In November 2025, The New York Times published a list of the 50 best clothing stores in the United States. Its “Style” section has a powerful and devoted audience of readers, who acknowledge its cultural relevance and the strength of its fashion reporting. Thus, in presenting an admittedly subjective editorial, making such a debate-inducing claim, the reporters had to take great care in establishing the criteria that define what makes a clothing store “the best.”

They present those criteria from the start. In describing the conception of this project, the authors note that their goal was to identify a specific kind of immersive fashion retail, with the ability to transform the shopper. Therefore, The New York Times argues that the best clothing stores are the ones that enable customers to slip the confines of their existing identity, however they perceive it to be, and thereby allow them to imagine how they would feel as some other variation of themselves, which they can construct with the assistance of the retailer. Furthermore, the authors distill their assessment of the stores themselves down to a direct requirement: Visiting these stores should “be worth it, even if nothing is bought.”

Notably, many of the listed retailers are very specific in their targeting and focus. One entry offers Japanese denim. Another is the House of Bijan, a clothing retailer founded by a Persian designer who specialized in Italian tailoring and who has long been a favorite of presidents, prime ministers, and other world leaders. A somewhat more affordable, Chicago-based retailer is even more specialized: It is known for its vaquero wear, which is inspired by the clothing that Mexican cattle herders traditionally would have worn.

Some consistency arises in the type of businesses represented. In particular, the list hosts a high proportion of family-run businesses, many of which have entered their third or fourth generation. Hirshleifers, a department store in Long Island that specializes in premium offerings, has been passed on to its fifth generation of family ownership.

In addition, the founders of these excellent retailers often describe their business plan as based in their own preferences and consumption demands. Sid Mashburn began his eponymous label almost 20 years ago because he could not find high-quality, traditional Italian tailoring available in colors and styles that would be well-suited to his Atlanta, Georgia, location. The store sells boiled peanuts alongside its luxury suits for the same reason—Mashburn likes them, they appeal to southern shoppers, and in addition, no one else is doing it.

The retail spaces created by these innovative retailers offer powerfully experiential interactions, with both visual and tactile appeals woven throughout the stores. Thus, the “Style” arbiters often use deeply descriptive terms to explain their preferences for the best stores, whether by invoking the feeling of being a tourist in Paris, created by a store that encourages shoppers to experiment with a new look, “much like the visitor to Paris feels they could wear a beret.” A well-designed and expansively furnished store in Vail, Colorado, influenced by European Alpine culture, created such a sense of place that it can “transport visitors to the Alps.”

What is largely missing from the list are retail locations that follow mass production or fast fashion trends. Instead, many of the featured retailers explicitly embrace a sustainable production model. They include premium and vintage resale stores, like the Church Mouse in West Palm Beach, Florida, which offers designer clothing and antique furniture that has been discarded by local residents. A retail store called Equipment in Minneapolis, Minnesota, sources its offerings from a large number of international brands, none of which produce on an industrial scale.

Finally, some of the favored stores appear to differentiate themselves on the basis of good taste. The Cuffs boutique maintains only one location, in a quiet suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. But the compact, two-story boutique boasts the only privately owned Hermès shop in North America, operated as a subsidiary of the larger store. The tiny retailer and the globally renowned French fashion house have come to an agreement that ensures that Cuffs can exhibit its own creative freedom, without ever presenting the luxury brand in a way that would undermine its value.

The list also offers a fascinating look at the state of modern retail and the businesses that define it. Its very existence stems from a clear respect for the enduring appeal of brick-and-mortar fashion retail stores, for their capacity to make finding a wardrobe a joyful, exciting, rewarding activity. Even just reading the descriptions, and considering (and perhaps critiquing) the reasoning underlying the choices that created this list, can allow fans of fashion to feel some of the magic that great retailing provides.

Discussion Questions

1. How do these varied stores all effectively fulfill the central purposes of retailing?
2. Offer your own criteria of what makes a retailer the “best.” Are they similar to or different from those that the authors of The New York Times article applied?

Sources: Steven Kurutz, Misty White Sidell, Jon Caramanica, Gina Cherelus, Miya Lee, Alex Vadukul, Jacob Gallagher, Stella Bugbee, and Sadiba Hasan, “The 50 Best Clothing Stores in America,” The New York Times, November 30, 2025; Mariyam Muhammad, “This Ohio Luxury Shop Named 1 of the 50 Best Clothing Stores in the US,” Akron Beacon Journal, December 10, 2025; Torey Van Oot, “Minneapolis Menswear Shop Makes New York Times’ List of America’s Best Clothing Stores,” Axios Twin Cities, December 3, 2025.