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The best things to buy in Boston are the ones you cannot pick up at home: Italian pantry goods and coffee from North End grocers that have been open since 1932 and 1962, chocolates from a Beacon Hill chocolatier, used and rare books from a shop founded in 1825, and Boston Marathon gear from the running store by the finish line. For classic souvenirs in one stop, Faneuil Hall Marketplace has more than 40 pushcart vendors; for designer brands, Copley Place and the Prudential Center are linked to each other indoors.
What food can you take home from Boston?
The North End's old grocers are the place to start. Salumeria Italiana at 151 Richmond Street has sold Italian salumi, cheese, olive oil, pasta and pantry goods since 1962, around the corner from the Paul Revere House. It ships perishables by UPS from Monday to Wednesday, packed with cold packs, so you do not have to carry a wheel of cheese home. On Salem Street, Polcari's Coffee at 105 Salem Street has been run as a coffee and spice shop since 1932 and stocks well over 150 spices, legumes, grains and extracts, plus loose tea and Italian candies. It closes on Sundays.
For things grown or made in New England, the Boston Public Market at 100 Hanover Street is an indoor, year-round hall of more than 30 local producers, and the market says everything sold there is produced in or originates from New England. Vendors include Red Apple Farm (cider), Q's Nuts, Curio Spice Co. and Peterman's Boards and Bowls, which turns fallen trees into serving pieces. It is next to Haymarket station on the Orange and Green Lines.
Chocolate travels well from Beacon Hill Chocolates at 91 Charles Street, on the street since 2006. It sells more than 100 truffles, flavors such as maple and blood orange among them, in hand-decoupaged keepsake boxes that work as a gift on their own.
Where to buy books, maps and prints
Brattle Book Shop at 9 West Street, near Downtown Crossing, was founded in 1825 and has been run by the Gloss family since 1949. It holds more than 250,000 books, maps, prints, postcards and other paper items over three floors, with rare and antiquarian books on the third floor and an outdoor sale lot. It is open Monday to Saturday. Also downtown, Commonwealth Books on Spring Lane carries more than 40,000 titles, from medieval manuscript leaves to recent books, and opens on Sundays as well. On Newbury Street, Trident Booksellers and Cafe has paired new books with a cafe since 1984 and is open daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Boston sports and Marathon souvenirs
Marathon Sports at 671 Boylston Street opened in 2001 steps from the Boston Marathon finish line and sells a Boston Marathon collection of apparel and gear each year. Red Sox merchandise is at the Team Store on Jersey Street, across from Gate A of Fenway Park, where ballpark tours also start. Bruins and Celtics gear is sold at the ProShop at TD Garden, above North Station.
Classic Boston gifts
Shreve, Crump and Low at 39 Newbury Street has sold jewelry and fine gifts in Boston since 1796. Its own Boston keepsake, the Original Gurgling Cod, is sold only through Shreve and listed at $99. The shop is open Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closed on Sundays.
Faneuil Hall Marketplace has had its pushcart program since 1976, and it groups its Boston souvenir sellers, many of them carts and kiosks, under one shopping category on its website. Newbury Comics, an independent New England music and pop-culture retailer known for exclusive colored vinyl, has a store in the South Market building there as well as its store at 348 Newbury Street.
Boutiques on Charles Street and Newbury Street
Charles Street, the main street of Beacon Hill, is lined with small independent shops. Crush Boutique at number 138 has sold women's contemporary clothing since 2007, and its sister shop Whitney + Winston at number 113 sells children's clothes and gifts. December Thieves at number 122 stocks small-batch designers, jewelry and home goods, some of them sold only in the store. On Newbury Street in Back Bay, Buck Mason at number 229 sells modern American classics, with in-store hemming for jeans bought at full price. Our guide to Newbury Street covers the rest of the street block by block.
Shopping on a Sunday or a rainy day
The Prudential Center has more than 70 shops and places to eat, anchored by Saks Fifth Avenue and Eataly, and is open until 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 8 p.m. on Sunday. The Prudential stop on the Green Line E branch exits straight into it. Copley Place next door holds the luxury names, including Tiffany, Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Dior, and keeps shorter hours: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
On Sundays from May to mid-November, the SoWa Open Market in the South End brings more than 250 artisans, farmers and food trucks to 500 Harrison Avenue from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; the 2026 season ends on November 15, and entry is free. The SoWa Vintage Market runs downstairs at 450 Harrison Avenue every Sunday all year, and the SoWa Christmas Market takes over the SoWa Power Station from November 20 to December 27, 2026. See our South End guide for the rest of the neighborhood, and our Faneuil Hall guide for what to see around the marketplace.