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While your everyday tourist is battling the crowds on Fifth Avenue and Madison in the annual New York pre-Christmas shopping crush, savvier shoppers are picking up the same stuff - plus a whole hoard of unique merchandise - on the broad, breezy boulevards of America’s Second City.

You don’t have to be a culture vulture to love Chicago, but if you are, you’ll get a real kick out of present-hunting here. This is a city of so many aesthetic delights - heart-stopping architecture ranging from Art Deco to fabulously futuristic, world-class museums - all with terrific shops – and a broad sweep of lake shore running parallel to the main drag which keeps downtown feeling clean, bright and open compared to Manhattan’s sometimes oppressive skyscraper canyons. Not to mention some of the best restaurants, blues bars and jazz clubs on the continent in which to rest feet and recharge when the retailers close their doors.

First, get a map and plot your route; weekenders will barely manage to exhaust the great shopping thoroughfares of Michigan Avenue and State Street, but with a couple more days you can explore neighbourhoods like Bucktown and Lincoln Park dotted with eclectic boutiques.

North Michigan Avenue would probably be known as the Magnificent Mile even without its shops - this great, broad boulevard running parallel to the eponymous lake is just a delight to stroll. Shopping is made easy by the many vertical malls - famously Water Tower Place and 900 North Michigan. These are convenient - as well as eye-popping - venues in which to visit the great American chains which have retained their cachet by not crossing the pond; cool young men will be thrilled to find a signature T-shirt by Abercrombie and Fitch in their Christmas stocking, while women of all ages will revel in a piece of lacy lingerie from Victoria’s Secret. Fashionable females have long made Banana Republic, the grown-up sister of Gap, their first stop for Stateside retail therapy, and all three chains are in the fabulous eight-storey atrium of Water Tower Place at 835 N. Michigan.

Although the 900 N. Michigan mall across the street is more of a thrill for locals, with European brands like Gucci and L’Occitane that are old-hat to Brits, it’s worth visiting if only for that great American kitchen store, Williams-Sonoma; a set of their melamine mixing bowls, which come in new colours every season with matching spatulas, would be an inexpensive but elegant hostess present for whoever is making your Christmas dinner this year.

Westfield North Bridge has a branch of Tommy Bahamas - a great place for tropical-inspired shirts, particularly for men, scented candles and other homewares - has a whole floor devoted to children’s stores to make kid-shopping easier, while the deco-style Chicago Place mall makes an attempt to be uniquely Chicago, despite being anchored by Saks Fifth Avenue and packed with chain stores. It has Love from Chicago, for example, which features city-inspired gifts, while Chiaroscuro is a colourful homegrown emporium of wacky, colourful art, homewares and jewellery. Also not to be missed is A New Leaf, where vases, candles and great gifts for gardeners are to be found.

Totally born in Chicago is the shop unmissable by anyone with a little girl to shop for - American Girl Place, set up 20 years ago by top toy-maker Mattel to entertain three- to 12-year-olds beyond their wildest dreams. Here any little princesses in tow can create their own dolls, take etiquette lessons and buy matching outfits for themselves and their dolls - this latter option a good bet for parents travelling alone, who could make one of the 18-inch-tall American Girl dolls the lynchpin of a Christmas present. The Just Like You range offers a choice of 25 templates in varying skin, hair and eye tones to enable creation of a mini-me, and every single doll comes with accessories and a book which documents her detailed life story - boggling!

There is almost as much going on across the other side of North Michigan at Pails in the City, where pets are catered for with every kind of doggie daywear and accessories. Poochy Guccis and Chewy Vuittons are the name of the game here.

The cross-streets link Michigan Avenue with State Street, the traditional heart of Chicago shopping, and home of what many consider the world’s greatest department store, Marshall Fields. Second-largest in the world, and the inspiration for Selfridges, the store, opened in 1852, has just become a Macy’s - and it is a cause of civic mourning that it has lost its name identity in the takeover. Get in quick to see the magnificent art nouveau fixturing, lest the new owners harbour any intentions of ripping it out in coming years.

Don’t leave the Magnificent Mile without exploring Oak Street - a thoroughfare of the biggest designer names which is a good place to check out Barney’s before the first branch of this fantabulous department store opens in the UK - and Eia’s, the bespoke milliner who displays her wares in the Drake Hotel, close to the Museum of Contemporary Art and its own great gift shop. World-class museum shops are something of a Chicago phenomenon, each offering a satisfying, self-contained culture capsule to break up the retail therapy. Some, like the Symphony Centre shop, are on the Magnificent Mile itself, others, like the Chicago Architecture Foundation shop, are worth going further down the avenue to explore, as are the Art Institute and the Field Museum of Natural History.

Also check out the Jazz Record Mart at 25 East Illinois if there’s a music-lover in the family. Chicago is considered the home of both blues and jazz, and the Mart has music from every era, as well as terrific posters and other memorabilia. The store is close to the corner of N. Wabash, a street known for its Jewelers’ Row, with many artisans selling one-off pieces out of their studios. Incidentally, jazz-lovers will want to check out the Green Mill and the Jazz Showcase after dark, respectively the oldest and second-oldest jazz clubs in the US. The equivalent mecca for blues-lovers is Blues Chicago.

Once you’ve done the town, it’s time for eclectic neighbourhoods like edgy, urban Bucktown, where Language, the Silver Room, Hejfina, Jade, Saint Alfred, G-Star Chicago, all on Milwaukee Avenue, are worth a major browse. N. Damen Avenue, where the snappy, only-in-Chicago designer boutique P45 is located, is another good shopping street - also check out Stitch on the next block.

Bucktown segues Into funky, younger Lincoln Park, where in addition to North Damen (check out Raizy), the street on which to shop till you drop is Armitage Avenue, notably Entendré Couture, Active Endeavours, Mint Julep, Lorie’s Shoes, Frivolity, Celeste Turner, the hugely popular Art Effect, a great place to pick up fun and unusual gifts, and Isis on Armitage. As you cross Halstead Street, it’s well worth hiking several blocks north to the Blues Jean Bar at 2210 N., where top-end denims for both sections are dished out by expert salespeople with all the care of a barman preparing a bespoke cocktail. Alas, it’s a bar for jeans only - don’t expect a mojito! If you haven’t had enough of neighbourhoods, proceed to Wicker Street and tramp Division Street till your feet fall off.

If all this edgy retail therapy seems a tad unChristmaslike, the Christkindlmarket, in place on Daley Plaza for the month proceeding the big day will put that right, with traditional Germanic gift items, tree decorations and seasonal refreshments. Talking of refreshments, Chicago is a mecca for diners as well as shoppers, and Charlie Trotter, whose eponymous restaurant has been voted Best in America, is the city’s answer to Gordon Ramsay, vying with uber-chic Tru and Alinea for the gourmet dollar. But there’s plenty of affordable grub as well as the fine dining - Cafe Spaggia on the Magnificent Mile is good for resting shoppers’ feet, while the city’s chefs favour wine bar-bistro Avec and Hot Doug’s, which serves every kind of sausages as well as rarefied chips. Chicago, with its tradition of hearty food, is also the home of the Deep Pan Pizza. and famous for its succulent beef. One of the best places to chow down on steaks and prime rib is the multi-award-winning Chicago Chop House.

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