Mitchells
Westport
A Westport landmark, this family-owned clothing empire has become a place to see and be seen on the weekend. Although you could wind up spending your child’s first-year tuition on a garment, the M&Ms on the counter are free, and you stand a good chance of looking absolutely fabulous in your new threads

670 Post Road East, 227-5165

Fairfield Downtown
Fairfield
Along the Post Road, Fairfield has retained its small-town, friendly feel while adding  popular chain stores right alongside independently owned and fashionable shops. A wealth of options in a pretty setting.

Greenwich Avenue
Greenwich
Don't even consider a mall in the summer. Better to head down the Connecticut Turnpike to Greenwich and its main drag of glitzy shops catering to people with money to burn.

Woodbury Common
Central Valley, New York
To really stretch out an afternoon, take an hour-long drive to Central Valley, New York, and this shopaholic's dream of more than 220 discount designer stores

New York Thruway to Harriman, Exit 16.  845-928-4000.
 

 
Boutique Hopping
Greenwich
Whatever her style — from city sophisticate to funky Bohemian — Greenwich is shop-till-you-drop nirvana. Start at the Greenwich Hospital Auxiliary Thrift Shop in search of retro cardigans and cocktail dresses. Follow it up at Roundabout Designer Closeouts for deeply discounted Prada slides and Miu Miu handbags. Then hit Greenwich Avenue and its sidestreets for Sophia’s Great Dames for 1950s beaded sweaters and fun estate jewelry, or Consigned Designs for colorful spaghetti-strap frocks. Try Saturnia for distressed and cropped denim, Kate Spade for snappy sunglasses, Scoop for colorful espadrilles, and the young-at-heart retailers like GAP, Banana Republic and J. Crew. Treat her to the duck salad or buckwheat crêpes at Meli-Melo toward the bottom of the Avenue. Walk half a block to Grigg Street to choose a lively read at Diane’s Books, then hike back up to Beads in the Loft on Lewis Street where she can pick out beads to fashion her own chandelier earrings. On your way home, drop her off for a deep tissue massage at Radiance Medspa on the Post Road in Old Greenwich.

 
Gallery Hopping
Greenwich
Plan an exciting day of wall-to-wall art scouting, starting — just for inspiration — at the Bruce Museum of Arts and Sciences, which currently has the whole town barking about “Best in Show: Dogs in Art from the Renaissance to the Present” (read about the exhibit in our June 2006 issue of Greenwich Magazine). Popular galleries for homegrown artists and sculptors are the Flinn in the Greenwich Library on Putnam Avenue and the Bendheim on the Greenwich Arts Council floor in the Senior Center building on Greenwich Avenue. Close to the Senior Center is Quester Gallery, renowned for its marine art and antiques, including seascapes so evocative you can almost feel the salt spray on your face. At the bottom of the Avenue is Cavalier Galleries, best known for its sculpture, including monumental life-size pieces perfect for garden ornamentation. Famished? Central Greenwich offers incredible dining experiences, from Italian, French and Mediterranean cuisines to Japanese, Scottish, Spanish and good old American as it can get.