It's time to start checking off the items on your back-to-school shopping list. Luckily, for residents of StuyTown and Peter Cooper Village, it is easy to shop local for the school year, thanks to tons of great stores located just blocks away in the East Village, Gramercy, and Murray Hill.
A New Look for the New Year
The area is packed with children's clothing stores from tastefully curated boutiques to affordable consignment shops.
For consignment shopping, check out:
- Jane's Exchange (191 E. 3rd St., between Avenue B and Avenue A), which offers shoes, books, and clothing.
- Teens will get a kick out of Buffalo Exchange's (332 E. 11th St., between 1st and 2nd avenues) stylish threads.
- East Village Vintage Collective (545 E. 12th St.) keeps the vintage inventory fresh by adding new items in the store almost every day. If you can't make it in, the owners update the website once a week (every Thursday to be exact, if you want the edge on the other vintage shoppers.)
Papers and Pens
Sure, there's Staples, Walgreens, and Amazon—but what about the shops in StuyTown's neighborhood?
The Source Unltd Print & Copy Shop (331 E. 9th St., between 1st and 2nd avenues) is primarily a print shop, but it boasts a wide range of affordable office supplies. Down the block, Essex Card Shop (47 Avenue A, near 3rd Street.) is an old-school stationery store that sells notebooks, folders, and pens.
For art supplies, check out Blick Art Materials (111 4th Ave.) The store stocks an extensive selection of art supplies, including sketchbooks, paints, and canvases.
Strand Book Store in New York City is a booklovers treasure trove and home to 18 miles of books.
Textbooks
College students are in luck when it comes to buying their textbooks locally.
In the East Village, Strand (828 Broadway, at 12th St.) and East Village Books (99 Saint Marks Place, between 1st Ave. and Avenue A) are ready to both sell textbooks and take last semester's books off your hands.
The school year will be here before you know it, so pencil in that shopping trip today and enjoy the benefits of shopping local.
Written by Amber James