LOVE Ricky%26#39;s Cosmetics (multiple locations) - tons of stickers and buttons with smart-aleck ';GRRL'; slogans, make-up, glitter, hair dyes, brushes and combs, scented canldes, etc. Just keep her away from the XXX-rated areas in the back of their stores, and ';usually'; curtained off (sometimes with a highly ineffective beaded curtain, depnding on the store!)

East of Broadway, the street becomes Astor Place and then St. Marks Place - the ';blue mohawk'; street. May be a little too scary and hard-core punk for her....

If you don%26#39;t like St. Marks, double-back to Broadway and walk south. Once you cross Houston St., you%26#39;re automatically in Soho (i.e. ';SOuth of HOuston';). I%26#39;d turn right on Prince St., go to West Broadway, and turn left and go south to Spring, and walk along Spring. Do you two have iPods? There%26#39;s an Apple/Mac store near here.

This is a good walk, so daughter may get tired - especially if you browse the gazillion jewelry street vendors! Luckily, there are plenty of cafes around for a rest!

This is a good interactive map for Soho shopping

http://www.artseensoho.com/map.html

Also, for a different option, go to Little India - Lexington Ave. around 26 Street. Most of the Indian places there have nice shopping for Indian-South East Asian clothes made ';trendy'; by Madonna, Britney, etc. Sandals, gauzy tops and skirts, and beaded slippers are beautiful!

I was there with my 13 year old daughter in March for her first visit. Her favorites were: looking in all the little shops in Chinatown/Canal St. and the souvenier shops in Times Square where she could get the ';I Love NYC'; shirts at 3 for $10.00 for her friends. We also spent a rainy afternoon at Macy%26#39;s which she loved. There were many clothes her size, I let her get a manicure at their ';spa'; while I got a 20 minute chair massage, and we had a snack on the balcony level while watching the shoppers. Although my older daughter loved Soho, my younger one wasn%26#39;t all that interested, lots of stuff too ';old'; or far out for her, I think.