This beguiling home-fashion bazaar purveys everything from the most luxurious bedding and stylish furnishings to delightful handmade children’s gear to a dizzying range of crafts by indigenous peoples. Determined to change the world through consumption, ABC exhorts customers to give generously to visionary charities and to live sustainably. It even provides a service for solar-power retrofitting! Across the street, its vast carpet selection truly can’t be beat—ABC is the single largest floor-covering retailer in the world.

This grand shop, the decorating think tank of celebrated designer Thomas O’Brien, has a warm and eclectic spirit.

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Alessi purveys its ultramodern, extremely pricey table- and kitchenware in a stunning, brand-new mirrored space conceived by the visionary architecture firm Asymptote. It also boasts a futuristic Italian coffee bar.

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A cutting-edge lighting firm.

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Here, you can buy functional objects and furnishings designed by the likes of Donald Judd, Yves Klein, Kiki Smith and Lisa Yuskavage. It’s a whole new way to live with art.

B&B Italia’s new showroom was designed by award-winning architect Michael Gabellini. It’s a favorite for minimalist furniture.

At this hole-in-the-wall boutique, you’ll find vivid-hued lacquer tableware, unusual handwoven baskets, Balinese fisherman’s pants, Thai Buddhas, tribal jewelry and a mind-boggling array of glittering glass, metal and semiprecious stone beads, so you can string your own adornments.

This shop has taken the new trend for showroom-as-sophisticated loft to new heights. Working with products from the Italian manufacturers Living Divani, Boffi and Porro, with some art and antiques thrown into the mix, the Milanese designer Piero Lissoni, who is the creative director for all three companies, has created an inviting domestic realm where shoppers can acclimatize themselves to life in a future-forward space.

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When design guru Charlotte Moss closed her Lexington Avenue store in 1996, those enamored of her unique collections, gathered from her travels around the globe, and knack for beautiful presentation felt a loss. They felt the type of regret that comes when a favorite limited-edition Chinese vase breaks and the boutique where you found it has shuttered. The opening of Moss’ new Upper East Side townhouse outpost, once again provides New Yorkers with a beloved source of decorating inspiration (as well as a superb collection of one-of-a-kind china, much of it designed by Moss herself). It’s also a really fun place to shop. Set up like a designer showroom, each floor of the five-story townhouse is dedicated to a different living space with, for example, the master suite on the third and the dining room on the second. A walk through the store then is very much like a tour of someone’s home—albeit a super stylish someone.

Upon entering, you’re directed to take the elevator to the fifth floor where the entrance lobby and design atelier await. Currently arranged as an Asian-inspired tea room entitled the “Pavilion Noir,” the lobby is Moss’ canvas for showcasing special pieces and experimenting with new style. Eastern touches here range from bamboo furniture and Samovar-shaped lamps (with shades made from antique Chinese robes) to details such as parasols and carefully laid out designer chopsticks. The atelier also features excellent hostess gifts like ostrich-leather picture frames and notebooks.

Moving on to the third floor you’ll get more of Moss’ signature aesthetic—a sort of marriage between Versailles (with less gilt) and the English Countryside. The Master Suite is a picture of what breakfast in bed should be like, with a rustic black-iron tray (containing rolled up newspapers in its side slot) placed atop a grandiose canopy bed. Other notable objects include an ergonomic bedside table designed by Moss herself. What’s an ergonomic bedside table? It’s one that’s perfectly measured and fitted for the storage of remote controls, tissue boxes and late-night reading material. The adjacent library’s vibe is explorer chic, with vintage maps, books and a little alcove titled the “cabinet of curiosities,” complete with designer calligraphy brushes and tortoiseshell boxes.

On the second floor, you’ll see how Moss’ facility with mergers and acquisitions has clearly translated from the financial realm (she once worked on Wall Street) into the world of interior design, as diverse styles and objects acquired from around the world blend together seamlessly. Lappora silverwear mingles with Nymphenburg porcelain; a Victorian Giltwood Sunburst Clock hangs beside bamboo-accented furniture. And because people are part of a home too, the second floor’s front room houses an assortment of vintage and limited-edition clothes as well as jewelry by Sorab and Roshi. From there you can take a winding, open staircase down to the first floor’s earth-toned conservatory and garden room.

In the city’s current hyper-competitive real estate market, not every New Yorker can get that penthouse apartment with Central Park views. But Charlotte Moss gives you the tools to imbue any interior with a sense of elegance, warmth and whimsy. After all, it’s what’s on the inside that matters most. Open Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Service: With so many Madison Avenue salespeople flip-flopping from overbearing to coldly aloof, the Charlotte Moss staff are refreshingly polite and attentive, willing to help (not stalk) you throughout your townhouse tour. Those interested in bespoke services should call ahead, or email Townhouse@charlottemoss.com, to arrange an initial meeting on the fifth floor’s design atelier.

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This sleek SoHo store carries an exquisite assortment of tabletop items and furnishings that hail from around the world, including hand-blown glass from the Czech Republic, painted fine bone chine from Germany and cool lamps handmade in Rhode Island. Displays and inventory change often, making Clio a fun place to treasure hunt.

A well-edited array of 18th and 19th century English and Continental furniture. The gallery’s crisply tailored setting complements the Neoclassical lines of furniture and objects, all chosen with an unerring eye. Who knew a spare, elegant, mid-18th-century Irish mahogany cabinet on stand could look so modern?

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Serious collectors of vintage modern furniture might want to take the ancient steel-cage elevator at 10 Greene Street in SoHo up to the showroom of furniture-dealer extraordinaire Cristina Grajales. Expect to find exceptional works by Nakashima, Prouve and Ponti, as well as contemporary pieces by Michele Oka Doner and Christophe Come. The exuberant Columbian also carries a line of custom-designed metallic textiles, handwoven in her native land, which are, as Cristina would say, “killer!”

An Australian import, Dinosaur Designs sells bold, brightly hued jewelry and housewares crafted out of molded resin and inspired by the colors, nature and landscape of Down Under.

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Those in search of the perfect hostess gift will be delighted by Hable Construction, where you’ll find sturdy canvas totes, practical aprons, garden gloves, storage baskets and pillows in fresh, pretty canvas prints.

While there are many great contemporary lighting designers, only Ingo Maurer can transform light into poetry. His shop, at the corner of Greene and Grand streets, illuminates his highly personal and playful genius.

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Jonathan Adler boasts a funky array of irreverent, David Hicks-ian luxury—from happy-chic home to hand-crafted tchotchkes.

Low-key and idiosyncratic, this modern design shop is one of my favorites in the city.

Known for its exceptional Biedermeier furniture.

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An experimental plastic-furniture manufacturer.

The anti-establishment spirit of old SoHo lives on at Kiosk. In fact, you have to scale a rickety stairway to enter this shop, which sells “interesting things from interesting countries.” Proprietor Alisa Grifo travels to a different country several times a year and comes back with a stash of eclectic items characteristic of that place, from stationery to clothing to condiments. In a world of slick, globalized design, her store offers a welcome perspective on great design and original products.

French-Icelandic couple Thórunn Anspach and Olivier Brémond founded Kisan, an uber-cool Euro concept store in 2005 in Reykjavik, where its hip mix of fashion, housewares, toys and paper products immediately became a hit with fashionable locals and visitors. In mid-September, they will open their first New York store in SoHo. Designed by Work Architecture Company, the firm behind this summer’s successful Public Farm installation at P.S. 1, the boutique is bound to become a new hot spot for colorful, eclectic and inspired finds.

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I love Lars Bolander N.Y.; its Gustavian and French antique offerings convincingly conjure the atmosphere of a Swedish manor house.

Light up your day with their chic chandeliers—and bask in their unparalleled selection of French pieces from the ‘40s and ‘50s.

One-of-a-kind gifts, garden furniture and extraordinary dry-flower arrangements, all of which sport the signature style of Michael Walter (a disciple of London’s flower master Kenneth Turner).

In addition to offering a fine selection of furniture by Scandinavian and American midcentury greats, Lost City Arts boasts a rare collection of Harry Bertoia sculptures.

Artful lighting.

This small boutique in an Upper East Side townhouse is a secret source of stylish decorators who are looking for items that can add luxury and exoticism to elegant apartments and houses in the country. The collection was launched in 2003 by three sisters, Mariana, Paula and Agustina Antinori. Yes, they are part of the famous Italian wine family, but they grew up in Argentina, so while the proportions of their grand mirrors and refined benches may be influenced by Palazzo exposure, the materials are often inspired by estancia tradition. The result: commanding mirrors in pony skin frames, dainty stools with horn legs, stately trunks in printed crocodile with nailhead trim and decadent fur throws. The items inspire such a one-of-a-kind, got-to-have-it respone in people that it’s not uncommon for the owners to arrive in the morning and find a note from someone who passed the shop window at night and is desperate to reserve an item on display. Of course, quite a few of those are probably diners coming or going to Daniel, which is just next door.

If you have a yen for ikats, dhurries or Persian carpets, you’ll be in heaven amid the exquisite offerings of the Mark Shilen Gallery. When he opened his shop in the early 1980s, Shilen’s preference for stark geometric patterns made his rugs a favorite of local artists like Richard Serra, Brice Marden and Terry Winters. The clientele says it all.

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Mecox offers a mouthwatering mix of delectable, fun furniture (both antique and reedition), great gifts for the home and first-edition decorating books. Don’t miss the selection of magnificent mirrors.

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If you’re a collector of architecture and design books, you’ll enjoy the basement bookshop of the mother of all modern design retailers.

Moss’s latest experiment in retail is a collaboration with this directional Italian furniture company and Maharam, whose vivacious contemporary textiles decorate the walls and cover the furnishings in a space designed by the happening Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola.

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Make sure you pay a pilgrimage to the design shrine Moss. The idiosyncratic mix of high modern furniture, exquisite Nymphenburg porcelain and extravagant Venini chandeliers is an aesthetic revelation—not to mention retail genius.

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Socialite Nina Griscom will bring out the animal in you with her zebra and leopard prints, but seek out the rather affordable shagreen objéts and tables.

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If you love beautiful interiors that are contemporary in mood but don’t push the envelope, drop by the recent British import Ochre, known for finely crafted upholstered furnishings and pale, earth-toned accessories in natural materials like vellum and bone.

This shop carries exotic jewelry and gifts galore, as well as a range of whimsical, affordable baubles.

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Sift through their silver-coated seashells and semiprecious stone bowls and boxes. I’m crazy for their coral tablecloths.

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A delightful combination of the old and the new, including a distinctive line of hand-painted wallpaper and ceramic lamps by Christopher Spitzmiller.

Design doyenne Bunny Williams and John Rosselli offer one-of-a-kind garden pieces which are de rigueur for the house in the country.