Carmel Plaza
High fashion and a community gathering place
IN THE HEART of Carmel-by-the-sea, Carmel Plaza offers the village’s largest concentration of luxury and name brand retailers in one location. Thirty-five fine stores and boutiques stand within Carmel Plaza’s three levels, including Tiffany & Co., Bottega Veneta and Anthropologie. Specialty retailers include Cos Bar, a luxury cosmetics and skin care boutique, and Janie and Jack for upscale children’s apparel. Or take home a piece of wearable Carmel art at Impressions, which displays handmade, natural stone jewelry. For Bohemian travel clothing and home goods, check out Roller Rabbit. And in this dogfriendly shopping destination, where shops often set out water bowls for pups, stop at The Dog House for toys and custom-made doggie outfits. Or take in a California moment during a Seaside Yoga Sanctuary yoga class.
Courtyard Gathering Place
A recent renovation has transformed Carmel Plaza and its main feature, the Courtyard. There, locals and visitors alike gather around several custom fire pits on comfortable furnishings amid landscaping to relax between shopping and dining.
In the food-centric Carmel Plaza, you can sample fine, rare cheeses in the internationally renowned The Cheese Shop or enjoy breakfast or lunch at the Carmel Coffee & Cocoa Bar. A French bistro, Patisserie Boissiere, offers lunch and dinner inside an inspired cottage. And a Zagatrated dinner house, The Flying Fish Grill, features Asian-influenced fresh fish fare. Most exciting, Carmel’s only restaurant and microbrewery, Yeast of Eden, purveys terroir-driven beers paired with a global, street food-inspired menu.
Take a (wine) break at the Hahn Family Wines Tasting Room for a sip of California’s best, one of Carmel Plaza’s three wine-tasting rooms. Or catch a cooking class at the state of the art cooking school in a newly expanded Sur La Table opening in spring 2019.
Great Customer Service
Since visitors come to Carmel Plaza from the world over, many store employees speak different languages, subscribe to We Chat (the Chinese payment system) and have phone apps for translating.
To learn about seasonal sales, promotions, new store openings and special events such as a summer concert series, check out the center’s Facebook page at Facebook.com/shopcarmelplaza. Parking is convenient in the center’s parking garage at Mission Street and 7th Avenue.