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Shopping
Arguably the prime reason a lot of Brits visit New York is to spend some serious wonga in all the illustrious department stores littered around Fifth Avenue and Broadway. Certainly if you've come to shop until you don't think you can walk another step (as you will), then New York doesn't disappoint. It's not completely the bargain basement it's made out to be - this is, after all, a major city in what's hardly a third-world country and most things don't come cheap in the slightest. However, if you're looking to stock up on funky CK pants, get some jeans and maybe a tie or two then you'll do fab, plus cosmetics are extremely good value - better than Duty Free. Electronics goods in Times Square comes from the same kind of shops you'll see strewn up and down Tottenham Court Road in London - all proclaiming the cheapest prices around. Fine if you've down a lot of homework before leaving and know exactly what you're looking for, but otherwise best left.

On the whole though, I occasionally found the New York shopping experience to be a frustrating one - books and record shops that I expected to be in abundance are pretty much on the thin side (especially bookshops) - even the massively touted Virgin MegaStore in Times Square I find to be a bit of a disappointment. They must be plentiful (just watch any Woody Allen film), but I can't find any interesting ones. And this is part of the problem with New York - we really found that we needed someone to tell us where to go and what little treasures there were to find out and about. The Rough Guide is all very well, but in hindsight we hadn't done our homework especially well and would really have liked some sort of Janet and John guide to going around, as we undoubtedly missed out on some real highlights of the city. After all, dump someone in Piccadilly Circus in London and that's hardly a true representation of the city.

Anyway, one good place we found for cheap clothes was the Century 21 outlet in the Financial District close to the World Trade Centre. Some good bargains to be had in and amongst the usual tardy rubbish.