Santana Row
Across stevens creek blvd in front of valley fair is santana row, a newer boutique shopping area with more restaurants, a hotel and other interesting stores as well as crate&barrel, best buy, .. consider this the rodeo drive of santa clara/san jose. there are 70 stores which include: tiffany's, gucci, oakley, ann taylor loft, ted baker, lucy, urban outfitter, diesel, burberry, and much more. santana row also offers apartments and condos above the center. (http://www.santanarow.com/)
The Train Shop
(http://thetrainshopsantac...) located at 1829 pruneridge at winchester. if you are a railroad or model railroad or model train buff, you will enjoy their selection of model trains and railroad books. open mon 9:30am-4pm; tue-sat 9:30am-6pm. the train shop is not open sundays.
Trade-A-Book
(http://www.tradeabook.com/), 2740 el camino real, in the moonlite center, near office depot, cross street is kiely blvd.. a small, used book shop specializing in fiction. the selection includes general fiction but emphasizes romance, science fiction, and mysteries.
Westfield Shopping Town at Valley Fair
Probably the largest shopping center in the area and certainly the most successful. most of it is technically in san jose, but that is because of the crazy quilt of san jose's growth. originally it was two shopping areas, one was a macy's store with other smaller stores in an open air mall. the other was an emporium store, two or three blocks away. the present shopping center is now one large building with multiple floors, food courts, and nordstrom. the emporium is no longer in business, but macy's occupies the old store with their men's clothing, kitchen and glassware and some other features. it's good exercise to walk from one macy's to the other. when westfield took over valley fair, they increased the parking substantially. building literature says that a previous version of this mall was intentionally built with hard walking surfaces to keep the noise level up. now, with carpeted areas in the main walkways, it is not so noisy.
Farmer's Market
Located in franklin square jackson street between homestead and benton, the farmer's market runs every saturday from 9am to 1pm. besides fresh california fruits and vegetables, the farmer's market usually features live music and foods such as tamales and samosas. local artists and craftspeople also offer handcrafted goods for sale.