46 Best Places to Shop in French Quarter, New Orleans

Satisfy your sweet tooth with an array of pralines, made while you watch. The traditional version is concocted from cane sugar spiked with pecans, but other flavors include chocolate, café au lait, and even bananas Foster. You can also buy hot sauce, prepackaged muffuletta mix, and Bourbon Street glaze, as well as art and books about New Orleans, zydeco CDs, and logo cups and aprons.

Named for William Faulkner, who rented a room here in 1925, this bookstore is designated a National Literary Landmark. It specializes in first editions and rare and out-of-print books—mostly by Southern authors—but also carries new titles. The store keeps thousands of additional books at an off-site warehouse and hosts an annual Happy Birthday, Mr. Faulkner! Festival that salutes Faulkner and new Southern writers.

Anyone with a passion for playing dress-up and a flair for the dramatic will love this place filled with custom wigs, wild accessories, makeup, and hair products. The shop provides essential resources for Mardi Gras and Halloween costumes as well as ample creative advice.

Owned by the ebullient Lauren Thom, Fleurty Girl—its name is a play on "fleur-de-lis"—is the place to go for New Orleans apparel, home decor, and gifts. The store is known for its T-shirts displaying the humorous catchphrases and iconography of local culture and New Orleans Saints pride. There's affordable jewelry, children's books, colorful rain boots, Carnival-themed gear, and fleurs-de-lis in every imaginable form. There's also a location in the Garden District, at 3117 Magazine Street.

A must for perfume lovers, this store has been creating fragrances since 1931. Scented oils, soaps, sachets, and potpourri have been made on-site for four generations and are sold all over the world. There are dozens of fragrances for men and women, as well as bath salts, anti-aging treatments, massage and body oils, antique shaving and dressing-table accessories, and new and antique perfume bottles.

Antiques lovers may want to set aside several hours to marvel at the extensive collection here. Rare pieces, such as furniture from royal families, join 18th- and 19th-century French, American, and English antiques, sterling silver, statuary, fine art, and jewelry in this 30,000-square-foot store, which opened in 1912.

New Orleans–based designer Candice Gwinn puts a retro-romantic spin on the women's fashions she creates. Inspired by styles from the 1940s to the 1950s, the Trashy Diva line includes dresses, blouses, skirts, coats, jewelry, and upscale shoes with vintage flair and modern fit. The Trashy Diva lingerie shop, located at 712 Royal Street, features corsets and romantic evening wear. An expansive Trashy Diva shoe, clothing, and lingerie boutique is also located in the 2000 block of Magazine Street.

This co-op of regional artists showcases a wide variety of works, including handmade masks, photography focusing on New Orleans personalities and scenery, ceramics, blown glass, paintings, wrought-iron architectural accents, turned-wood bowls and vases, prints, jewelry, beads, and more.

Opened in 1843, this old world–style shop offers about three dozen fragrances for men and women, including a 200-year-old formula for men's cologne. It will custom-blend perfumes for individuals based on assessments of body chemistry, personality, and scent preferences. The shop also sells perfume bottles and toiletries.

This small, charming shop specializes in Limoges boxes with design motifs ranging from small red beans—a favorite food in New Orleans—to baby carriages. It also has antique walking sticks, Venetian glass, and English Staffordshire porcelain.

This open-air café and New Orleans landmark serves café au lait (half coffee, half hot milk) and beignets (holeless doughnuts sprinkled liberally with powdered sugar). Take-home products from the café include prepackaged chicory coffee and beignet mix, coffee mugs, and posters depicting the spot. The café's store across the street also sells logo T-shirts, aprons, and other souvenirs. Another branch is in the CBD, at the Outlet Collection at Riverwalk.

Owners Terry and Sylvia Weidert create a variety of chic, art deco–inspired designs in 14- and 18-karat gold and platinum.

New and used books focus on local history, the arts, modern fiction, and out-of-print works, including a fine selection of antiquarian books and obscure titles.

Calling itself "the one-stop shop for all your occult needs," this store is a great place to pick up potions, gris-gris bags, jewelry, spell kits, incense, and altar and ritual items as well as books on magic and the occult arts. Tarot readings are also available.

The aroma of candy cooking will draw you into this sweets shop, established in 1900. You'll find a variety of pralines, pecan logs, and New Orleans's own Cuccia Chocolates, as well as coffee and gift baskets.

It's all about the Crescent City in this small shop filled with New Orleans–themed items, including glassware adorned with pewter fleurs-de-lis, affordable jewelry that boasts local icons, stationery, tiles, clocks, ceramics, framed crosses, charms, bottle stoppers, frames, candles, cookbooks, and more. This is a great place to pick up upscale souvenirs and gifts.

One of the largest collections of European crystal and bronze chandeliers in the country glitters over gilded mirrors, 18th- and 19th-century hand-carved marble mantels, French and Continental furniture, porcelain, and objets d'art in this shop, which originally opened in 1947 and is run by the second and third generations of its founding family.

Vendors have been selling their wares on this spot since 1791, making it one of the oldest public marketplaces in the country. Today, the French Market includes a large flea market, small produce stands, and retail shops. For the daily flea market, dozens of vendors set up tables inside and outside the covered pavilion, selling inexpensive jewelry, sunglasses, handbags, T-shirts, curios, and food items, like spice mixes and hot sauces. The market generally is open daily from about 7 to 7, but hours can vary depending on the weather.

From fedoras to flat caps, you'll find hats of every style and shape at this national chain with a local sensibility, including straw toppers perfect for strolling the streets of the French Quarter. Another branch, at 2127 Magazine Street, offers custom millinery for those looking for a personal fit.

More than 50 regional artists display their works in this double-shotgun house in the middle of the French Quarter. You'll find paintings, metalwork mirrors, a vast array of earrings, blown glass, ceramics, wood sculptures, handmade clothing, hats, ironwork, masks, and vignettes in oyster shells.

This 8,000-square-foot retail wonderland is filled with interesting antiques, light fixtures, salvaged items, and art. The antiques come from England, France, and Belgium, and are high-quality yet affordable. The store's selection of salvaged elements, mostly from old New Orleans houses, and art from emerging local artists, allows shoppers to take home a unique piece of the city. The shop also rents bicycles by the hour, day, or week, and runs bicycle tours.

Locals and visitors alike are drawn to this shop for its two floors of 19th-century paintings, 18th- and 19th-century French and English furniture, large mirrors, bronze sculptures, and chandeliers.

At this fun little shop, wood becomes art at the hands of craftspeople who carve functional clocks, clipboards, and jewelry boxes, as well as whimsical whirligigs, hand-carved board games, puzzles, kaleidoscopes, and toys, proving that not all playthings need to be plugged in.

Pick up a piece of history in this shop, opened in 1898, which sells many one-of-a-kind antique firearms, swords, and currency, including coins from as early as 319 BC. There are also obsolete bank notes, jewelry made from rare coins, and collectibles such as antique opera glasses.

A historic factory building that once produced Jax beer now holds a mall filled with local shops and a few national chain stores, like Chico's, along with a food court and balcony overlooking the Mississippi River. Shops carry souvenirs, clothing, books, artwork, and more, with an emphasis on New Orleans–themed items. The mall is open daily. On hot summer days, it's an air-conditioned refuge.

Leave yourself plenty of time to browse the three floors of 18th- and 19th-century French and English furniture, chandeliers, estate jewelry, art, statuary, and other furnishings. The shop, run by the fourth generation of the family that founded it in 1899, is a favorite stop for interior designers.

In a hushed art-museum atmosphere, this gallery, with its well-educated staff, showcases high-end European paintings from the 18th and 19th centuries. Visits are by appointment only.

In the candy-making business since 1913, this shop sells sweet pralines as well as chocolate specialties—including its signature Mississippi mud, made with milk or dark chocolate laced with caramel.

For more than 50 years, this has been the stop for a mix of New Orleans souvenirs, miniature die-cast metal cars (from the Model T to the Hummer), character lunchboxes, puppets, plastic animals, and collectible Madame Alexander dolls. There is a second location in the French Quarter at 513 St. Ann Street.

Artist Dalili fabricates his intricate but wearable masks out of leather at a workstation in the front of the store. There also are masks made by other local artists, as well as Venetian and feather versions, pewter sculptures, jewelry, and figurines.