New York or Miami for shopping

[NomadInBA]

This is a question to the US Expats. My Argentine wife intends to head to the states for some shopping and while she intended to head to Miami like most Argentines there are very limited flights when she wants to go. There are however plenty of available flights to NY. As someone who has not been to the states myself I wanted to turn to the collective knowledge of follow expats

From a shopping point of view is NY more expensive than Miami and would it be recommendable for a shopping run + a few days sightseeing?

Thanks.

 

[citygirl]

Sight-seeing - yes, of course. Much, more better than Miami and much more easily navigated (no car required). Hotels in NY will however be much more expensive than in FL.

Shopping - better in NYC, esp access to designer and more cutting edge fashions but more expensive in general. However, if she is looking for bargains - she can hit Century 21, Loehmans and of course head to the outlets at Woodbury Commons (enormous).

And if she wants to see the beautiful stuff - she will do the Bs in NY: Barneys, Bendels, Bergdorf. Plus Saks of course. Ah... I do miss their shore store.

Macy's generally has huge sales although their Herald Sq store is way too big for me - inevitably, despite living there for a gazillion years, I would always get lost in there

 

[NomadInBA]

Thanks a lot Citygirl. That is exactly the type of information I was after.

 

[jb5]

NYC has the world's best shopping and a full range from very cheap to amazingly high end. There are several good books to guide you if you want to do some research. Just search NY shopping on Amazon.

 

[citygirl]

Forgot to add - there are also always sample sales in NY. Amazing deals to be found there. NY Mag usually had a good listing of the best sales and where: http://nymag.com/shopping/

 

[Crema Americana]

Miami is nice for the beach and weather. Also she may feel more comfortable since everybody speaks Spanish (they even talk to me in Spanish before English in your average store)... not sure how it is in New York these days.

Apart from that, there are more sights in New York, more to do and see, and the shopping is of a different quality. They have tour buses that take visitors from hotels to the main shopping malls in South Florida, so having a car in Miami isn't strictly necessary if that's all she wants to do, but it's certainly less convenient. Miami has very poor public transportation and everything is pretty spread out, but it is generally cheaper.

 

[Sleuth]

If she heads to NYC have her take a bus out to Woodbury Commons (about an hour or so) for a day of shopping. It's the largest outlet mall in the U.S, and has a ton of top designers. http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/outlet.asp?id=7

 

[nledec]

Also, remember that nationwide retail chains (Target, the Gap, etc.) have standard pricing no matter where they are. There may be variation in when they have their sales, but in general you'll have the same prices in NY or MIA.

 

[NomadInBA]

A massive thanks for all the great input.

On a side note: When flying to the states who offers the better service between United and American? There is very little difference in price.

 

[LaurenW]

I recommend United based on past experiences and bad experiences with the lines at Ezeiza on AA.

Also NYC is going to have better shopping options for your wife than Miami- there are great sample sales as someone mentioned and the safe cheap prices at national stores such as Target or Forever 21/H&M.