An American Shopping Mall a Step Above The Rest

As we continue with our #SavvySleuthing in Miami we discovered the Bal Harbour Shops complex near Miami Beach. This is a chic, 450,000 square feet shopping paradise where the black card rules!

The partially enclosed mall is almost entirely designer shops, anchored by a Neiman Marcus and a Saks Fifth Avenue. Typically, after power shopping, you'll find well-heeled customers sipping and dining in one of the handful of upscale F&B outlets such as Carpaccio and La Goulue.

Insist for an outdoor table at Carpaccio - the best perch for people-watching. Here devotees rave about the crispy pizza Margherita, citrusy Riviera salad, and of course its paper-thin, succulent beef, tuna and salmon carpaccio. Under the direction of Jean-Pierre Petit, La Goulue features traditional bistro fare with dishes like steamed mussels and fries, juicy rôtisserie chicken and croque monsieur.

Level Two has Santa Fe News & Espresso and a Segafredo outlet.

In the central mall, closer to Saks, you will find Makoto, named for Iron Chef Makoto Okuwa. It presents an elegant menu that gets playful with its spin on Asian classics. Owned by famed restaurateur Stephen Starr (Morimoto, Buddakan and Alma de Cuba, among others), Makoto seats up to 200 in an elegant dining room and patio designed by the French firm Gilles & Boissier. The patio is a great place to sip a cool Sapporo!

We marveled a the mix of languages heard throughout the mall, primarily Spanish, English, Russian and Hebrew. The central mall has lush landscaping, water fountains and ponds with exotic fish. Of course valet parking is available, and there's a public bus stop on Collins Ave. This is one of the most dog-friendly malls we have ever encountered!

In the immediate area, weary shoppers can put their heads to rest at the St. Regis Bal Harbour across the street on Collins. Specchio Italian Cafe and Restaurant (9485 Harding Ave.) gets consistently high ratings from diners, and meat lovers should head to the Palm (9650 E Bay Harbor Drive).

Opened in 1965 by the Whitman family and is one of the few remaining family-owned malls in the nation. There is a waiting list at the shopping center which has operated at 100% occupancy for several decades. Bal Harbour Shops, which has ranked No. 1, in the U.S. for decades in productivity based on sales per square foot, recently ranked No. 1 in the world. For the year ended 2012, sales per square foot hit a record high of $2,729.60, more than six times the national average.

Bal Harbour Shops
9700 Collins Ave
Bal Harbour, FL 33154
305.866.0311