My girlfriend and I will be visiting New York City and Washington D.C. for two weeks in May and we are planning to do some shopping while we are there. I would like to know where we can find shops in Mahatten and central Washington that sell the following -
computer parts
electronic goods such as digital cameras and mp3 players
telescopes and binoculars
pet toys and gundog supplies for our two labradors
any other store that sells geek toys
All suggestions will be appreciated
By saying “central DC”, I’m assuming you mean in DC itself rather than the outlying suburbs.
Pet stuff: Pet Essentials at 1722 14th St. NW and Companions in the 1700 block of U St. NW—both are near the U Street-Cardozo metro (Green Line). I don’t really like Companions because of the way they treat their animals (very small cages, probably not well cared for) and they stock the typical stuff you’d find in a chain store. Pet Essentials only stocks organic food and is a good bet for specialty items. Also, Sweet Licks is an ice-cream store at 17th St & (R? S?) St. that makes homemade dog goodies.
For electronics and possibly the telescope/binocular thing, I feel like there’s a store on Connecticut Avenue between K and L Sts NW (Farragut North metro) but I can’t remember the name of it. There might be some cool stuff at the International Spy Museum gift shop: http://store.yahoo.net/spymuseumstore/
If you are willing to go into the burbs, I know there’s more geek stuff there but there just isn’t that much in terms of downtown DC.
booklover if the burbs are easy for a tourist to get to I would probably be prepared to go there. What shops are there that sell geek stuff?
In NYC check out B&H Photo on 34th and 9th for all of your photo/telescope needs.
J and R downtown is another good store for tech stuff.
for the sensually adventurous, there’s the Dream Dresser Boutique on Wisconsin near M Street.
In New York, The Strand is a huge used bookstore, featuring, as they put it, “eight square miles of books.” Not strictly geeky, but they’ve got books on every topic, and all sorts of arcane stuff. If it’s in English, it’s probably there. They’re located on the corner of 12th St. and Broadway. To get there, go to Union Square by the 4,5,6,N,R or L train and walk two blocks southward on Broadway. At the corner of 13th St. and Broadway is Forbidden Planet, a lovely comic book store, full of all kinds of superhero fanboy toys and paraphernelia, as well as comic books, manga, and underground comics. Well worth a visit.
If you’re looking for hard-to-find music or videos, check out Kim’s Video on St. Mark’s Place, which is the block of 8th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. The videos are on the second floor. You can find all sorts of bootlegs and obscure stuff. I got a copy of the god-awful Fantastic 4 movie that was both made and suppressed in the early '90s there, as well as a pilot for a never-produced Hanna-Barbara Lost In Space cartoon show, starring Jonathan Harris himself! Geeky stuff, artsy stuff, weird stuff, illegal stuff—they’ve got lots of forbidden media. That’s where I got all my Iva Bittova CDs; I’ve never been able to dig up anything of hers anywhere else in the States, but Kim’s had it.
Bon voyage! Bons courses!
I don’t know if they’d have anything you’re looking for but you really should stop by Georgetown Park if only to wander around and browse the Sharper Image there. You don’t see a mall like this every day.
We will be staying on 30th Street in DC so it looks as if Georgetown Park is just round the corner. I just hope we have enough time for some sightseeing after all our shopping. 
