Royal Street Courtyard [Next picture]

Cities like Dallas, Atlanta, and Chicago are often described as shoppers' Valhallas because they teem with glitzy malls and upscale chain stores. New Orleans has few such offerings, and this exactly why the Big Easy is such a delightful shopping destination. It's here that you'll discover an amazing array of one-of-a-kind products - museum-quality antiques, exotic foods, outre couture, spirited zydeco CDs. Best of all, most of the good retail is in the French Quarter or along Uptown's Magazine Street, which are two of the gay-friendliest neighborhoods in the country.

Antiques-shopping is New Orleans' most famous retail activity, and you'll find some of the best venues along shabby-chic Magazine Street, which mimics the curve of the Mighty Mississippi for some 6 miles. Sassy second- hand clothiers, aphrodisiacal-oyster bars, jumping jazz clubs, and convivial java joints line the entire way, but it's the lower stretch of Magazine - from about Calliope to Jackson streets - where antiques aficionados find their groove.

Imagine adding a little romance to your life as you browse the sumptuous beds at Bush Antiques and Beds au Beau Rev - these range from cozy cast-iron sleigh beds to towering carved-oak four-posters. Also note the decorative French ironwork for sale - it recalls the intricate grills and balustrades common on the facades of many Louisiana houses. Charbonnet and Charbonnet, a respected 14-showroom emporium of stellar country antiques and accessories, many of them antebellum Southern, also custom-designs and ships stunning contemporary furniture crafted with Louisiana cypress and pine. 

Drop by Collections II and Rousset Antiques and Textiles, two shops in one space, to browse rare 18th- century French furniture. The emphasis is Louis IV-style furnishings, plus delicate embroideries, silks, and toiles. It'll set you back far less to pick up a few of the handsome dining accessories, all hand-picked during the owners' frequent invasions of Normandy (and Paris … and Provence). Count on Antiques-Magazine for hanging chandeliers, light fixtures, and sconces, most of them Victorian, art nouveau, and art deco. There's also costume jewelry, cut glass, and other decorative arts. 

As you continue up Magazine, you'll notice more varied kinds of shops, including eccentric Caveat Emptor, which buys and sells historical costumes and hats, most of them pre-World War II; here you might find the sort of outlandish garb Natalie Barney donned during the Roaring '20s. Crafty types should check out the Bead Shop, housed inside an enchanting Creole cottage 
and overflowing with beads made of every imaginable kind of material - it has a predictably loyal following in this city famous for its Mardi Gras beads. 

Joan Vass, which carries a full line of stylish, ready-to- wear women's clothing, is famous for cotton knits that look great in any season - and in a wide variety of settings. Two Chicks sells a whimsical assortment of offbeat gifts, from papier-mache bowls to locally made jewelry. And if you're a fan of Anne Rice or her talented gay son, Christopher, pop inside the Garden District Book Shop, which stocks signed editions of both authors' works (Anne lives just around the corner).

You can break up your browsing with a meal at Casamento's, a wonderful oyster bar whose original shiny white-tile interior dates to the restaurant's opening in 1919. You'll also find cozy coffeehouses along Magazine, many of them filled with cute (and sometimes cruisy) scholars from nearby Loyola and Tulane universities. 

Make a detour to the city's revitalized Warehouse District, known for its provocative art galleries. Arthur Roger shows the works of lesbian pop-art icon Deborah Kass and gay painter David Hockney. A short walk away, you can watch artisans practicing their craft at the New Orleans School of Glassworks and Printmaking Studio. The adjacent shop sells the finished products, many of them quite spectacular.

And then, of course, there's the city's most famous neighborhood, at least among tourists - the French Quarter. Shopkeepers in this festive district are all blessed with the uncanny ability to talk out-of-towners into buying lovely but perfectly useless things they'd never look twice at anywhere else.

Wouldn't it be nice if your dearly departed Great Aunt Gladys left you cold cash instead of her very strange house packed with ill-chosen tchotchkes and dowdy furniture? If you're that fortunate, or you just happen to have a wad of Franklins at your disposal, explore the princely antiques shops along Royal Street. These places constitute the cream of the Crescent City crop. Gerald D. Katz is renowned for ornate, often one-of-a-kind jewelry, much of it culled from the estates of the rich and famous (including Robert Mapplethorpe). For more than a century, Keil's Antiques has been selling priceless paintings, chandeliers, marble mantels, and other elements that'll help you design the perfect drawing room. And the superposh M.S. Rau Antiques displays a must-see collection of exquisite canes - for a mere $16,500 you can buy a stunning mahogany Faberge walking stick that would make the perfect conversation piece at your next S/M mixer. 

On the same street, Rumors carries exotic ceramic and feather masks and on-the-edge jewelry from around the world. Gay-sensible Postmark New Orleans is your one- stop for fine bath and beauty products, like irreverent Dirty Girl soaps, plus funny cards, mood lamps, paper lanterns, and beaded handbags. As you stroll along Royal, look out for Old Town Praline Shop, the most reputable source in the city for this delicious local confection. 

For a more substantial snack, head a few blocks over to Central Grocery for foot-in-diameter muffuletta sandwiches - it's also a great place to stock up on hard-to-find imported Italian pastas, olive oils, and sauces. If you love the food of Louisiana, do not miss the French Market, whose stalls overflow with local delicacies, including mirlitons, alligator jerky, okra, and crawfish. Also check out the adjacent flea market, where you can find truly great deals on surprisingly interesting collectibles, home furnishings, clothing, and art.

Across from the market, Decatur is the more idiosyncratic French Quarter street for shopping, home to such out- there boutiques as Gargoyles, which sells everything from women's and men's S/M gear to bizarro club outfits; the same owners show a fabulous selection of thigh-high, hip-hugging boots and formidable platform footwear next door at Gargoyles Shoes. At the other end of Decatur, the Louisiana Music Factory contains a knock-out selection of local music CDs and hard-to-find vintage vinyl - there are live jam sessions here most Saturdays. Next door you can actually buy local sheet music, plus steel washboards, banjos, and other Cajun, zydeco, and jazz instruments at the city's most famous music shop, Werlein's.

Literary types take note: in the funky Faubourg Marigny neighborhood, just downriver from the Quarter, the lesbian/gay Faubourg Marigny Bookstore ranks among the oldest such shops in the South. Also, just steps from several hopping gay bars on Bourbon Street, Alternatives stocks a nice range of gay books, music, and porn - plus pride gifts. Anybody with an interest in Tennessee Williams and Truman Capote - or great Southern writing in general - should visit Faulkner House Books, which has superb collections of both writers' works, including many rare and out-of-print titles. 

This die-hard party town also has several edgy little boutiques popular with club kids and kinky romantics. Venture just a block from Decatur to find form-fitting gym gear and glam club wear at Rab-Dab Clothing and Gifts. Get your lube, strap-on toys, leather gear, and erotica across the street at Second Skin Leather, which has been serving the needs and fantasies of lesbians and gays for more than 20 years. And then there's the gay-popular piercing and tattoo parlor, Rings of Desire, which is where you can buy a striking - and possibly permanent - keepsake from your shopping tour of the Big Easy.