Seattle's Waterfront and the Pike Place Market, on First Avenue and Pike Street (Monday to Saturday 0900-1800, Sunday 1100-1700), offer all the crazy souvenirs imaginable, from wooden slugs (which look a lot like the real thing) to Space Needle hats and, of course, enormous sides of smoked Alaskan salmon for visitors to ship home.

The true downtown shopping core, however, is between First Avenue and Sixth Avenue and Olive Street and University Street, including the flagship Nordstrom Store, Old Navy, Macy's, Pacific Place Mall, Barney's, Nike Town, Anne Taylor, Barnes & Noble and more. Fifth Avenue is famous for its designer shops, including Louis Vuitton, Escada, and St John.

Belltown, north along First Avenue from the city centre, has unique boutiques with everything from locally designed clothing, imported shoes, antiques, used clothing and more. Ballard offers a number of Scandinavian gift and food shops, as well as Archie McPhee's, 2428 Market Street, an institution, known in the USA for its whimsical toys. Capitol Hill corners the market for high style and quirkiness, with shops such as Le Frock, 317 East Pine Street, which specialises in vintage designer wear. Fugio, 1507 Belmont Avenue, specialises in antique Asian furnishings.

For interesting boutiques, handcrafted, jewellery, art and antiques, Pioneer Square is your destination. Find vintage photographs and Native American art at Flury & Company, 322 First Avenue South. For Pacific Northwest contemporary artwork, check out Stonington Gallery, 119 Jackson Street. Traditions and Beyond, 606 12th Avenue South, sells Indian arts and crafts. All profits go to scholarships for Native Americans. Nautical flags and antiques make up much of  Cuttysark Nautical Antiques' inventory, 320 First Avenue South.

Expect the unusual, the outrageous and the chic at the Fremont neighbourhood. Deluxe Junk, 3518 Fremont Place, showcases retro and flamboyant merchandise, while Dusty Strings, 3406 Fremont, has everything from acoustic guitars to exotic stringed instruments. The elegant, ultra-feminine is available at Les Amis, 3420 Evanston.

Shopping hours are 0930-1800 on average, including Sundays. Seattle sales tax is 8.8% on non-food items. Unlike in other states, visitors are unable to claim tax refunds on goods purchased in Seattle.