Pearl River Mart at Chelsea Market

Pearl River Mart has been New York's Asian emporium since 1971, when it opened as a tiny Chinatown 'friendship store' stocking goods from a China the U.S. barely traded with. Half a century later, its outpost on Chelsea Market's main concourse condenses the institution into one dense, happily overstuffed room: paper lanterns and lucky cats, porcelain and bamboo steamers, silk slippers, stationery, snacks, and work by Asian American makers, shelved floor to ceiling.

It's the rare museum-grade institution where everything costs pocket money. A visit works as a treasure hunt — rice bowls for a few dollars sit near hand-painted ceramics, and the gift problem you walked in with is usually solved three times over. Downstairs, the company's separate Pearl River Mart Foods market adds groceries and food stalls to the operation.

As a stop inside Chelsea Market it's the antidote to the food hall's crush: ten steps off the concourse and you're in a world of red lanterns that has been part of the city's retail story for over fifty years.