Stay in NYC, don't bother with the NJ malls or outlets. I am assuming you want a broad selection of styles and the latest trends. If thats the case then NYC is your spot. Just walk up and down 5th and you'll see it all. If you're looking for couture womens stuff (for a wife/gf) then go one street over onto madison.

Your best bet is to start at 34 and 5th at Macys. It's the biggest store in the world. And work your way up to Saks (goes towards Central park). You'll hit Lord and Taylor, K.Cole, Bloomies, Louie V's and a lot of other great stores along the way.

You can even stop off at Bryant Park Grill for lunch if its a nice day!

 

I'd have to agree that if you want to maximize value for money, go to Woodbury Commons or the Garden State Plaza. Woodbury Commons is a really nice place to go and stroll around, as you walk outside from store to store. The Garden State Plaza in NJ is the fifth largest mall in the US, so there is plenty to see there too.

We get lots of foreign visitors, and the ones who want bargains just go to an outlet center once and do most of their shopping in a day.
If you don't care so much about the prices, then you will enjoy 5th avenue. Check these sites, too:

http://www.cityguidemagazine.com/nycshopping.html
http://www.katespaperie.com/nycshopping.html

Warnings: No matter how good a "deal" you get from a street vendor on watches, sunglasses, etc, assume it's a fake or knockoff product, and buy it only if you want a souvenir or novelty item.
Also, stay away from stores that have big signs saying "Going out of business!", because they've been going out of business since they opened, and you won't get any bargains there either.

For a really nice view of the city at night, go up to the observation deck of the Empire State Building late at night. It used to be open until midnight, but I'm not sure of the hours these days.

If you want to see the island of Manhattan from the water, take a trip on the Circle Line boats. It's cheap and a great way to see all the tall buildings and bridges. Just remember your sunscreen! http://www.circleline42.com/index.ihtml

 

Thanks for the great tips guys.

I thing I'll definitly will be checking out the stores at 5th avenue. Hopefully I'll be able to visit one of the outlets too! I'm really excited about going anyway. Its just so much to see and do.

And I'll most likely go on one of thoose boat trips seems like a good way to see alot without to much effort.

 

It depends what you want to get. 5th Ave is great for designer cuz you have the major ones, like Dior, Gucci, Chanel (which is on 57th St between 5th Ave and Madison Ave), Fendi, etc. However, stores like Prada, LV, Anna Sui, and Marc Jacobs are downtown in SoHo (SOuth of HOuston St). There are also a lot of boutiques in Soho.

Woodbury Commons is a huge outlet with a lot of Designer labels as well. You can probably catch a bus there because it's about 1.5 hours away from NYC going North. However, you would need to know which stores to hit and have a strategy because this place has gotten so big in the past few years that it takes well over one day to cover all areas.

I'm sure you'll have a great time here!

 

Oh, here's the websites for Woodbury Common and the GSP, in case you want to take a look...

http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/outlet.asp?id=7

http://www.westfield.com/us/centres/newjer...rdenstateplaza/