Shopping through Savannah’s Squares, City Market and River Walk

When in Savannah I didn’t plan a lot of activities other than a ghost tour. I sent most of my time walking around, which for me means I did a little shopping.

I started my day at Coffee Fox. The coffee looked good but because I’m not a coffee person I came for the Iced Horchata. It was so yummy and kept me cool while walking around. I was there in early November but is was unseasonably warm that week almost 80 and sunny.

There are lots of cute shops to browse.

There are a few worth mentioning though and most of them are near Madison Square.

If you’re interested in vintage clothes you must go to East & Up. They have a great curated collection so you won’t find great deals but everything is fairly priced. There is something for most people, leather bags and boots, jeans, 70s, 90s street wear, fur coats, 60s colors and jewelry.

I’d been looking for one for years but hadn’t found one without crushed beads or crystals.

My next stop was ShopSCAD. It’s run by Savannah College of Arts and Design to sell their art along with normal gift shop wares. It’s definitely worth a visit and a great way to support starting artists. It also has a connecting art gallery. I bought a watercolor of an oak tree for $30.

My favorite shop was V & J Duncan Antique Maps. J Duncan was a local professor and active in the civil rights movement. He even had a FBI file and amassed quite the collection of maps, catalogs, and pictures. I’m not sure if they’ve added inventory since he passed away a few years ago but what they have is still massive. The staff wasn’t that knowledgeable but it’s well labeled and mostly organized, unless a customer moved something around.

I was there for three to five hours and looked through most of the shop. I skipped the old Polaroids, magazines and catalogs.

I bought a few city maps from early to mid-1900s. A map of Europe in the 1800s with Bohemia, Prussia, Bavaria and the Ottoman Empire. A picture of Votive Church in Vienna before it was destroyed in World War II. A drawing of Oxford College and a map of Holland with land that isn’t there anymore.

Everything that is old enough was registered and labeled. They gave me a label for one piece that wasn’t so I can register it in a few years.

The more touristy areas were also fun to walk around.

The City Market was decorating for Christmas.

I got a cider to walk around with, this area had the most party tourist feel with booze, trolleys and tours.

I got another drink on the river walk, most places have the same drink selection for take away. The streets were more interesting here.

Go check out 18Loves Art, the smallest art gallery I’ve ever been to. The artist is a SCAD alumni and has the cutest art of Savannah. She told me she hides ghosts in all her art of Savannah.

I also saw the last of the Halloween decorations.

They were setting up for the Christmas markets on the river walk.