The primary shopping destination for visitors is the Fox River Mall (http://en.wikipedia.org/w...), Wisconsinâs second largest shopping mall with more than 180 retailers. The mall is located along the Hwy 41 corridor just west of Appleton, in Grand Chute. The Fox River Mall is anchored by Macy's, Sears, Target, Younkers, JCPenney and the largest sporting goods store in Wisconsin, Scheel's All Sports. Numerous stores, restaurants, hotels and office buildings are located nearby (http://www.foxcities.org/).
Heading east from the Fox River Mall on Hwy 96 Wisconsin Ave to the other side of Hwy 41, you'll find more stores including Home Depot, Sam's Club, Woodman's grocery store, and the largest Fleet Farm in Wisconsin. There's an old saying "if you can't find it at Fleet Farm, you probably don't need it."
Alternately, head east from the mall on College Ave to find Wheel & Sprocket (http://wheelandsprocket.c...), and more hotels and restaurants. Continue on College Ave to downtown Appleton (http://www.appletondownto...) which has an eclectic mix of shopping, coffeehouses, restaurants & bars.
Many of the westside "big box" stores also have store locations along Appleton's eastside Hwy 441 corridor, known locally at Darboy. Eastside stores include Wal-Mart, Kohl's, Home Depot, Lowe's, Menard's, Office Max, Best Buy, Target, Festival Foods, Pick 'n Save, Tractor Supply Co, Goodwill, plus the usual mix of Starbucks, Walgreen's, restaurants, movie theatres and hotels.
On the north side, Northland Mall is anchored by Kohl's, ShopKo and Festival Foods.