Bellevue Square/Lincoln Square/Bellevue Place While not in Seattle proper, the city of Bellevue is just a short hop across Lake Washington, and it’s home to one of the highest-grossing retail centers in North America. What began as an open-air shopping plaza in the 1940s, Bellevue Square, is now a 200-store mall adjoined to Lincoln Square and Bellevue Place, mixed-use developments that added luxury hotels, condominiums, an office tower, a cinema, restaurants and even more retail to the equation. The Bellevue Collection, as it’s now known, effectively marries all the amenities of urban life with the conveniences of suburbia—such as ample, accessible (and free) parking—in the space of four blocks.

You’ll find a comprehensive roster of upscale chains here, plus fresh rollouts such as Martin + Osa and Nau and the locally grown Fireworks and La Ree Boutique. The grand total: 250 stores just an elevator ride away for thousands of technology and retail professionals (Eddie Bauer is headquartered here, as is a division of Microsoft), condo dwellers and hotel guests.