The designer handbag remains a staple in women’s fashions, with more retailers offering them for sale today than ever before. Even Walmart has gotten into the game. But where can you find the luxury brands and unique styles you want in that perfect handbag?
The traditional department store remains the best place to find, hold, inspect and compare designer handbags. While online sellers continue to multiply, the fact is you can’t always guarantee quality and authenticity in designer handbags when you buy on the Internet. That leaves department stores as a great option to clutch that marvelous clutch you’ve been hoping to find.
While not an exhaustive list, these are some of the department stores that offer some of the best collections of designer handbags. The stores include some of the most expensive retailers that offer some of the finest designer handbags available anywhere in the world, along with some more moderate stores that appeal to a more common clientele.
The designer handbags come in all shapes, sizes, colors and functional uses. Many of these stores are known for a wide selection of options to browse in person so you can find the handbag that works best for you.
Saks Fifth Avenue
Always a shopping favorite, Saks features a large selection of designer handbags in its stores. It also has a large network of locations that allow it to find options that may not be immediately available at the store you visit.
Saks is also known for it regular sales, which typically are more generous for shoppers who bother to go in store rather than shop online, including occasional sales that feature as much as 60% off.
Macy’s
As an anchor store in many U.S. shopping malls, Macy’s has a reputation for featuring some of the best selections of great handbags at an affordable price. Their handbags are stylish while also being functional, and most importantly, not overly priced.
Macy’s offers an impressive selection of brands, including names like Alfani, Michael Kors and Giani Bernini. Because there are so many store locations across the country, Macy’s is one of the easiest places to shop for designer handbags.
Nordstrom
Nordstrom is another well known department store that has helped introduce high fashion at affordable prices to many people. As a top quality supplier of designer handbags, Nordstrom features a wide selection of beautifully designed handbags, crossbody bags, tote bags and shoulder bags.
Barneys
Known for its more expensive collections, some of the best designer handbags money can buy can be found at Barneys. While not intended to offer discounts to the masses, Barneys prides itself as a fashion sophisticate that offers a grand selection of some of the most unique, and yes expensive, designer handbags available.
If you are concerned about how much money you may have to put down on the counter for the likes of Barneys’ collection of Fendi, Givenchy and Lanvin designer handbags, you may want to reconsider your visit.
Bergdorf Goodman
Another example of high-fashion with a high price tag is Bergdorf Goodman, a department store made famous on New York City’s Fifth Avenue. Here you can find another great selection of top quality designer handbags intended to satisfy consumers with the most expensive tastes.
If high quality, luxurious, long-lasting designer handbags are what you want at any price, browse the extensive selections available from world-renown designers like 3.1 Phillip Lim, Prada, and Chloe.
Hermès
Another New York City-born department store that caters to the ultra wealthy who have expensive taste in designer handbags, Hermes offers impressive selections with price tags that might make most gasp.
But when only the very finest quality will do among a selection of some of the world’s most breathtaking designer handbags, Hermes is a favorite for the serious shopper who doesn’t let a price tag scare them.
Belk
For a more down-to-Earth option when it comes to designer handbags, Belk stores offer a nice selection of more affordable choices for most people.
The store features an impressive selection of different bags and accessories, and a large network of locations across the country just in case you can’t find that specific handbag at your local store.
While its selection of the more unique styles and designers may not be as vast as some higher-end Manhattan department stores, there are plenty of designer handbags to choose from here.
kate spade
Like many fashion boutiques and designers, kate spade started off as a handbag designer than turned the business into a global style house that features a huge selection of handbags.
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There are locations across the country in malls and outlets that stock the memorable handbags, along with a host of other clothes, accessories, shoes and jewelry.
While a tad more expensive than your typical department store, kate spade is a popular option for shoppers who appreciate the brand’s style and elegance.
Bloomingdale’s
Another department store founded in New York City’s East Side, Bloomingdale’s is the creation of brother’s Joseph and Lyman Bloomingdale. The two turned their Ladies’ Notions Shop of the late 1800s into a shopping empire that today features stores across the country.
They are credited with helping create the modern “department store” because of the variety of items they stocked, while other stores focused on specialty items. Known for its collectable designer shopping bag, Bloomingdale’s also has earned a reputation as one of the best fashion retailers to buy designer handbags.
Neiman Marcus
The origin of Neiman Marcus is just about as far away from Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue shopping district as you can get. The American chain of department stores started in Dallas, Texas, with the first location opening in 1907.
It was intended to serve as a luxury department store, offering the finer items, naturally, at a higher price. Now the store boasts locations all over the country, and an extraordinary selection of designer handbags at both moderate and high prices.
