<p>I have to spend several days in Seattle helping a family member with medical appointments; because we live in the boonies, they also want to experience some awesome ‘city’ Christmas shopping. If we are near Swedish Medical Center, what is the best place to go for great decorations and fun shopping? I only know Alderwood on the outskirts of the city.</p>
<p>Alderwood is a heck of a long ways from Swedish Medical Center. Call a cab (little or no street hails in Seattle) and take a short ride downtown.</p>
<p>I can’t help you much, somemom, but I’m jealous. D is a student now at a Seattle university (she just got back from REI this afternoon where she bought a real rain jacket), and I love that city. I did buy her one really nice Christmas gift at Pikes Place Market. There is a booth where a little Asian lady makes very hip fabric purses that the young college women seem to like. They are pricey but very well made and beautiful. The company is called Chikako, Japanese Textile Art… the phone number is 425-355-2217.</p>
<p>If you are at the Market, check them out. Your D’s might thank you!</p>
<p>I used to live in Seattle. You should love Pikes Place Market. The layout of the whole place is fun to travel and there’s plenty of unique little shops, especially for those interested in the culinary arts and the visual arts.</p>
<p>For regular to high end department stores, try the downtown Westlake area.</p>
<p>Alderwood is where i go from home, skirting the edge of the city; if we are downtown for 4 days & 3 nights, we need to hit downtown spots pre-surgery. Is South center mall a nice one? I have been to Pike Place years ago and might take her there if one of the afternoons is ‘warm’ and sunny</p>
<p>I live in Seattle. Swedish is literally just beyond downtown proper. I would suggest shopping downtown. And then if interested it’s just a few short blocks to Pike Place Market if you are interested in experiencing that as well.</p>
<p>University Village is a upscale outdoor shopping center that has a nice vibe to it. It’s about 10 minutes from downtown. I’ve lived less than a mile away from it for almost 20 years. You can google it if interested to find out the shops in it. I like the fact that it is outdoor, I’m not big on indoor shopping malls.</p>
<p>If you so want to go to a mall, the only one in the area (IMO) that’s worth taking a special trip to is Bellevue Square. It’s across Lake Washington, about a 20 minute drive from downtown.</p>
<p>Alderwood is just “a mall.” I wouldn’t make the effort to go all the way out there.</p>
<p>I was typing while you were posting above. Southcenter is a horror during the holidays. My husband’s office is a few miles away and he will not go near the mall after Thanksgiving. Traffic in that area is awful much of the time, and during the holidays it becomes gridlocked. There are no shops there that can’t be found elsewhere.</p>
<p>I just hear about large groups of teens roving the Southcenter mall.
( not so well behaved either)
From Swedish first hill- I would go up slightly north to Broadway. Lots of shops, book stores, urban outfitters, ethnic shops. Broadway market is an enclosed area-
Or I would go slightly east- down Madison to Madison park- very nice village area. ( citypeoples mercantile <b)</p>
<p>Actually Uvillage is this side of the lake from Bsquare and a nice slice of the neighborhood by the UW.
Those are all if you don’t want to go downtown- downtown can be exhausting, but you can just hit up Westlake mall or Pacific Place downtown and save steps.</p>
<p>While Alderwood is close to my school & I like the Apple store there better than at Uvillage, it isn’t special.</p>
<p>I would absolutely avoid Southcenter; and only go across Lake Washington to Bellevue Square if you really want a large indoor mall (in which case it’s the nicest one around Seattle). </p>
<p>Go a few blocks west from Swedish to downtown Seattle where you’ll find the flagship Nordstrom store as well as Macy’s (perpetual sales!) plus lots of other urban shopping. I second the suggestion of University Village, a 15 minute drive away, for a relaxing and charming upscale outdoor mall with many nice national chain stores as well as some smaller independents --they even provide oversized umbrellas to borrow between stores if it’s raining, and there are some very nice dining options. You can take a look at the stores at [url=<a href=“http://www.uvillage.com%5DUvillage%5B/url”>http://www.uvillage.com]Uvillage[/url</a>] . If you’re driving and parking is tight, head to the parking structure at the north end of the mall – there’s always parking here even when the outdoor surface lots are full.</p>
<p>The best place to shop in Seattle is in Portland or on the Internet from out-of-state stores – no sales tax there. With the recent success of yet another permanent sales tax increase (to pay for transit 15 years from now), the rate in Seattle and most of King County is now 9.2-9.5% – and 10% in Seattle restaurants. I’m through shopping here.</p>
<p>Not a shopping experience but a reason to go into Seattle over the holidays:
16th Annual Gingerbread Village
Nov. 25-Jan. 4, free, Sheraton Seattle, 1400 6th Ave, Seattle (206-621-9000). Seattle’s top architecture firms team up with Sheraton Seattle’s culinary staff to design, bake and build elaborate gingerbread displays and holiday creations reflecting this year’s theme: “A Superhero Holiday.” Donations will be accepted for the Northwest Chapter of Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.</p>
<p>Bellevue Square would be my place of choice for indoor shopping. I usually avoid Southcenter and Alderwood - too crowded and too cookie cutter mall-like. Bellevue decks their streets near the mall with beautiful lights and in the past has had the so-called Snowflake Lane: a street show with carolers and live music every night from Thanksgiving to Christmas. I’m sure it is still on for this year (here is the schedule of events planned for this year’s Snowflake Lane):</p>
<p>[Bellevue</a> Collection What’s New](<a href=“http://bellevuecollection.com/whats_new.php]Bellevue”>http://bellevuecollection.com/whats_new.php)</p>
<p>If you do not have a car, there is a bus service from Seattle to Bellevue. King County Metro and Sound Transit have online trip planners wher you can type in the starting and ending destinations and the approximate time of the trip, and the trip planner will suggest a route.</p>
<p>Downtown Seattle has plenty of shopping, too. Pacific Place, 5th Avenue and Westlake Center have plenty of stores, and if you get tired of walking, the buses are free to ride within the downtown core on weekdays.</p>
<p>I apologize for sounding like a curmudgeon. You’d have to be up on local politics to realize how cynical this transit tax increase was. I’m sure there are any number of lovely shopping spots on the other side of the lake.</p>
<p>“You should love Pikes Place Market.”</p>
<p>Yeah, if you can stand dead fish smell.</p>
<p>Pike Place Market is very cool- but it gets cold down by the sound.
and having had to go to Bellevue 4 times this week- * not* supposedly during commute time- you do not want to have to go over there if you don’t have to.</p>
<p>OMG- My grandma worked in the downtown Fredericks for decades ( where the real Santa was- seriously)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Paul Bunyan room shakes and going across the street to the Copper Kitchen for french dip- I am so old. I miss the doormen ( Nordstroms is there now- but it isn’t the same-)
I still have my Uncle Mistletoe.
[url=<a href=“Museum of History and Industry — MOHAI”>http://www.seattlehistory.org/]MOHAI[/url</a>]</p>
<p>I second downtown Seattle (including Pioneer Square) for best shopping. Buses are free in the downtown area, so getting around is easy. If you’re from out of state make sure you check to see if you’re exempt from WA sales tax. Alaskan residents are exempt, but I’m not sure it’s every state. You have to show a driver lic. and fill out some paper work, but it’s worth it if you’re spending a lot of money.</p>
<p>Re: Southcenter shopping
I just hear about large groups of teens roving the Southcenter mall.
( not so well behaved either)</p>
<p>and packing.
[Local</a> News | 2 shot at Southcenter Mall, 1 dead; suspect at large | Seattle Times Newspaper](<a href=“http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008424364_webmallshooting.html]Local”>http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008424364_webmallshooting.html)</p>