For character, head to Carytown, the mile-long strip of independent boutiques, bookshops, vintage stores and galleries that runs along West Cary Street between Thompson Street and the Boulevard — it is the most pleasant place to wander in the city. For larger stores, Short Pump Town Center, west of downtown, and Stony Point Fashion Park, to the south, are the main upscale outdoor malls, with Nordstrom, Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn and the usual suspects. Richmond also has a solid used-bookshop scene — the family-run Book Exchange on Midlothian Turnpike has one of the largest selections in Virginia and a resident store cat.