The shopping in Ocean City may not be high class, but there's a lot of it. The boardwalk, the outlet center, dozens of strip malls along Coastal Highway, and small-town antiques in nearby Berlin are all happy to take visitors' money.
If you enter town from the Route 50 bridge, you can't miss the Ocean City Factory Outlets (www.ocfactoryoutlets.com), a half-mile from the bridge, on the mainland at the intersection of Golf Course Road. The 20-plus brand-name outlets include Harry and David's, the Gap, and Jos. A. Bank. Parking is free and plentiful; a daily shuttle also stops at a variety of O.C. hotels from late July to mid-September (check the website for a schedule). The complex is open Sunday through Thursday from 10am to 6pm (until at least 8pm June-Aug), and Friday and Saturday from 10am to 9pm.
The Tanger Outlet Centers, in Rehoboth, have a much bigger selection -- and no sales tax is charged in Delaware. Serious shoppers may want to head north.
Perhaps the most popular and populated shopping destination in O.C. is the boardwalk -- 27 blocks of souvenirs, candy, restaurants, snack shacks, and, of course, T-shirts. You'll find much of the same merchandise in all the souvenir shops, but there are a couple places worth visiting. Ocean Gallery World Center, at Second Street (tel. 410/289-5300), is a standout, with its mosaiclike facade of art from around the world -- and that's on the outside. Its three stories are full of art posters, prints, and original oil paintings. The Kite Loft, at Fifth Street (tel. 410/289-7855), has a large selection of kites (from simple to really cool), flags, windsocks, and toys. You may even see a pig fly. There's another location on 131st Street.
