Before engaging the house-sitter, changing the answering machine message and asking the neighbor to retrieve the mail...Before reserving your overnight accommodations and sketching out your itinerary...

Before arriving for the conference, business meeting, reunion with family and friends, WVU tour or week-end whitewater adventure that brings you to the Greater Morgantown Area in the first place...Add a day to your visit to indulge in the joys of pure, unadulterated SHOPPING!

From downtown Morgantown’s one-of-a-kind specialty shops and boutiques to nationally-known retailers located in surrounding malls and shopping centers and the “hidden treasures” in Preston County, the Greater Morgantown Area offers even the most discriminating shopper a diversity of delightful shopping destinations.

Energized by the efforts of nationally-recognized Main Street Morgantown (winner of the Great American Main Street Award), downtown Morgantown is a vibrant, diverse venue whose retailers offer goods and services appealing to visitors, the WVU community and residents alike. Its merchants present a surprising variety of must-have merchandise from gourmet chocolates and fine wines (Slight Indulgence, 407 High St.) to unique gemstone creations created on-site at Touchstone Gems & Minerals (201 Walnut Street); from the Mountain State’s finest arts and crafts (Appalachian Gallery, 44 High St.) to designer fashions (Coni & Franc, 422 High St.); and from antiques and collectibles (High Street Antiques, 206 High St.) to all manner of outdoor clothing and accoutrements (Adventure’s Edge, 131 Pleasant Street).

With over 1,600 on-street, surface and garage parking spaces, parking in downtown Morgantown puts shoppers within a pleasant stroll of stores, restaurants, specialty shops and a variety of services. Getting around downtown’s even easier for shoppers parking in any of the district’s three parking structures: they’re served by the Mountain Line Transit Authority’s free jitney service 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., Monday-Friday: just look for the bright green and red trolleys.

Expanding your spree beyond downtown will make your Morgantown shopping experience even more memorable.Allow plenty of time to investigate the fine shopping at Morgantown’s historic Seneca Center (709 Beechurst Ave.and the Caperton Trail). The former glass factory now houses a variety of boutiques and unique shops including a fine dining restaurant, upscale women’s clothing store, arts co-op, purveyor of luxury bath products, full-service cycling shop, antiques mall, complete day spa and gift shop.

Head to Morgantown’s Evansdale area to browse the shops at Chelsea Square (Van Voorhis and Chestnut Ridge Roads) and Suburban Lanes Plaza (Chestnut Ridge Road). Woofs in Chelsea Square is a pet-friendly local favorite and The Bookshelf at Suburban Lanes offers a truly amazing selection of new and used books.

The Greater Morgantown Area boasts not one but two regional malls. Anchored by Lowe’s, JC Penney, Sears, Elder Beerman, Proffitt’s and K-Mart, Morgantown Mall (exit 152, I-79) features 80 specialty shops, a sit-down food court and an eight-screen theater complex.

Mountaineer Mall (5000 Greenbag Road) offers shoppers 40 specialty stores plus major retailers Elder Beerman, Wal-Mart and Gabriel Brothers, a perennial regional favorite with both WVU students and full-time area residents for unbelievable deals on name-brand clothing and housewares.

Glenmark Centre (exit 7, I-68 E), the area’s newest retail center, offers shoppers a blend of local and national stores including Lowe’s, Jay’s Hallmark, Outdoors Unlimited, Davis Kitchen & Tile and Our Family Craft Shop featuring Amish-made home furnishings. Triple S Harley Davidson, also at exit 7 of I-68 E, has become a shopping destination for tri-state area bikers since opening its 23,000-plus square-foot, showroom and garage last spring.

Driving 20-minutes further east on I-68 to Bruceton Mills (exit 23, I-68) in Preston County, serious antiquers review their wish lists before arriving at the Bruceton Mills Antique Mall, the area’s largest. They also slip in a stop at Hostetler’s Country Store (Morgantown St., Bruceton Mills) to pick up a bottle (or case) of West Virginia-produced wine and other gourmet goodies.

Retailers in several other Preston County locales offer visitors unique shopping opportunities as well. Located in Kingwood’s historic downtown district, The Calico Cat (110½ W. Main St.) invites browsers to take their time discovering treasures in each of the shop’s seven charming rooms. Rowlesburg’s Curiosity Shoppe (corner of Buffalo and Main Streets) has offered baskets, pottery and hand-painted West Virginia goods since 1985.     

On second thought, adding a single designated shopping day to your visit to the Greater Morgantown Area probably won’t be sufficient.

Better make it two!

Greater Morgantown Shopping Information:

Greater Morgantown Area Convention & Visitors’ Bureau: www.tourmorgantown.com

Main Street Kingwood: 1-304-329-2717

Main Street Morgantown: 1-304-292-0168 – www.downtownmorgantown.com

Morgantown Mall: www.shopmorgantownmall.com

Mountain Line Transit Authority: 1-304-291-RIDE – www.busride.org

Mountaineer Mall: www.shopatmountaineer.com