Palm Beach’s Worth Avenue – America’s Most Iconic Fashion Street

As there is Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles, Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris, and the Via Veneto in Rome, there is Palm Beach’s Worth Avenue as one of the most beautiful upscale shopping venues located on the eastern coast of Florida. It has been voted as one of the top three “Most Iconic” streets in the US in 2013. It stretches for four blocks from Lake Worth to the Atlantic Ocean. 

Worth Avenue is the place where fashion meets history and art. It is the historic street filled with shops, monikers of international designers affixed to each facade. Shopping on Worth Avenue is a real exercise in itself where you’ve to find very best of the very best. This place is shopper’s paradise with elite brands that includes Louise Vuitton, Tiffany, Gucci, Tourneau, Cartier and Chanel to name a few. Worth Avenue is a place where you can shop till you drop and in most cases that drop will take, at a minimum, of a thousand-dollar hit to your bank account. Yes! this is a great place for spending money. And don’t be surprised by the number of Bentley, Jaguar, Porsche and Maserati parked around!

As I browsed Worth Avenue’s other international design houses, like Gucci, Chanel and Giorgio Armani, and its locally owned antique shops, galleries and boutiques, I was welcomed and greeted with the pleasant smile at every store without judging me whether I’d be their potential buyer or not? I was also offered a complimentary cocktail at Island Company. I got to know through one of the Worth Avenue merchant that most millionaires at Palm Beach don’t wear their wealth. They are just down-home people who happen to live in a pretty area. Therefore, they don’t judge customers by their appearances as anyone walking in shorts and slippers could be their potential million dollar customer.

However, if you don’t want to shop, Worth Avenue is a perfect place to take a stroll and lose yourself. One of the great charms of Palm Beach is walking along Worth Avenue—a dreamlike Mediterranean-style boulevard complete with charming bougainvillea-draped environments. You can explore the vias, pedestrian-only courtyards, and alleyways that lead off of Worth. The beautifully planted vias are rife with exclusive shops and cafés. It’s a place for sidewalk strolling and alfresco lunches. You’ll get tempted by the amazing art galleries, jewelry stores, and exclusive boutiques with window displays as works of art.

Come high season in January, Palm Beach becomes a playground for the wealthy, who, for a few brief months, stage extravagant charity galas, host six-figure campaign dinners and enjoy wintertime golf, boating and fishing. But it’s also appealing to those of us further down the wealth spectrum, particularly during the summer, when the Gulf Stream ushers in a continuous breeze, resorts and restaurants offer deep discounts, and Worth Avenue stores slash prices.

Do share your experiences if you’ve been to Palm Beach’s Worth Avenue in the comments below? If not, which is your dream shopping destination?