Downtown and Central

Even if you don’t feel like shopping, take a walk around the gardens and ponds at downtown’s Arizona Center (400 E. Van Buren St., 602/271-4000, www.arizonacenter.com), a big open-air mall with an eclectic assortment of shops, boutiques, restaurants, and a movie theater. This is a great place to shop for Arizona-style gifts, especially if what you’re looking for is a bit on the kitschy side. If you can’t find anything to buy, you won’t regret the stroll through one of the Valley’s greenest attractions.

The upscale Biltmore Fashion Park (24th St. and Camelback Rd., 602/955-8400, www.shopbiltmore.com) along Camelback Road is the Valley’s finest shopping mall, with Saks 5th Avenue, Ralph Lauren, and dozens of other high-end shops. You’ll want to spend the whole day here if you’re a shopping enthusiast with money to burn, and there are several restaurants to choose from for a memorable lunch or dinner.

If you’re looking for recycled treasures and secret missing links check out the Historic District Antique Mall (539 W. McDowell Rd., 602/253-3778, www.historicdistrict antiquemall.com), a great place to get lost in the knickknacks of history and all the variations in the American style. On 7th Avenue between Camelback and Indian School roads, in the Melrose District, you’ll find a host of retro boutiques, thrift stores, and hip homedecor shops.

East Valley

If the clothes at the Biltmore’s Saks are too expensive, drive over to Tempe and the Arizona Mills (5000 Arizona Mills Cir., 480/491-7300, www.arizonamills.com, 10 a.m.–9:30 p.m. Mon.–Sat., 11 a.m.–7 p.m. Sun.), an outlet mall that has a Saks outlet (called Off 5th) and dozens of other outlet shops, including Ann Taylor, Kenneth Cole, and many more. This mall is huge and clean and has a fun gaming center for the kids and several restaurants. Also in Tempe, take a stroll along Mill Avenue, where you’ll find all kinds of hip shops and boutiques; while Mill used to be quite a bit funkier than it is today, the bigger corporate stores that overtook it about a decade ago still have a lot of good shopping to offer.

West Valley

Historic Downtown Glendale (59th and Glendale aves.) and the nearby Catlin Court Historic District in the northwest Valley offer the Valley’s quaintest shopping; the streets of downtown Glendale are lined with gaslamps and crowded antique stores, while Catlin Court is an historic residential neighborhood whose white picket fence–fronted bungalows have been turned into boutiques and restaurants. This area is a must-visit for those who enjoy walking in picturesque small-town settings and finding unique and unknown items to take home.

Book Stores

The Valley isn’t exactly a book-hunter’s paradise, but there are a few stores worth checking out. The best bookstore in town is the legendary Changing Hands Bookstore (6428 S. McClintock Dr., 480/730-0205, www .changinghands.com, 10 a.m.–9 p.m. Mon.– Fri., 9 a.m.–9 p.m. Sat., 10 a.m.–7 p.m. Sun.) in Tempe, which sells an excellent mixture of new and used books. The statewide chain Bookmans, selling all manner of used media, including books, CDS, DVDs, games, and