kids clothes in New York

[ThomCat]

Children weren't even a thought last time we went so apart from Old Navy I'm clueless.
Any shops you'd recommend for kids and sensibly priced, we don't do designer, just funky

There are many places that we have here there in NY and because of the exchange rate plus the fact that just about everything is cheaper there, makes for very inexpensive clothing. For example, at H&M if a girls top is 6 pounds then it is usually $6, which is really a little more the 3 pounds iyswim. Gymboree is a place to go to(I think they have them here too?) but only to shop the sales, it is one of those places where things are overpriced only to go on sale 10 times! Target is a great store for just about anything, but they have a really cute line of Osh Kosh(which just doesn't have the same reputation in the USA that it does here) and other great clothes, but some stuff is quality and some stuff isn't so really check fabric content etc. For babies there is a shop called Carters(it usually is in outlet malls) Bloomingdales usually has good kids clothing, Stride Rite is for shoes, Old Navy still can't be beat(got a bunch of things for my girls there in November and each item was $.99!) Gap is really much more resonable there too.

We usually do a raid on Gap everytime we are in the US as the prices are less than 1/2 the UK and we know the clothes fit and are pretty tough.

Thomcat, try, for example, here a pretty good example of trendy downtown chic. If you're looking for non-designer funky, stick to neighborhoods like TriBeCa, Lower East Side, East Village, and NoLita. You'll find the more conventional stuff on the Upper East Side, Upper West Side, and Midtown. I wish I could help you with specific shops, but for some reason I tend to shop for myself in NYC and not for my kids.

I think you'll find that even pricey shops will seem cheap, given the exchange rate.

You could check out Keith Haring's Pop Shop in SoHo. I remember some lovely stuff for babies when I was last there but am not sure about children's. Good for presents though.

Pop Shop

7 pages of kids wear ideas for you here , thomcat

New York mag (where this list comes from) tends to be a good source for shopping info.

Brooklyn is v. trendy--will be worth a trip out there, especially Williamsburg. (Take the L train from the East Village.) But some of the Brooklyn shops have the same stuff you can find in Manhattan, so I'd say only go to Bklyn for the REALLY interestingly described shops.

Pop Shop is fab for clothes but do buy at least 1 size bigger - my titchy ds was too big for clothes I bought in his age range which was very disappointing (not like we can take them back in a hurry!). Same with Osh Kosh but buy loads as the price differential is great.

I second Bloomingdales for kids clothes, have "normal" stuff not just designer labels and with the exchange rate at the moment you'll be able to buy at a really good price

If you want to go cheap Mc Cheap, go to Conways on 34th st just past Macys between 7th and 8th. It is probably the equivalent of Primark, but you can get some reasonable stuff for dirt cheap prices......

Just remember 3T size is NOT for a 3 year old, it is more like a 2 year old. Just take lots of measurements of your children (in inches, the yanks don't do metric!!!!) and take a tape measure. That's the only sure fire way to get things to fit properly. Macys and Bloomies are good for kids clothes as well as Old Navy.....

Thanks for the tip about tape measure etc, great idea.

Issymum we're there over last weekend in Jan, 28th (if that's a friday) until the Tuesady morning

get a manicure, a pedicure, go and see a film, do the boat trip round Manhattan, go and see this really wierd shop assistant in Bloomies who sells placemats on about the 7th floor and is called Rose - I swear she is 87 or more....., when I was there on my own, I walked through Central Park on Sunday morning at 8am up to about 72nd on the west side, then caught the bus downtown to Macy's to start my shop in earnest.... there were some good flea markets in about the 20's on the west side, maybe about 7th avenue, that were fun (I hesitate to call them antique fairs!!!!). Use a Metro card instead of tokens and you can buzz all over the place....

Brunch in Greenwich Village or the East Village - visit Pottery Barn and try to carry stuff home...

I'm quite jealous, so have fun.

Oh fill me in on the whitening thing as that will be a must if and when I go back....have just found out I am pregnant and wonder if you could do it when you are..... anyway doubt they'll send me to NY when they know I'll be off on leave half way through the year. How did you find a reputable dentist over there?

Expat - that was great, thanks.

Pottery Barn IS a must and high on my list.

Have fun Issymum and thanks everyone for your tips etc.

This is the second time this has happened to us! Should be okay by Thursday night / Friday morning but remind me to newver go to New York Dec/Jan again. From now on it's a spring time thing only.

Isseymum, how is it, how are you?

woth taking a trip out to the malls in New Jersey, as you pay sales tax in NYC and you don't in Jersey! save, save, save!

Glad it went well and you had fun / a good time.
Safe home mate.

Glad it went well and you had fun / a good time.
Safe home mate.