Newbury Street shopping, from Arlington to Mass Ave

The street runs eight blocks, Arlington to Massachusetts Avenue, and almost everything worth a morning happens inside the first hundred and sixteen numbers. Concepts trades at 18 Newbury. Alan Bilzerian holds the brownstone at 34. Riccardi sits two blocks along at 116, an institution since it opened in 1978. Above them the numbers climb and the frontage goes national.

Retail here lives inside brownstones, so the rooms with a point of view are six steps down past a wrought iron rail, or one flight up behind a second floor window. Eye level is the tourist level. Walk it looking above and below the sidewalk line.

The first block does most of the work

Concepts at 18 Newbury is the Boston store that outgrew Boston and stayed put anyway. New York and Dubai are the satellites; this is the global flagship, with a cafe running inside it. The buy leans on its own collaborations, which this month means the New Balance 990v4 Patina and the CNCPTS x Crocs Tembo II RO that released on 27 August. Monday to Saturday, 10 to 7, Sunday 10 to 6. This is a sneaker and streetwear room, so if you came for cloth, keep walking sixteen numbers.

Alan Bilzerian is that walk. The brownstone between Arlington and Berkeley carries Rick Owens, Yohji Yamamoto including the Gothic Yohji line, Issey Miyake, Alexander McQueen, Undercover, Y-3 and adidas x Wales Bonner, and on the back rails the artisanal rarities, Carol Christian Poell and Layer Zero. Alan Bilzerian has run it here for decades. Do not judge it by the website, a relic staffed weekdays 10 to 6 for web orders. The buy is dark and wrong for a classic luxury shopper; it makes its case in person.

Two blocks along, the second Rick Owens rail

Riccardi at 116 Newbury is the other half of the fact: two independent stores, two blocks apart, both stocking Rick Owens and buying him completely differently. Family owned since 1978, its floor mixes European, Japanese and emerging labels: Ann Demeulemeester, Sacai, Loewe, Rick Owens, Enfants Riches Déprimés and RIVINGTON roi Rebis. Fall and winter 2026 is already up on its site; the buy moves in real time.

The honest read is that Riccardi skews hype adjacent menswear, and a woman shopping for a serious classic coat will find the floor narrower than its reputation. Bilzerian goes dark, Riccardi goes loud, and between them sits most of what the city still carries at that tier. The rest of the map is in our guide to designer boutiques in Boston.

Where the money blocks stop

Past 116 the walk changes job. The independents thin out, the national names take the plate glass, and by Mass Ave you are shopping brands that also hold a main street in every other city on the boutique shopping map. It fills anyway: the students come back on 1 September move in weekend and foot traffic surges overnight.

The guides that rank for this street do not make the distinction. They file national athletic wear under boutiques and leave Riccardi off their own list of locally owned stores. Shop the low numbers.

Charles Street holds what Newbury lost

The gas lit antique row on Charles Street has no chains, and the city's two most distinct small independents sit a block apart. December Thieves at 122 Charles Street has been open since 2013, and it is the closest thing Boston still has to a true avant garde women's boutique: Rundholz, Lurdes Bergada, Barbara Bologna and Sanctamuerte, with Variance Objects jewelry in the cases. The name comes from a line of Rumi. It sells objects and jewelry as hard as clothing, and will frustrate anyone after Back Bay polish.

Helen's Leather at 110 Charles is the opposite proposition and the older one, a family leather house into its third generation, more than thirty years on the street, dealing in leather coats, western boots, bags and belts. Its own website still carries a 2010 copyright and says the shop closes Tuesdays. Call 617 742 2077 before you go. A shop trading on while its website stands still is a very Boston kind of confidence.

The money blocks end at 116; above it Newbury sells what every main street sells.

The rooms with no frontage

The luxury that left Newbury did not leave the city, it stopped paying for a window. Daniela Corte has made her own women's ready to wear since October 2000, hand sketched, in small batches, and now sees clients by appointment inside the Raffles tower at 40 Trinity Place, a block from Trinity Church. It is an atelier, not a floor to browse: the right room only if you are commissioning.

Sault New England at 577 Tremont Street in the South End is the best edited menswear room in the city at a tier well below designer: Alex Mill, Universal Works, Portuguese Flannel and Save Khaki United, plus its own SAULT Shirting label, open seven days, one of three stores that also take in Portsmouth and Provincetown. Drinkwater's, at 2067 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, sits at the far end of the avenue Newbury dies into, and it is the city's serious tailoring shop: made to measure suits, sport coats, shirts and trousers under Gary Drinkwater, open until 8pm on Thursdays, closed Sundays. Its site names no brands on purpose. Shopped in person or not at all.

When to go and what to check

Go on a weekday before noon if you want the Newbury rooms to yourself, and let the calendar rather than the thermometer set the buy. October runs highs of 55 to 62 with nights in the 40s, wind funnelling between the Back Bay towers and off the Charles, so windproofing beats warmth ratings and layering is the whole game from 20 September on. Foliage peaks mid to late October, when the coat racks actually move.

Two dates to shop against. Head of the Charles Regatta lands 16 to 18 October, three days of riverbank spectating where waxed cotton, shetlands and club scarves are worn in earnest. Boston Fashion Week, in its thirty second year, gives its dates as 4 to 10 October on its own site, with the calendar due 4 September. Phone ahead before driving to Cambridge: the best small shops here keep better hours than their websites.

Common questions

Is Newbury Street good for shopping?

Yes, if you shop the Arlington end and stop around 116. The first blocks hold the street's remaining independents, Concepts at 18, Alan Bilzerian at 34 and Riccardi at 116, while the blocks toward Massachusetts Avenue are largely national brands you can buy anywhere. Give the low numbers an hour and skip the rest.

Which Newbury Street shops are actually independent?

Three are worth planning around: Concepts at 18 Newbury, Alan Bilzerian at 34 and Riccardi at 116. Riccardi has been family owned since 1978, Bilzerian has held its brownstone for decades, and Concepts is a homegrown flagship with its satellites in New York and Dubai. Several ranking guides file chain athletic wear under the same heading, so check the address.

Where can you buy Rick Owens in Boston?

Two Newbury Street stores stock Rick Owens: Alan Bilzerian at 34 and Riccardi at 116, two blocks apart. Bilzerian pairs him with Yohji Yamamoto and the artisanal end, Carol Christian Poell and Layer Zero; Riccardi puts him beside Loewe, Sacai and Ann Demeulemeester. Walk both before you buy, because the two buys barely overlap.

Every business above is independent, was verified open as of August 2026, and nobody paid to be here. If one has closed or moved, tell us at hello@shopwithin.co and we will fix it.

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