Hello friends! I hope you all had an amazing Thanksgiving with your family and friends. I also hope that you’re now out of the thanksgiving food coma, that you’ve cleaned up all of your leftovers, and that you’re done with your holiday shopping! (I certainly am NOT!)
I spent Thanksgiving and the following weekend in Providence, Rhode Island, with my parents and my brother. As you can imagine, all we did was watching (Italian) TV, but mostly eating and shopping!
While I can’t force you to watch Italian TV, I can definitely offer you guys some suggestions on where to eat and shop in the New England areas surrounding Providence. These malls and stores could come in handy to finish up your holiday shopping and purchase your last few gifts, while these restaurants… well, a few new restaurant suggestions never hurt, am I right?
Shopping
Providence Place, Providence, RI
I have previously stated my love for the Providence Place mall in this post, but I feel like I have to reiterate it. Providence Place is certainly one of the best malls I’ve ever been to. It has four large floors stocked with a ton of different stores, most of which are inexpensive. Almost all of the stores had great Black Friday deals, and there’s even a Macy’s inside that opened at 12.30 AM that day and gave out FREE Ralph Lauren pillows – which I obviously got, along with a discounted throw blanket. Other than Macy’s, they pretty much have any possible store that you can think of, really. I visit Providence Place every time I’m in Providence and I never get sick of it!
Wrentham Village Premium Outlets in Wrentham, MA
If you’re one of my Chicago readers, you’re probably familiar with the Chicago Premium Outlets mall in Aurora, IL. Wrentham Village is part of the same chain of malls, and it looks a lot like the one in Aurora, too. There are tons of stores, but we mainly went there to get discounted sportswear. We shopped at Adidas, Nike and Under Armour and we got pretty good deals – I got a pair of Stan Smith shoes for only $29.99!
Legacy Place in Dedham, MA
Legacy Place is such a cute mall! I had never been there before prior to this trip, but I highly recommend checking it out. First of all, it’s a lot bigger than it first looks. When I saw it from the I thought it was just a small city mall, but instead it has about 60 stores – and more to come! I especially loved shopping for outerwear at Carhartt, Eddie Bauer and L.L. Bean. However, I did also make some purchases at H&M, Bath and Body Works and most importantly UNIQLO, one of my personal faves!
Primark in Boston, MA
There’s a whole cult around Primark. This Irish fashion chain offers clothing, accessories and home décor items for really inexpensive prices. There are Primark stores all around Ireland and the UK, and they’re also expanding to a few countries in Europe – my friends in Milan have one that’s 30 minutes away from the city, in Arese. However, up until the end of 2015, the brand had not reached the US yet.
Primark Boston was in fact Primark’s first American location. If I’m not mistaken, there are a few Primark stores around New York City and Philadelphia, but the one in Boston is the OG. The store is huge, there are four floors full of women apparel, men apparel, kids clothing, beauty products, travel accessories, gift ideas, stationery, home accessories and more. My mom and I toured the whole store last Sunday and it took us about three hours.
If you love to take your time while shopping, you will love Primark. If you like to just pick up what you need, pay, and leave, Primark might not be the place for you. Think of Primark as a low-cost Target, or like an IKEA. You know when you walk into the store, but you don’t know when you’ll get out. On top of that, you’re certainly going to buy something you don’t need. However, the prices are extremely low, so at Primark, you’ll get a little more margin.
I personally love Primark. I’m deep into fast fashion, and the quality of the products is amazing for the price you’re paying. It’s also a great place to shop for Christmas gifts (especially for girls 15-30 years old) because not only you get the best bang for your buck, but you also have so many options and everything is just. So. Cute.
Eating
Now, to fuel this much shopping around, we needed to get some PRIME food. And as you all know, I love to explore cities through their restaurants, coffee shops and breakfast places. Therefore, here’s a list of four cool and delicious spots around New England that we ate at this past weekend.
Le Central in Bristol, RI
You should all know this by now: I was born and raised in Milan, Italy, and so was my entire family. Therefore, we do not celebrate Thanksgiving the American way, meaning that we do not get together with our relatives and cook a big turkey at home. Instead, we usually go out to a nice restaurant for a Thanksgiving dinner. Last year, we went to Smith & Wollensky in Chicago, but this year we decided to go to a French restaurant in Bristol, RI, called Le Central.
For only $39 per person, we got one appetizer each, one Thanksgiving plate (turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, green beans, stuffing and mashed potatoes) and three small desserts. Overall, it was a great Thanksgiving dinner and the restaurant looks adorable!
Caffè Nero in Boston, MA
Caffè Nero is a coffee house brand started in the UK that now has 825 coffee shops worldwide. I went to one of their Boston locations last weekend after my three-hour-long trip to Primark, and got myself a well deserved hot chocolate. The décor inside is so cute! It is so hygge and cozy and Christmassy. It just makes you feel warm inside! Here’s a couple pics to get you into the Christmas mood:
Trattoria Zooma in Providence, RI
This Neapolitan restaurant serves some of the best Italian food in all of Providence – which is a big deal considering that there’s a huge Italian American community there! I’ve been there twice, but my parents go there a lot more often since they know the owner, who’s from Naples. I’ve tried a few appetizers, pasta dishes and pizzas, and I can honestly say that everything is really good! Last time I went, I had the eggplant parmigiana pizza. Definitely not a real Italian dish, – we would never put fried eggplants on pizza, though we’ll definitely eat the two things separately! – but it was so so good! I could not finish it (so heavy on the stomach) but definitely a creative pizza to try! The owner of the restaurant made fun of me for ordering a pizza that was “too American”, which basically mean that you can find real, authentic Italian food at Trattoria Zooma!
Sydney in Providence, RI
Sydney is a cute Australian coffee shop in downtown Providence. They make great coffee and pastries, as well as delicious and aesthetically pleasing avocado toasts. Also, they have amazing matcha green tea! It’s definitely an insta worthy spot that I highly recommend checking out in case you need to step up your social media game!
These are my favorite spots from my last trip to New England! Have you been to Providence, Boston or the surrounding areas? Do you have any favorite restaurants or stores? Let me know in the comments below or on social media!