Shopping In San Antonio

HERITAGE: San Antonio’s shopping scene draws heavily on its heritage but is more varied than you might think.

Spice of Life
From Hacienda chic to classic cool, San Antonio’s Spanish heritage makes for a festive shopping fiesta.

San Antonio’s reputation as a popular convention destination appeals to many, but homegrown insiders lead you down another, more carefully chosen path. It is one with graceful, landscaped neighborhoods and the elegant, historic homes of the Monte Vista and King William national historic districts, as well as centuries-old Spanish missions. With specialty shops and entrepreneurial culinary haunts, life here is full of grace for those who know the way.

Design influence abounds in this sprawling, historic destination – home to such Texas architectural legends as  O’Neil Ford and 2004 AIA Firm of the Year Lake/Flato, as well as  grand art deco edifices and Churrigera-style masterpieces that incorporate laborious plaster ornamentation. Missions built in the 17th century adopted a Spanish design motif, using native elements such as limestone and mesquite. Mission San Antonio de Valero – the Alamo itself – is an elegant example of a hundred-year-old design aesthetic that is still practiced today. Four additional missions – each more architecturally impressive than the next – comprise the San Antonio Missions National Historic Park. Here you’ll find Moorish influences and a still-active aqueduct built in 1730 that is patterned after Roman designs.

While the relaxed, casual Hill Country attitude permeates the area, home décor runs the gamut from hacienda-and-cactus chic to classic traditional. Still, the pervasive influence of the Spanish mission style is hard to escape and is so much a part of the city’s culture.

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HISTORIC: The Alamo

START HERE
San Antonio was originally inhabited by a peaceful nomadic tribe, the Coahuiltecan. Upon discovery in 1691, on the feast day of St. Antony, Spanish missionaries and explorers named the river that ran through it San Antonio. In their colonizing efforts, they taught the tribe farming skills, which were parlayed into an advanced irrigation system and a Romanesque aqueduct. After building four missions in the area, things were flourishing – until 1794. Apache and Comanche tribes repeatedly attacked the missions, and Spanish calvary was dispatched from Mexico to occupy them as a fortress. After the Mexican Revolution in 1821, San Antonio flew the Mexican flag. That year Stephen F. Austin, following a dream of his recently deceased father, was the first American to attempt to colonize this new frontier, bringing 300 Anglo families to occupy the area. By 1836, the year of the Battle of the Alamo, the city had grown substantially, and in the 1840s a large German influx of settlers arrived, adding more flavor to the city’s already cosmopolitan mix – a city currently known as the home of Lone Star Beer and Pearl Brewing. In 1845, Texas was admitted to the United States, more settlers arrived, and by 1860 San Antonio could claim a population of 8,000. Today, it is the nation’s 8th-largest city and is most often remembered for plenty of good conventioneering times along the Riverwalk – the city’s commercial spine.

The Riverwalk almost didn’t happen. In the 1920s, after a destructive flood, city fathers considered paving over the river. Instead, a careful landscaping plan was enacted, with funds provided by the WPA, and Paseo del Rio was created anew. With a nationally centered airport situated very close to the center of the city and a worlds-away vibe inside the winding three-mile Riverwalk, destination planners understandably take note. This town stands ever-ready for entertaining its guests.

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MUST HAVE: Slick stylish pottery make Sloan/Hall San Antonio’s favorite shopping destination for all things mod.

SHOP HERE
Shopping seems almost an afterthought when surrounded by such historic Victorian, Italiannate, and Second Empire residential districts, lush with abundant landscaping. But shopping, too, is a unique part of this culture’s expression. Joske’s, a once-giant store chain, was founded here, and the legendary taste-making specialty store Frost Brothers also got its start in San Antonio.

Over the years retail powerhouses have emerged and declined, but the San Antonio culture has always remained adaptable and resilient. In a city that boasts a subtropical, almost somnambulant pace of living, the merchants never sleep – they invent.

During the late 1990s, the city’s popular contemporary specialty store for design, Sloan/Hall (5922 Broadway St. 210-828-7738) launched its first retail establishment in affluent Alamo Heights, an area that offers the most entrepreneurial series of shopping venues. Sloan/Hall began modestly as a gift-and-greeting-card shop and has grown swiftly to carry a select collection of worldwide offerings (home décor, apparel, accessories, jewelry, stationery, and books) for the city’s emerging creative crowd. Owners Marcus Sloan and Shannon Hall travel to worldwide markets 25 percent of the year, seeking the newest and best for their refined clientele. Elegant tabletop offerings in porcelain from Ted Muehling rest near Diptyque candles and rare scents for the home. Great coffee-table tomes exhibit current events in home décor, fashion, and avant-garde subjects. This store has a pulse on the far-flung design world, and San Antonio shoppers know to stop here first.

<<  A favorite shop for antique dealers throughout the nation is Don Yarton Antiques (2322 San Pedro Ave. 210-734-9900) where surprising finds land ever so briefly and the stalls are infused with frequent new shipments, from Renaissance to 20th-century classics. Here, time seldom allows for items to be properly displayed before leaving through the doors, so digging deep into every corner is a necessary – and entertaining – act of discovery.

For 300 years, the city’s landmark marketplace, El Mercado (514 W. Commerce St. 210-207-8600) has offered the traditional format of shops with affordable Mexican wares and artifacts, housing more than 35 specialty shops including wrought iron, paper flowers, straw products, pottery, stained glass, ceramic tiles, leather goods, and artwork. Just experiencing the excitement of the many cheerful chili vendors is a treat in itself – not to mention the atmosphere-enhancing Tejano and Mariachi bands. You may not buy anything here, but you won’t forget the experience.

Attica (355 E. Basse Rd. 210-822-8288) is a home décor shop set in the confines of appealing ochre-colored walls and  filled with treasures including silver creations from Mexico, featuring the work of Emilia Castillo. Each item is hand-selected for design strength and quality of handcrafted skill. The store’s proximity to Mexico allows for frequent scouting trips, and the latest inventive objects land here first. Other finds: an extensive jewelry collection, dried floral arrangements, candles and holders, lighting, and handcrafted pottery.

In such an international city, Spanish influence can afford a counterpart – and adding an Asian twist to the landscape is Wren Metropolitan Asian Boutique (5625 Broadway St. 210-828-5305), a Vietnamese-inspired collection of clean, crisp wares for the home in textiles, paper lanterns, bamboo vessels, and lacquerware. The colors excite, and the staff is very accommodating.

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EAT HERE

Biga on the Banks  >>
203 S. St. Mary’s St. 210-225-0722.
Every convention city has a crowd-pleasing power-dining facility, and this is San Antonio’s magnet machine. The expansive interior entertains the eye and palate, providing loads of people-watching opportunities and tastey cuisine from chef Bruce Auden’s impressive Texas-based menu. Weekend brunch is popular, complete with flowing cocktails in the Southern tradition of revelry.

Mexican Manhattan
110 Soledad St. 210-223-3913.
A kind little man sweeps the riverside patio just before opening and offers enthusiastic, heartfelt directions for tourists in Spanish. This 1950s Mexican food marvel exudes charm and a time-trip to a simpler era. Find delicious, unpretentious food and a genuine loving family staff that keeps you coming back “as have thousands of guests for almost half a century. Magical.

La Reve
152 E. Pecan St. 210-212-2221.
Take a break from all the Mexican fare by dining in this intimate and contemporary French bistro just above the Riverwalk. For quiet conversation, delectable cuisine, and pleasing wine pairings – don’t fail to have dessert – you’ll feel as though you’re in Paris. Reservations are necessary for this tiny gem.

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STAY HERE

Hotel Valencia Riverwalk
150 E. Houston St. 210-227-9700.
From the moment you approach the cadre of bellmen until the moment of departure, you feel pampered and protected from the outside elements in this cozy refuge. Guest rooms are piled high with the comfort of dark woods and chocolate leather upholstery with signature soft bedding. Everything is mere steps away.

Watermark Hotel & Spa
212 W. Crockett St. 210-223-8500.
Texas ranch hospitality serves to reinforce the legend of the former saddlery manufacturing building which houses luxurious five-star rooms on the Riverwalk. Twenty-first century technology serves business travelers, while the world-class spa attracts visitors year-round.

La Mansion del Rio Hotel
112 College St. 210-518-1000.
Built in 1852 as St. Mary’s School situated on the bank of the river, this stately, gracious hotel is steeped in history. Top-notch personal care is ubiquitous. The hotel also has one of the largest collections of Mexican folk art in the nation and houses Las Canarias, a world-class restaurant.

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